Engaging first year students in collaborative learning through practical applications : walking the walk or just talking the talk?

Collaborative partnerships enable humans to harness synergies that exponentially multiply the value of individual contributions. In the context of learning environments. collaborative partnerships can transform ordinary learning experiences into dynamic relationships. culminating in powerful. synergistic accomplishments (Saltiel. 1998), This paper examines the effectiveness of a course offered at Central Queensland University in encouraging learning networks and engaging students in collaborative learning. EDEDl1354 Networks and Partnerships is a first year course in the Bachelor of Learning Management. The aim of the course is to provide students with the fundamental concepts for understanding and implementing partnership and network practices and to participate in a range of authentic experiences including a community project that enables students to plan. implement and reflect on communication processes and collaborative team skills. The project task requires that students work col/aboratively in groups to actively explore existing partnerships in a learning site or community organisation. This involves communicating and liaising with relevant stakeholders to identify ways of enhancing and promoting effective partnerships (Central Queensland University, 2005a). This paper reports on feedback gathered from a sample of students. via an online survey, on whether as a result of the collaborative learning task. the learning experience transformed into a dynamic, powerful outcome and how this feedback might be used to improve future learning outcomes.