Thanks to Rashmi Kumar for her help in sourcing articles and preparing abstracts. Unless otherwise stated, the abstracts appeared with the articles. Where possible, email addresses are provided in the hope of encouraging collaboration.

Kratzer, J., Leenders, R. Th. A. J., & Van Engelen, J. M. L. (2004). Stimulating the potential: Creative performance and communication in innovation teams. Creativity and Innovation Management, 13(1), 6371.

Creativity is essential to successful new product development efforts. Teams constitute the organizing principle in most modern innovation activities. Although creativity research has revealed many factors influencing individual creativity, little is known about how team-level creativity is determined. Since the creative innovation task requires teams to combine and integrate input from multiple team members, the team's communication pattern is an important determinant of team creativity. Based on a sample of 44 NPD teams in eleven companies, this study examines the effects of team-member communication on team creativity. It is found that both interaction frequency and subgroup-formation of communication have a negative relationship to team creativity. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and further research is indicated.

Fischer, B., & Boynton, A. (2005). Virtuoso teams. Harvard Business Review, 83(7), 116-123.

In this article, Bill Fischer and Andy Boynton put the inner workings of highly successful virtuoso teams on full display through three examples: the creative group behind West Side Story, the team of writers for Sid Caesar’s 1950s-era television hit Your Show of Shows, and the high-powered technologists who averted an investor-relations crisis for Norsk Hydro, the Norwegian energy giant. Each of these teams accomplished enormous goals and changed their businesses, their customers, even their industries. And they did so by breaking all the conventional rules of collaboration—from the way they recruited the best members to the way they enforced their unusual processes, and from the high expectations they held to the exceptional results they produced.  [the following was not in the original abstract] The authors conclude the article with a message: “Don’t hesitate to assemble the very best and let their egos soar. Encourage intense dialogue—and then watch as the sparks fly. If you allow the most brilliant minds in your organization to collide and create, the results will be true excellence.”

Lin, Z., & Barnett, C. [c.barnett@ballarat.edu.au](2005). Collaboration in learning at the university level? – An initial investigation. Journal of Student Centered Learning, 2(2), 121-129.

Collaboration in learning at the tertiary level has long been an issue calling for research. This paper reports on a project designed to investigate whether collaboration may enhance learning among students of education. The initial findings indicate that collaboration is favored by tertiary students and has enhanced their learning.

Wilson, M. [marywils@uoguelph.ca] (2005). Supplemental instruction in the Canadian context. Journal of Student Centered Learning, 2(2), 109-119.

The University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada has adopted the Supplemental Instruction model from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. In Guelph’s Supported Learning Groups (SLGs) Program, undergraduate student Peer Helpers and professional staff from Student Affairs collaborate with course instructors to provide dedicated co-curricular academic support to students enrolled in traditionally difficult courses. The SLG Program offers weekly, collaborative, peer-to-peer group study sessions designed to help students meet course objectives successful, develop transferable learning strategies and make a successful transition to university learning.

Schmidt, K. [kschmid@ilstu.edu], & Canabal, M. (2005). A faculty collaborative approach to engaged, student centered teaching and learning. Journal of Student Centered Learning, 2(2), 103-108.

This project represents the collaboration at a university between two departments that share the common goals of exposing their students to active learning and student engagement in a simulation of a real-life working experience. Concepts of interdisciplinary learning were included to expand collaboration between faculty and students, and among students.

Moore, J. [joy.moore@uc.edu] (2005). Improving retention in calculus through student-centered learning. Journal of Student Centered Learning, 2(2), 97-101.

This paper relates findings on a collaborative learning calculus program that has proven successful in improving student achievement and retention in the first-year calculus experience. The Cooperative Learning Calculus Program in the Department of Mathematical Sciences implements a student-centered, constructivist pedagogy to supplement student learning in the primary calculus series.

Siegel, C. [csiegel@gsu.edu]. (2005). Implementing a research-based model of cooperative learning. Journal of Educational Research, 96(6), 339-351.

The author used qualitative research methods to explore an 8th-grade mathematics teacher's personal definition of cooperative learning and the enactment of cooperative learning in his classroom according to that definition. Data collection involved interviews and classroom observations. The author used coding schemes and descriptive statistics for data reduction and analysis. Constructivist psychology provided the theoretical groundwork for conclusions based on consistency across interview and observational data. Results revealed that while the teacher implemented a research-based model of cooperative-learning instruction, he adapted the model for use in his classroom. Results also identified the teacher's prior experience and teaching context as factors that influenced his implementation of cooperative-learning instruction.

Goodman, B. A. [bgoodman@mitre.org], Linton, F. N., Gaimari, R. D., Hitzeman, J. M., Ross, H. J., & Zarella, G. (2005). Using dialogue features to predict trouble during collaborative learning. User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction, 15(1), 85-134.

A web-based, collaborative distance-learning system that will allow groups of students to interact with each other remotely and with an intelligent electronic agent that will aid them in their learning has the potential for improving on-line learning. The agent would follow the discussion and

interact with the participants when it detects learning trouble of some sort, such as confusion about the problem they are working on or a participant who is dominating the discussion or not interacting with the other participants. In order to recognize problems in the dialogue, we investigated conversational elements that can be utilized as predictors for effective and ineffective interaction between human students. These elements can serve as the basis for student and group models. In this paper, we discuss group interaction during collaborative learning, our representation of participant dialogue, and the statistical models we are using to determine the role being played by a participant at any point in the dialogue and the effectiveness of the group. We also describe student and group models that can be built using conversational elements and discuss one set that we built to illustrate their potential value in collaborative learning.

Obiakor, F. [fobiakor@uwm.edu], & Beachum, F. D. (2005). Developing self-empowerment in African American students using the Comprehensive Support Model. The Journal of Negro Education, 74(1), 18-29.

African American students face myriad problems that are pervasive, multifaceted, and sociohistorical. In the U.S. educational system, these students are frequently stigmatized, misidentified, mislabeled, misplaced, and misinstructed. In addition to these problems, they are blamed by this same system that fails to value their behavioral, learning, and cultural styles. This article identifies self-empowerment as a means of maximizing the educational potential of African American students using the Comprehensive Support Model (CSM). Also, pertinent cases are provided to support the implementation of the CSM.

(from elsewhere in the article) While African American students' motivation may be cultivated at home, one of the most effective avenues for engendering their motivation is a school's environment (Renchler, 1992). The school can increase students' motivation by implementing policies that promote (a) goal-setting and self-regulation, (b) student choices, (c) student achievements, (d) teamwork and cooperative learning, and (e) self-assessment models rather than social comparisons (see Renchler, 1992). In addition, teachers can enhance students' intrinsic motivation by allowing them to feel in control of their own learning (Dev, 1997).

Mikami, A. M. [amori@stanfordalumni.org], Boucher, M. A., & Humphreys, K. (2005). Prevention of peer rejection through a classroom-level intervention in middle school. Journal of Primary Prevention, 26(1), 5-23.

This project evaluated an intervention for preventing peer rejection in middle school that promoted social acceptance in the classroom environment. The systems-level and preventive focus of this intervention differed markedly from traditional interventions that target putative deficits within individual rejected children. In collaboration with 24 teachers and their classrooms, the intervention team led mixed groups of accepted and rejected children in cooperative games that required teamwork and mutual respect among all members in order to succeed. To reinforce these alliances between children, as well as to prevent future peer rejection, teachers were encouraged to use cooperative, teamwork-based group activities for academic instruction. The intervention was evaluated using a randomized control (waitlist) design. Results suggested that the intervention reduced the amount of self-reported peer rejection in

classrooms. Implications for the further development and evaluation of systems-level interventions to prevent peer rejection are discussed.

Berry, R. A. W., & Englert, C. S. [carolsue@pilot.msu.edu] (2005). Designing conversation: Book discussions in a primary inclusion classroom. Learning Disability Quarterly, 28(1), 35-58.

This study examined the nature of student talk and the teacher's role during book discussions. The participants were 17 first- and second-graders with and without disabilities in an inner-city inclusion classroom. Applied conversation analysis techniques were employed to analyze two videotaped book discussions. Results indicated that student-selected topics and contingent talk were necessary for fluent conversational discourse. Additionally, the teacher's role was crucial in apprenticing students to deal with a novel participant structure and its attendant complex linguistic and cognitive requirements. Results also demonstrated the competence with which students with disabilities assumed influential and decisive roles in the discussions. Implications for students with disabilities are discussed in terms of opportunities for self-expression and involvement in constructing and negotiating the activity.

This study examined the nature of student talk and the teacher's role during book discussions. The participants were 17 first- and second-graders with and without disabilities in an inner-city inclusion classroom. Applied conversation analysis techniques were employed to analyze two videotaped book discussions. Results indicated that student-selected topics and contingent talk were necessary for fluent conversational discourse. Additionally, the teacher's role was crucial in apprenticing students to deal with a novel participant structure and its attendant complex linguistic and cognitive requirements. Results also demonstrated the competence with which students with disabilities assumed influential and decisive roles in the discussions. Implications for students with disabilities are discussed in terms of opportunities for self-expression and involvement in constructing and negotiating the activity.

Fawcett, L. M., & Garton, A. F. [a.ganon@ecu.edu.au]. (2005). The effect of peer collaboration on children’s problem-solving ability. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 75 (Part 2), 157-169.

A Vygotskian framework links cognitive change to collaborative interaction with a more competent partner whereas a Piagetian perspective supports the view that cognitive conflict arising from peer interaction leads to cognitive change. Here, Fawcett and Garton investigate the effect of collaborative learning on children's problem-solving ability and whether differences in knowledge status or the use of explanatory language were contributing factors.

Plata, M., & Trusty, J. [jgt3@psu.edu]. (2005, Spring). Effect of socioeconomic status on general and at-risk high school boys’ willingness to accept same-sex peers with LD. Adolescence Magazine, 40, 47-66.

Thirty-eight educationally successful and 33 educationally at-risk high school boys from varying SES backgrounds participated in a study to determine their willingness to allow same-sex peers with LD to participate in activities in the school, out-of-school, and both contexts. Kruskal Wallis One-way Analysis of Variance of Ranks results indicated that, regardless of academic designation, boys from low SES backgrounds were more willing than their counterparts to accept peers with LD. Significant differences among SES groups were found in several activities performed in the out-of-school contexts, especially those with emotional or cognitive connotations. Discussion addresses the importance of training classroom teachers and general education students in maintaining an inclusive environment.

Summers, J. J. [summersje@missouri.edu], Beretvas, S. N., Svinicki, M. D., & Gorin, J. S. (2005). Evaluating collaborative learning and community. The Journal of Experimental Education, 73(3), 165-188.

The goal of this study was to validate measures and assess the effects of collaborative group-learning methods in real classrooms on 3 specific dependent variables: feelings of campus connectedness, academic classroom community, and effective group processing (2 factors). Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to evaluate a 4-factor model. Using hierarchical linear modeling techniques, results indicated that campus connectedness and collaborative learning (compared with no collaborative learning) predicted positive academic classroom community. For classes using more formal cooperative group work, campus connectedness and group processing-evaluation predicted positive academic classroom community. Suggestions for further applications of the measures are discussed.