8.14.2008

WELCOME!

This blog was created for the course EDUC 605 and focuses on the effective use of collaborative learning in adult education. Please follow the following links to the other areas of the blog:

What is Collaborative Learning?
What are advantages and disadvantages of Collaborative Learning?
What Collaborative Learning strategies can I use in my classroom?
Where can I find more information?

8.11.2008

Where can I find more information?

The following websites are overflowing with information about Collaborative Learning and were also my resources in creating this blog! Enjoy!

An Overview of Cooperative Learning

Assessment in and of Collaborative Learning

Changing a Course From Lecture Format to Cooperative Learning

Commonly Asked Questions about Teaching Collaborative Activities

Cooperative Learning is Active Learning

ERCIM News: Turning Web 2.0 Social Software into Collaborative Learning and Knowledge Management Solutions

ERIC Digest: Collaborative Learning in Community Colleges

From Rowdy Crowd to Effective Team

How CL motivates students and teachers

Learning Commons "What is Collaborative Learning?"

Oregon State U.: The Basics of Collaborative Learning

Study Guides and Strategies.net

Ted's Cooperative Learning E-Book

Tips for Grading Group Work

U. of Texas Collaborative Learning Structures and Techniques

Wiki on Collaborative Learning

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Index:
What is Collaborative Learning?
What are advantages and disadvantages of Collaborative Learning?
What Collaborative Learning strategies can I use in my classroom?

What Collaborative Learning strategies can I use in my classroom?

Before using Collaborative Learning strategies, it is important that you do the following:

  • Create activities and assignments that require the group to work together and be dependent upon eachother. This creates motivation to succeed--if the individual does well, so does the group.
  • Make group work relevant to the course objectives. Students should also be able to apply knowledge and prior experiences.
  • Create assignments centered around student's skills.
  • Make sure group work is evenly distributed so that one person is never doing the bulk of the work.
  • Set up competitions between groups to increase involvement.
  • Consider doing group tests as demonstrated in this video below:


An introduction to team-based learning -- one form of collaborative learning -- in the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Sydney

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Resource:
Davis, Barbara Gross. Tools for Teaching; Jossey-Bass Publishers: San Francisco, 1993.

Smith & MacGregor. "What Is Collaborative Learning?" in Collaborative Learning: A Sourcebook for Higher Education, by Anne Goodsell, Michelle Maher, Vincent Tinto, Barbara Leigh Smith and Jean MacGregor. Published by the National Center on Postsecondary Teaching, Learning, and Assessment at Pennsylvania State University. 1992
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Here are some examples of Collaborative Learning Strategies that are commonly used:


Think pair share- This method has three steps. During the first step individuals think silently about a question posed by the instructor. Individuals pair up during the second step and exchange thoughts. In the third step, the pairs share their responses with other pairs, other teams, or the entire group.

Three-Step Interview - Each member of a team chooses another member to be a partner. During the first step students interview their partners. During the second step partners reverse the roles. For the final step, students' share their partner's response with the team.

Jigsaw - Groups are set up. Each group member is assigned some unique material to learn and then to teach to his group members. To help in the learning students across the class working on the same sub-section get together to decide what is important and how to teach it. After practice in these "expert" groups the original groups reform and students teach each other.

Numbered Heads Together - A team is established. Each member is given numbers of 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. Questions are asked of the group. Groups work together to answer the question so that all can verbally answer the question. Teacher calls out a number (two) and each two is asked to give the answer.

For more strategies, please follow this link to The University of Texas Teaching Resource Center http://www.gdrc.org/kmgmt/c-learn/methods.html

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Index:
What is Collaborative Learning?
What are advantages and disadvantages of Collaborative Learning?
Where can I find more information?

What are advantages and disadvantages of Collaborative Learning?

CL PROS

  • develops independent learners
  • encourages conflict resolution
  • encourages students to share experiences and learn from others
  • creates an environment for risk taking and active participation

CL CONS

  • usually there isn’t sufficient time for true collaboration to occur
  • instructor may not be able to monitor groups effectively
  • instructor may have a difficult time going from instructor to “facilitator”
  • developing quality CL activities which are appropriate for meeting objectives is often difficult

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Index:
What is Collaborative Learning?
What Collaborative Learning strategies can I use in my classroom?
Where can I find more information?

What is Collaborative Learning?

Collaborative learning (CL) is a term used to identify a variety of educational approaches that involve work done by students, or students and teachers together. Usually, students are working in groups of two or more, jointly searching for meaning, solutions, or creating a project. Most CL activities focus on the exploration or application of the course material through group activities, not simply through lecture.

CL shares the belief that knowledge is socially, rather than individually, constructed by groups of individuals and that those individuals can partake in the shaping and testing of ideas (MacGregor 1990; Novotny, Seifert, and Werner 1991).

It is important for a facilitator using CL to establish an environment and create a group culture in which adults feel comfortable taking risks and sharing ideas (Brookfield 1986).

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Brookfield, S. D. Understanding and Facilitating Adult Learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1986.

MacGregor, J. "Collaborative Learning: Shared Inquiry as a Process of Reform." New Directions for Teaching and Learning no. 42 (Summer 1990)

Novotny, A. S.; Seifert, R. G.; and Werner, D. "Collective Learning: A Pro-Social Teaching Strategy for Prison Education." Journal of Correctional Education 42, no. 2 (June 1991)
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Index:
What are advantages and disadvantages of Collaborative Learning?
What Collaborative Learning strategies can I use in my classroom?
Where can I find more information?