Whether we teach face-to-face or remotely, collaboration between colleagues remains a winning behavior that helps us push our limits, save time and self-assess. In fact, a balanced and caring collaboration can only improve our practice. Everything is based on questioning and sharing.
We all come to a point, as a teacher, pedagogical advisor or trainer, where we wonder if we can do otherwise, or if there is a more effective method to achieve our ends. Above all, we must not be afraid to question our colleagues in order to see how they see things, what strategies they use, etc. Asking in no way shows weakness or a lack of organization, on the contrary. When you challenge yourself to improve, it's professional development that is at stake, not a lack of confidence.
Concretely, it may be relevant to push the technological question further: applications, principles, platforms, strategies. Also, it is interesting to deal with flexibility: furniture, choice of tasks, feedback… These are all practices that can be remodeled, renewed and acquired.
On social networks, we also find a variety of groups to exchange with colleagues, such as ICT in education, Secondary school teachers, Quebec teachers. There are several others to discover, sometimes simply by searching on a specific topic, such as a discussion group on a particular application. And if it doesn't exist, why not create it?
Let's be proud and proud of our work! When we believe that a resource we have created might be necessary for our team, let's dare to share it. Collaboration is a spinning wheel: someone shares, it helps us, we share in turn, it helps someone else and we also motivate others to question and share by the fact. In addition, technology allows us to work more and more in collaborative mode. Google tools, for example, as well as the extensions offered on Office 365 allow several people to work on documents and easily share our creations across our network, or even beyond.
Sharing remains the basis of professional development and collaboration.
In addition, it is possible to reach even further than its immediate network. With social networks, a growing community of exchanges is developing in connection with convincing practices in education. Discussing remotely, reading what is being done elsewhere, sharing what we are doing, this is a rich opportunity for continuous improvement! Whether on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, several #words-clicks refer to innovation in education and several #rockstaredu can inspire us with their ideas. It is not however a question of comparing oneself: on the contrary, it is rather a question of being inspired in order to progress.
In short, as Henry Ford put it, “coming together is a start, staying together is progress, working together is success”.