This paper is an evaluation of an attempt to create a
community of learners in an Initial Teacher Education
course. Students who participated were in their third
year of a four year Bachelor of Technology Education
degree at a Scottish university. As part of the Educational
Studies component of the course, students were
required to work collaboratively to produce a unit of
work based on the Scottish Higher Grade arrangement
documents in one of three areas of Technology
Education (Product Design, Technological Studies and
Graphic Communication). The end of year assessment,
however, was to be based not on the actual unit of work
produced but on student reflection on the process of
collaborative learning and their ability to establish links
between practice and theory in the field
