In the workshop that associate professor Malgorzata Malec Rawinski run last autumn, as part of the ICE Master’s Programme, the students conducted a study about students’ learning experiences of and attitudes towards the transition from campus learning to online learning in the context of COVID-19. 

The study turned out so well that Malgorzata Malec Rawinski encouraged the master students to redesign it into a scientific article. Six out of twelve students from France, South Africa, UK, Japan, Netherlands, China, and South Africa collaborated to finish the article. It has now been sent to the Polish journal "Dyskursy Młodych Andragogów/Adult Education Discourses", where it has been received and waits for blind review. 

Associate professor Malgorzata Malec Rawinski tell us about the background of the project?

The data collected by students – interviewing each other – looked very interesting and promising, thus I encouraged the students to produce 'something' out of it.

Malgorzata Malec Rawinski.

 – It turned out to be a very intensive, productive and good workshop online. The data collected by students – interviewing each other – looked very interesting and promising, thus I encouraged the students to produce 'something' out of it. We all agreed that we try to collaborate. At the beginning 12 students were involved with the project and we end up with 6 students – authors of the article.

From the beginning we aimed to write the article together, but we had one important rule – no stress, no press, just fun with the focus on learning and developing. We were meeting quite regularly, choosing the date suitable for all. I acted more as a support. I assisted them with the writing but I decided not to write the article. Students wrote it themselves with my help, advice and commitment.

The master students share their experiences of team writing

I believe that everyone with a sincere will to participate in team writing will gain more than they have expected while the experience itself will be a treasure in life!

Isabel Machado Da Silva.

Isabel Machado Da Silva, France

– Once Małgosia said “maybe you could use these interviews to co-write an article all together”, she could not get rid of us anymore. Throughout the whole experience there were many doubts and challenges but the strength of a collaborative project is that when one of us is doubting, there is always someone who is optimistic, and optimism is contagious. We supported each other in achieving this project, which for most of us is a first attempt in publishing an article. We were very lucky to have the full support of Małgosia, who was always present in each of our Zoom meetings. The results of this article reflect a careful reflection on our experiences as second year Masters’ students who had to abruptly transfer our learning online. It illustrates the transformations we went through in our daily lives and learning routines in order to respond to the challenges and possibilities of a new reality. I am very grateful for this experience and if I had any advice, for any student who would also like to start a collaborative project, it would be: be supportive, continuously communicative and caring towards one another and the key is I think to just believe you can do it, because you can.

Elliot Smith.

Elliot Smith, UK

– Fun, truly enjoyable, challenging and frustrating at times, the project shared most aspects that other group based projects would. I absolutely feel like I learned a great deal in working with my team-mates throughout the process, and the weekly/biweekly meetings often created opportunities to talk with and support each other within our lives to a greater extent, of which were encapsulated at the time through the difficulties transitioning away from on-campus learning. I feel that mutual support and trust within the group were critical in leading the project towards its fruition, the fact that we could rely on one another, and listen to one another's voices through the process led us to understand that it was possible, even through undertaking the thesis. In short, what I want to say is that with a supportive and communicative atmosphere anyone can do this! Find a bunch of buddies, find a mutual area of interest (or make one!), and go for it! What have you got to lose? (maybe some sanity).

Jiali Luo.

Jiali Luo, China

– Before this project, writing articles was an independent and lonely work for me. That was the reason why I wanted to join this project – to experience the team work in academic writing. Even though I had told myself at the beginning that it would not be an easy job, feelings of frustrations and hesitations popped up sometime. And those feelings, with the support, communication and open mind of all team-mates and beloved Malgosia, turned into the energy that motivated and encouraged me to walk along with the team. Now looking back at the whole experience, the most precious thing I’ve gained is not the article itself but this almost six-month experience, from which I learned to cooperate, communicate and build connections with others in this difficult time of the pandemic. I believe that everyone with a sincere will to participate in team writing will gain more than they have expected while the experience itself will be a treasure in life!

Verushka Ananmalay.

Verushka Ananmalay, South Africa

– Writing has always been, as one of my colleagues mentioned, an independent task and I had never been involved in a collaborative writing process before. To make matters even more interesting, we had to collect data, collate and collaborate everything online, with some of us being in different countries. Doing this as well as writing a Master’s thesis was quite challenging, but it all turned out great in the end. The meetings we had and the constant contact we kept with each other through the process really added to the support we needed to complete it. This and of course our wonderful professor Malgosia, who supported, encouraged and pushed us to produce an article that I was not entirely sure we would be able to do. All in all, it was an absolute pleasure to work with Malgosia as well as my colleagues and an extraordinarily fun experience.     

Daniël Benen.

Daniël Benen, the Netherlands

– This project has definitely been a learning experience, in a very positive sense. The whole process, from the conception of the idea, to the analysis, to the presenting of the findings in the article was educative and conducive to reflecting on the changes we have all gone through. Of course, it was also difficult at times to organise and coordinate, especially since all authors were simultaneously working on various other projects, thesis or having to work. The support and flexibility of the group was amazing, something I experienced and appreciated a lot. Our meetings were a great opportunity to discuss and share ideas. At the same time, these meetings also had the important function of meeting in a social sense, and supporting each other in our own transformative learning experience. 

Tomoyo Taniyama.

Tomoyo Taniyama, Japan

– This project started from one class of the program course last year, so I did not expect that we would actually complete the collaborative project! As all the process of the project was done online, our biggest challenge was checking whether everything was ok with each of all the members. Besides, we have conducted this project while writing our Master Thesis, so it was also challenging to conduct it with limited time, sometimes suspected like “can we actually finish this project?”. However, the active participation of all of us motivated me a lot, and thanks to advice and cheerful words from professor Małgorzata, we managed it through incorporation with each other. It was the first time for me to undertake a collaborative research, so I have learned a lot through this project, reflected a lot, and I would like to make use of this experience next time I do another team project. I would like to say a big thanks to all involved in this research. What I can say for those who want to do a collaborative project is just have fun and keep motivated!