Collaboration: A Process in Understanding

• Main Author: O'Brien, Sharon
• Other Authors: McKean, Barbara
• Language: EN
• Published: The University of Arizona. 2005
• Subjects: collaboration; teaching for understanding; playbuilding; stories that soar; teamwork; theatre
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10150/193290

After years of education, many people enter the workforce without the team-working skills fundamental in today's innovation economy. As one of the primary goals of education is to prepare students for the workforce, a shift from individual learning to collaborative learning is recommended. One way to incorporate collaborative learning in formal education is through students' engagement in the collaborative development of plays. When understanding of collaboration is achieved, according the theories of Teaching for Understanding, the learner can apply knowledge outside of the domain in which it was learned. Team-based management in business and collaborative playbuilding in theatre share congruent structural principles, therefore, the application of knowledge from one domain to the other is natural. This study investigated how university students came to understand collaboration through involvement in a Collaborative Play Development course. Findings support the recognition of collaborative theatre as an opportunity to develop marketable skills for the learners.