Collaborativeness

There is a fine line between collaborative work and group work. In a perfect world, all group members would be dedicated to the outcome of a project equally, but in reality, some people care more than others. Instead, group work is usually the case. Group work is usually done by a small percentage of the group while the others contribute minimally and take credit for the outcome. People in group work are often motivated extrinsically by incentives such as a good grade or a prize of some sort.
True collaboration consists of a group of people who feel passionate about something and are working toward a common goal. These collaborators are intrinsically motivated and are contributing all they can to the group because they want to succeed. I think one of the main differences between collaboration and group work is the choice factor. Usually, people doing group work or cooperative learning have to choose topics within an assignment or topic. Collaboration occurs when people are physically and mentally present of their own accord.
I have been the victim of group work countless times...even at the college level. Admittedly, I am not always intrinsically motivated to complete a project and I do it for the grade, but I am still not willing to let the quality of the work suffer. There is some truth to the adage, "If you want something done right you gotta do it yourself." I usually end up doing most of the work.
The first time I was part of a collaboration was during this semester in my Contact Improvisation class. The dance affected us so much that our class has become a community of sorts and we hosted an all night jam (dance) last weekend. Although not everyone was able to make it, we worked together in class and outside of class to organize and plan the event. There was no grade riding on it, it was a suggestion thrown out by a student that my teacher agreed to, and it was fun. For the first time, I was involved in a collaborative activity and I found it much more meaningful than any group work I have ever done. In fact, I detest group work because I come out of the project feeling used. The problem is, kids have such varied interests that trying to do a collaborative project in a class would be almost impossible. There are bound to be people who are uninterested but they might be the only ones interested in that topic, leaving them no one to collaborate with. It work in Contact Improvisation because we all took the class because we wanted to. It isn't a required class. I speculate that most people in my high school Spanish classes will be there to satisfy a graduation or college entry requirement. Teachers cannot magically create intrinsically motivated kids in a subject they don't enjoy.