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SOLSTICE 2007 Conference, Edge Hill University 1
Collaborative Reflective Learning: Lessons Drawn from theTEMPUS/ESCalate Projects
Elena Luchinskaya
Manchester Metropolitan Universitye.luchinskaya@mmu.ac.uk ABSTRACT
This paper assesses the usefulness of online reflective journals as a means ofenhancing our understanding of the learning process in an international context. Thisresearch is based on the results of a three year EU TEMPUS project (2002-5)coordinated by Manchester Metropolitan University and a follow-up ESCalate project(2005). The aim of these projects was to establish a Centre for Social Policy at UdmurtState University, Russia and thereby encourage international professional learning andknowledge transfer among lecturers in higher education, social work practitioners andpolicy makers in Russia. During the course of the project, participants from the Udmurtrepublic took part in a series of mobilities to the UK during which they learned howwelfare systems operate in different countries. They identified potential and priorityareas for development of social work capacity at the regional level where the UKexperience gained might be put into practice. As part of the project, a group of tenparticipants were asked to contribute to online reflective journal writing related to theirexperience while working on the project.This paper explores the difficulties of using such a technique in Russia whereacademics and practitioners are unfamiliar with reflective practices and outlines thebenefits of using this approach. It demonstrates how Russian participants in theTempus/ESCalate projects were influenced by the socio-cultural context whenparticipating in online text based professional dialogue. It also suggests that thequalitative analysis of the online discussion provides us with insights into issues andproblems related to the use of e-learning technologies and methodologies ininternational professional education.
KEYWORDS
Collaborative learning, reflective journals, international professional learning
 
INTRODUCTION
The development of new computer technologies broadens opportunities for new ways ofteaching and learning. Computer-mediated communication encourages collaboration by
 
SOLSTICE 2007 Conference, Edge Hill University 2
providing a shared environment for learning and by bringing together participants whoare geographically dispersed and supports asynchronous communication betweenparticipants. At the same time new computer technologies make it possible tomodernise traditional and well established methods in teaching and learning by applyingthem in new contexts. This paper explores the use of online reflective journals as a toolfor the collaborative construction of knowledge in the field of social welfare in Russia.Reflective writing is a well known technique in the professional education of teachers,nurses and social workers (Moon, 1999, Bolton, 2001) which helps to improve thelearning process or performance, to refer to social issues on a larger scale and to makeconnections between theory and situated practice. This paper assesses the impact ofthe socio-cultural diversity on the process of international professional learning usingthe approach and ideas of Russian philologist Mikhail Bakhtin.
BAKHTIN’S IDEAS
The works of Bakhtin and the Bakhtin circle (Bakhtin, 1981, 1984, 1986; Volosinov,1986) demonstrate the dialogic nature of all texts which extends to all uses of language.What we say, write or think encapsulates the voices of others. For Bakhtin (1981, p. 13),“the ideological becoming of a human being…is the process of selectively assimilatingthe words of others”. The central issue is thus “who is doing the talking?” which hasbeen reframed by Holquist (1990) to centre upon, “who owns meaning?” Dialogueinvolves a tension between centripetal forces which represent “authoritative” discourseand centrifugal forces which represent “internally-persuasive” discourse. Authoritativediscourse aims to impose a particular meaning in specific socio-cultural settings.According to Bakhtin “The authoritative word demands that we acknowledge it, that wemake it our own: it binds us, quite independent of any power it might have to persuadeus internally: we encounter it with its authority already fused to it - it demands ourunconditional allegiance” (1981, p. 343). Centrifugal forces, on the other hand,represent the “internally- persuasive discourse” that is exploring, questioning andreflecting on experience. These competing discourses are in constant dynamic conflict.Bakhtin’s notion of dialogicality provides a new perspective on the learning process.Learning is seen as the process when “two or more voices come into contact” (Wertsch& Smolka, 1993) and social knowledge building takes place through the collaborativeexchange of utterances.
MODELS OF COLLABORATIVE KNOWLEDGE BUILDING
Collaborative learning can be described as a “learning process where two or morepeople work together to create meaning, explore a topic, or improve skills” (Harasim,Hiltz, Teles & Turoff, 1995, p.30). This process occurs through a set of collaborativeactivities that enhance learning efficiency. In this paper learning is viewed as a socialprocess which consists of a dialectical cycle of personal and social knowledge building.Figure 1 below based on Stahl (2000) provides a representation of this cycle anddefines its typical phases. Moving through the different phases of this circle -discussion, argumentation, clarification – results in the formation of shared languagecreated through communication. Negotiated agreement of participants on commonunderstandings, issues and conclusions results in the establishment of their shared
 
SOLSTICE 2007 Conference, Edge Hill University 3
collaborative knowledge. The new shared knowledge can be represented in publicationsor other cultural artifactsFig. 1: Collaborative knowledge building process (Stahl, 2000).According to Stahl’s concept (2000), individual and social dialectically constitute thelearning process. It is evident that the cycle of personal understanding starts on thebasis of tacit pre-understanding. Our interpretations are shaped by our culture,language, history, politics, social environment and social interactions. But at the sametime, our personal perspective or voice (Bakhtin, 1981, 1984, 1986) is multivocal,populated by many perspectives or voices of others. To resolve the over-emphasis onour personal understanding we may need to create new meanings collaboratively. Wewill apply the model described above in the following case study to illustrate howcomputer-mediated communications support the prominent stages of this process,analyse issues arising during this process and explore the impact of the socio-culturaldiversity on the degree of international collaboration.
RUSSIAN CASE STUDY
The results presented here are based on the project coordinated by ManchesterMetropolitan University. This was a TEMPUS funded project aimed at establishing ‘ACentre for Social Policy at Udmurt State University’, Russia. It sought to encourageinternational professional learning and knowledge transfer among teachers andlecturers in higher education and social work practitioners in Russia. Academics,practitioners and policy makers participated in a cycle of mobilities between the RussianFederation, United Kingdom and Finland (2003 – 2005) during which they learned howwelfare systems in different countries operate, how policies are designed and
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