Online collaboration skills in business education: a politeness theory perspective Terry O’Sullivan 5 th June 2013

Overview Online collaboration as a ‘future skill’ Politeness theory (Brown and Levinson, 1987) as a framework for understanding online collaboration skills Case study of an online collaborative learning activity Pointers to how we understand skills development and relevance

‘Future skills’ Sense-Making Social Intelligence Novel and Adaptive Thinking Cross-Cultural Competency Computational Thinking New Media Literacy Transdisciplinarity Design Mindset Cognitive Load Management Virtual Collaboration (Davies, Fidler, et al., 2011)

Skills: tools or responses?

Skills: development or emergence?

Politeness theory Language: content and relationship function –Technical emphasis on content function (e.g. Grice, 1967: quantity, quality, relevance and manner) Relationship function directed at maintaining ‘face’: ‘an image of self delineated in terms of approved social attributes’ (Goffman, 1967) Positive and negative face (Brown and Levinson, 1987)

Lesser estimated risk of face loss Greater estimated risk of face loss Do the FTA 5. Don’t do the FTA 4. Off record On record 1. ‘Baldly on record’ – ie without redressive action With redressive action 2. Positive politeness 3. Negative politeness Fig. 1: Five strategies with regard to face-threatening actions (FTA). Adapted from Brown and Levinson (1987), p. 60

Web 2.0 and face Silence: lurking Off record: indirectness or back channel Negative politeness: concern for consensus Positive politeness: self-presentation, including non-verbal Baldly on record: from directness to flaming

Online collaborative learning activity Formatively-assessed group work Case study analysis and report writing and editing Moodle forum and wiki Negative face work in leading and managing task Positive face work in establishing identity as collaborator

Pointers to skills development Adapting real-world and prior skills to online context Facilitating emergence rather than skills transfer Supporting soft ‘relationship’ skills as much as, if not more than, hard ‘technical’ skills Acknowledging risk to face as a source of learning rather than an obstacle to learning

‘Future skills’ Sense-MakingSense-Making Social IntelligenceSocial Intelligence Novel and Adaptive ThinkingNovel and Adaptive Thinking Cross-Cultural CompetencyCross-Cultural Competency Computational Thinking New Media Literacy Transdisciplinarity Design Mindset Cognitive Load Management Virtual CollaborationVirtual Collaboration (Davies, Fidler, et al., 2011)

Faculty of Business and Law The Open University Walton Hall Milton Keynes MK7 6AA