Teachers, collaborative role

Such collaborations as represented in the project team have been described by Watts (1985) as important for the snccess of action research. He pointed ont that it is important for teachers to help each other by working collaboratively and that working with external colleagues supports them in their professional development. Our collaborative action research experience snpport these statements, namely it seems that the success of the investigation is to a great proportion due to the effective collaboration between the involved partners (the specific roles of partners are described earlier). 

One example of the role of basic research in the 1930s is the work of Bemd Eistert, one of the earliest proponents of mesomerism in Germany, for which purpose he collaborated with his former teacher Fritz Arndt. Eistert joined BASF in 1929, and he took appointments in Oppau, at the Central Research Laboratory, at the triphenylmethane dyes department, and the patent department. It seems, however, as if his theoretical studies were done in a rather private way, and were not related to his tasks in the industrial departments. In the years after 1932, and especially with the appointment of Walter Reppe in 1938, the investigations at the Central Laboratory were directed towards pioneering technological research, not towards a deeper understanding of corporate-related science and technology. 

In this issue paper, I propose two scenarios depicting projected developments in higher education. The focus of the first scenario is on the potential of individual freedom and self-direction in learning. The second scenario highlights the collective aspect of collaboration and communication in teams. A development that is deemed unavoidable is a further differentiation in the tasks of a teacher. In both scenarios, three different teacher roles will be identified the facilitator, the educational designer and the assessor. 

The traditional education system as encouraging competition and individual responsibility between students and discourages any interaction, whereas the collaborative learning environments redefine the relationship between students and teachers by creating a supporting environment versus a competitive one. In the traditional system the teacher presents the course materials to the class but the asynchronous collaboration transfers the lecturer s role to that of facilitator and resource guide as CSCL requires that the student takes a more active role in his/her own learning. 

---