*Ritke Jones, W. (2008). “Using Cyberspace to Promote
Transformative Learning and Consequently Democracy in the Workplace.” Handbook of Research on Virtual Workplaces and the New Nature of Business Practices , Eds., Pavel Zemliansky and Kirk St. Amant.
This chapter explains
transformative learning and its value and application to corporate training
practices. I argue that corporate training should include transformative
learning in their practices and that doing do so will foster the growth of
corporate culture into a more democratic, inclusive one where diverse voices
are heard and invited. A more democratic culture will likely increase morale,
retention, and productivity. I also argue that the unique characteristics
of cyberspace offer great opportunities for transformative learning. I also show how transformative learning could have been
applied to two online
collaborative groups that were using a distance education platform employed by
many universities. Ithen show how these principles could be transferred
to newer technologies such as Wikis and Blogs and to technologies being
developed.
*Ritke-Jones, W. and Merys, G. "Connected
knowing isn't just girl's stuff: Gender fluidity in online collaborative groups." Under review by Computers and Compostion
This
article presents a
qualitative study of two online collaborative groups that successfully formed a
group consciousness and that subsequently created work that was likely better
than any one person in the group could have done. Thematic analysis of archived
communications through memoing and coding revealed that the men and women in
these mixed gender groups were able to collaborate successfully because they
transcended cultural stereotypes of proper gender behavior. This conclusion
provides further evidence that gender is a social construct and that gender is
much more fluid than the simple dichotomy of male/female proposes. This
conclusion was reached by a female and a male researcher who memoed and coded
independently but who then compared and discussed what they saw. Conclusions
about the behavior of the individuals in the two groups were triangulated
further with chat interviews. The study is positioned within extant research on
gender behavior in cyberspace, group theory, masculinity studies, and feminist
studies. It suggests that people acting in cyberspace may feel safer to express
repressed characteristics that culture assigns to the “other” gender but that
additional research into small groups collaborating in cyberspace needs to be
performed.
*Ritke Jones, W. (Jan 2007) “Why they don't work: Factors
negatively
affecting social cohesion in online collaborative groups,” Pennsylvania
Association for Community Educators—Journal of Lifelong Learning
This paper discusses the conclusions drawn from a
qualitative study of social cohesion in two online collaborative groups comprised of working adult students and
exhibits what data were used and how the data were coded. The data reveals how
cultural, gender, and racial issues adversely affected the formation of social
cohesion in the two groups as well as other factors grouped into four
categories: technology related; individual related; group related; and
instructor related. The paper provides an extensive literature review of group
formation and the vital role that social cohesion plays in a group’s task
performance. Finally, recommendations about fostering social cohesion in online
groups are made, and a call for additional research into cultural, gender and
racial issues in online groups is made.
