Affiliate News - November 2022 (Plain Text Version)
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THE POWER OF COLLABORATION AND NETWORKING AMONGST TESOL AFFILIATES Jermaine S. McDougald, TESOL Colombia, Liaison Officer, Director ELT Business Development, Universidad de La Sabana, Colombia
Networking and collaboration amongst affiliates and language teaching associations are essential and greatly beneficial. Part of the ANPCs mission is to stay connected with affiliates across the globe to continue to strengthen the affiliate network. Working together collaboratively has proven to increase performance, enhance communication, and overall result in greater accomplishments for everyone. That´s what the Affiliate Network Professional Council (ANPC) strives for. There are distinct types of collaborations that teachers and leaders engage in daily, oftentimes not realizing the overall benefit, which is “synergy” where the sum of the whole, is bigger than the sum of each part. (Kim et al., 2015; Nutcache, 2022) Types of Collaboration Collaboration within the TESOL International community can be divided into 2 categories which are community collaboration and network collaboration (Kissflow, 2022; Meirink et al., 2010) Community Collaboration Regarding community collaboration, the overall goal is for affiliate leaders to learn from others instead of completing a task or assignment. The ANPC is a community where TESOL affiliate leaders join to share and build knowledge which can then be implemented in their respective TESOL associations, where problem-solving has often been key. The ANPC community collaborations, come in different shapes and sizes in which times and spaces are often changed so that everyone has an opportunity to join in on the conversation. For example, monthly scheduled webinars, virtual meetups, and even virtual meet and greets are great examples of community collaborations where affiliates from different regions have come together to discuss the same issues that they have to deal with every day or discover new solutions to common problems (membership, conferences, communication, visibility, finance, marketing, or even professional development). TESOL International is built on community collaboration, more so Communities of Practice (CoP), which in essence is doing more with less. CoPs are groups of people working toward something they believe in –Teaching English to Speakers of Another Language-. They might be geographically dispersed but learn from sharing each other’s experience in solving the same problems. (English Language Teaching, TESOL Affiliates, Language Associations). Furthermore, the CoPs support each other (TESOL´s ANPC), while getting better and more efficient all the time. Nevertheless, they involve the society, they live in (Regions, Groups of TESOL Affiliates), making this a joint effort. At the end of the day, CoPs are concerned with -cooperation- which is concerned with being enthusiastic about something important (English Language Teaching), involving the right people, and getting things done, all the while getting the most out of limited resources. Why CoPs? As a reminder CoPs, encourage the sharing of digital teaching and learning resources (MyTesoLLounge) as well as policy, documented strategies, and best practices for affiliate leaders. Each CoP works towards creating quality learning resources for their subject areas following their teaching context. Participate in local and regional and international events where there are most often joint talks, collaborative projects, workshops, advocacy, and supplying a voice for the TESOL community. Network Collaboration On another note, Network Collaboration (NC) corresponds to interactions between affiliates who are geographically distributed and mostly work autonomously (Kim et al., 2015; Kissflow, 2022), however they all collaborate effectively to achieve common goals. This is a perfect example of how many of the committees, groups, and of course the ANPC works. It comes as no surprise that most of the volunteers and/or affiliates do not know each other very well, since they are connected virtually either through platforms such as MyTESOL, MS Teams, Google Classroom, or social media outlets such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp. Nevertheless, this type of collaboration (Andrews-Todd & Forsyth, 2018) continues to be a trendy way to connect since the Pandemic, (Hall, 2021) where it has been used by affiliate leaders and teachers alike to share information and increase professional development across the globe. Benefits of networking and collaborating as Affiliates There are several reasons and benefits to why networking and collaborating amongst affiliate leaders lead to increased performance, more synchronized communication as well as the chance to do more with less. Here are five benefits of working together:
This year the TESOL ANPC has been working hard to set up new connections and opportunities for networking, this issue brings about new innovative ideas and new initiatives for networking and collaborating between affiliates. TESOL International´s strategic message is for all those involved and for successful implementation, the ANPC must ensure that networking and collaboration take place. Creating a collaborative environment that has networking at the forefront of its mission, which takes time and effort, but the rewards are grand. So, remember, find ways to get your affiliates and members networking and connecting with other associations across the globe, taking each member out of their comfort zone, and providing them with opportunities to connect with TESOL affiliates, through projects and or initiatives that demand collaborative solutions. References Andrews-Todd, J., & Forsyth, C. M. (2018). Exploring social and cognitive dimensions of collaborative problem solving in an open online simulation-based task. Computers in Human Behavior, October, 0–1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.10.025 Hall, R. (2021). How Microsoft Teams Has Changed The Way We Work. Hable. https://www.hable.co.uk/tech/how-microsoft-teams-has-changed-the-way-we-work/ Kim, Y., Glassman, M., & Williams, M. S. (2015). Connecting agents: Engagement and motivation in online collaboration. Computers in Human Behavior, 49, 333–342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.03.015 Kissflow. (2022). The Importance of Collaboration in the Workplace. https://kissflow.com/digital-workplace/collaboration/importance-of-collaboration-in-the-workplace/ Meirink, J. A., Imants, J., Meijer, P. C., & Verloop, N. (2010). Teacher learning and collaboration in innovative teams. Cambridge Journal of Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2010.481256 Nutcache. (2022). Benefits of Collaboration Between Organizations and Teams. https://www.nutcache.com/blog/benefits-of-collaboration-between-organizations-and-teams/ Biodata Jermaine S. McDougald is Director of ELT Business Development at the International Center of Foreign Languages & Cultures, Universidad de La Sabana (Bogotá, Colombia). Currently the Liaison Officer for TESOL Colombia and a member of the TESOL International Affiliate Network Professional Council (ANPC). |
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