FACILITATING TEACHER PARTNERSHIPS FOR CROSS-CLASSROOM

COLLABORATION

(Spine title: Facilitating Teacher Partnerships)

(Thesis format: Monograph)

by
Ben Hazzard
Graduate Program in Education
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Education

School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
The University of Western Ontario
London, Ontario, Canada
October, 2008

Facilitating Teacher Partnerships

THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES

CERTIFICATE OF EXAMINATION

Supervisor

______________________

Dr. Kathy Hibbert

Supervisory Committee

______________________

Dr. Rebecca Coulter

______________________

Dr. Mike Katchabaw

Examiners

______________________

Dr. J. Marshall Mangan

______________________

Dr. John Barnett

______________________

Dr. Carole Farber

The thesis by

Benjamin James Hazzard
Entitled:
Facilitating Teacher Partnerships For Cross-Classroom Collaboration
is accepted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of

Master of Education

Date_____________________

______________________________

Chair of the Thesis Examination Board

Facilitating Teacher Partnerships

iii

Abstract

Collaboration between classrooms, in a digital environment, was explored using
the self-identifiers of connectivity, constructivism, and collaborative comforts to
partner teachers. The research question investigated was, how might emerging
research on connectivity, constructivism and collaboration within the digital
environment inform the design of an interactive website that enhances the ways
in which teachers are able to collaborate with colleagues around the world based
on the development of a more complex partnering system? The Design as
Education Research Framework was used to implement the ‘design as research’
method and resulted in the design of the research object, an interactive website,
TeachersConnecting.com. Multiple data sources that informed the design
process were: the research object, a development journal, feedback from a
development panel, and academic literature in the field. Reflection via a virtual
convener, practical applications of connectivism and constructivism, as well as
the impact of a development panel on ‘design as research’ were described.
Cross-classroom collaboration projects were organized into a matrix that was
developed based on the comforts.

Keywords: cross-classroom collaboration, collaborative projects, design as
research, Design as Educational Research, collaborative comfort, constructivism
comfort, connectivity comfort, partnering teachers, interactive education website
design, connectivism.