Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)
One of CoLab’s main aims is to translate research into actionable knowledge. To this end, we have conducted several projects related to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) on collaboration. We have demonstrated a “collaborative skills gap” among undergraduate students, identified major barriers to effective collaboration, and explored how psychological safety increases diversity, equity, and inclusion within teams. We have also developed various training opportunities and resources to enhance collaborative capacity. For an overview of our open access resources, see the Knowledge Integration Resources page.
Note that CoLab’s Director, Katie Plaisance, regularly offers talks and workshops on collaboration in both academic and non-academic contexts. If you are interested in having Dr. Plaisance consult on a particular training opportunity, please feel free to contact her by email.
Studying the “Collaborative Skills Gap” at UWaterloo
One of CoLab’s earliest SoTL projects was done in collaboration with three undergraduate students from Knowledge Integration: Georgia Lamarre, Akanksa Madan, and Shane Morganstein. We developed a full-day workshop called “UW Collaborates”, open to UWaterloo students across campus. This workshop taught students why diverse perspectives often lead to better outcomes, how to enhance communication in teams, and how to cultivate an environment that encourages healthy disagreement while minimizing destructive conflict. Due to the workshop’s popularity, we were also asked to develop training for instructors who wanted to teach students to improve their ability to work in groups.
Making Collaboration Work
Many of those who attended the UW Collaborates workshop expressed interest in learning more about each of the topics we covered, noting that a deeper exploration would help them fill important gaps in their education. To address this need, we developed a university-wide course called “Making Collaboration Work” that is designed to explicitly teach students how to work effectively in teams. Course topics include effective communication, proactively managing group conflict, identifying and minimizing biases that hinder creativity, leveraging diversity to improve outcomes, and cultivating a psychologically safe environment. This course is still being offered today as part of the Knowledge Integration Diploma, which is open to all students at the University of Waterloo.
Closing the Collaborative Skills Gap
Two of CoLab’s members, Katie Plaisance and Christine Logel, worked together to study the effectiveness of the “Making Collaboration Work” course in achieving its intended learning outcomes. We conducted a survey at the start of the course, the end of the course, and the end of the following term to track changes in students’ attitudes, beliefs, and experiences. Our research found that the course was effective in enhancing students’ views about the value of teamwork, strengthening beliefs about the benefits of diverse teams, and fostering more psychologically safe teams (Plaisance et al., 2024).
Several of the projects listed above have been funded by Learning and Innovation Teaching Enhancement (LITE) grants from the University of Waterloo.