Abstract:

The purpose of the project was to investigate and develop pedagogical innovations in education focusing on collaborative work processes of creativity and innovation.(Darsø 2012) The aim was to investigate how innovation and creativity processes in communities of practice (Wenger 2008) can support reflection, knowledge sharing, and professional development, (Schön 2001) when the collaborative work processes takes place on digital interpersonal platforms.

The project studied how teachers in a Danish “gymnasiums” reflected on their own practices in their professional groups, and how these reflections showed themselves in the narratives that were created within the communities of practice of the educational organization.
A theory of creativity (Hansen & Byrge 2014) integrated with a theory of ICT collaboration (Sorensen 2000) was developed as framework to understand the teachers’ creative collaborative processes and how these processes may enhance career development focusing on reflection, knowledge sharing, and professional development on digital platforms in professional groups.

On this basis a process model was developed and tested in two professional teacher groups in practice and on a digital platform. The analysis showed that the teachers do apply processes of creativity and innovation in order to develop solutions to challenges that they face in their daily lives. But these processes are difficult to transfer onto digital platforms. The investigation also showed that the narratives of a community of practice influence how a professional co-operation is organized, and how the cooperation on the digital platforms unfold.

The conclusion of the project is that computer supported collaborative work in education is best underpinned if existing narratives about the use of ICT is taken into account and when the collaborative work processes are founded on the professional challenges and problems of teacher groups.

Keywords:

Innovation, pedagogical innovation, education, ICT collaboration, creativity, communities of practice, reflection, knowledge sharing, professional development.