Critical Collaboration in the Classroom: Sharing Power in the Co-Creation Process among Faculty, Students, and Community Partners
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| Title: | Critical Collaboration in the Classroom: Sharing Power in the Co-Creation Process among Faculty, Students, and Community Partners |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Matthew DelSesto (ORCID |
| Source: | Innovative Higher Education. 2025 50(6):2321-2341. |
| Availability: | Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/ |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 21 |
| Publication Date: | 2025 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Education Level: | Higher Education Postsecondary Education |
| Descriptors: | Partnerships in Education, School Community Relationship, Teacher Student Relationship, Peer Relationship, Power Structure, Group Dynamics, Listening Skills, Diversity, Objectives, Participative Decision Making, Higher Education, College Students, College Faculty, Art Products, Performance, Story Telling |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10755-025-09840-x |
| ISSN: | 0742-5627 1573-1758 |
| Abstract: | Collaboration, partnerships, and community-engagement are increasingly important as higher education institutions face pressure to prepare students for the workforce and contribute to the public good. The study uses data from interviews and focus groups with students, faculty, and community partners -- who have co-created media, performance, and storytelling projects as part of courses in a community engagement initiative at a liberal arts college -- to understand the experience of collaboration in the classroom. In connecting longstanding insights about collaborative learning to concerns with power that are increasingly common in community-engaged learning scholarship, the research finds evidence for a unique type of shared work: critical collaboration. Critical collaboration is shared work wherein each individual is conscious of their positionality and relative power, aware of the virtues and limits of their expertise, and through dialogue, willing to "cede some authority over the outcome." Four qualities of critical collaboration are identified including, (a) open listening, (b) recognition of diverse forms of expertise, (c) clarity of shared outcomes, and (d) collective decision making. The findings have implications for the theory and practice of collaboration in the classroom and community engagement initiatives at universities. Critical collaboration will be of interest to those in higher education and other institutions that are attempting to collaboratively address pressing social problems in an era of profound inequality and polarization. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2026 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1496657 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | Collaboration, partnerships, and community-engagement are increasingly important as higher education institutions face pressure to prepare students for the workforce and contribute to the public good. The study uses data from interviews and focus groups with students, faculty, and community partners -- who have co-created media, performance, and storytelling projects as part of courses in a community engagement initiative at a liberal arts college -- to understand the experience of collaboration in the classroom. In connecting longstanding insights about collaborative learning to concerns with power that are increasingly common in community-engaged learning scholarship, the research finds evidence for a unique type of shared work: critical collaboration. Critical collaboration is shared work wherein each individual is conscious of their positionality and relative power, aware of the virtues and limits of their expertise, and through dialogue, willing to "cede some authority over the outcome." Four qualities of critical collaboration are identified including, (a) open listening, (b) recognition of diverse forms of expertise, (c) clarity of shared outcomes, and (d) collective decision making. The findings have implications for the theory and practice of collaboration in the classroom and community engagement initiatives at universities. Critical collaboration will be of interest to those in higher education and other institutions that are attempting to collaboratively address pressing social problems in an era of profound inequality and polarization. |
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| ISSN: | 0742-5627 1573-1758 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10755-025-09840-x |
