Important Collaborative Learning Strategies

2nd half of 14th century

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Collaborative learning is becoming a more popular teaching method in the classroom and workplace. This type of learning involves two or more individuals working together to learn a new topic of reach a common goal. This allows the group members to capitalize on each other’s knowledge or skill of a certain topic.

One of the most important aspects of effective collaborative learning is to immediately build strong group interdependence. This is a camaraderie that encourages group members to work together to reach a common objective. Collaborative learning could include awarding bonus points to a group if all members score above a specific score.

An often overlooked strategy is to keep the groups small. Since group members will be required to interact on a regular basis, it is important to keep groups to a maximum of six students. More than six could result in finding time to fit all members’ schedules to collaborate.

Another effective concept is to implement peer instruction. This is typically comprised of developing assignments by which students learn a specific expertise on different topics. Then, the student is required to teach their peers in a structured format such as developing an activity, an interactive online lecture, a game or a quiz.

Similarly, by giving students more control over the collaborative work process, they will be able to better manage within groups. Students should be given a choice in learning activities, initiation of activity, decision-making and the end products. Groups who select their own topics and develop their own projects will have much more pride and thus motivation to successfully complete the assignment. The student will take ownership of the project.

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Collaborative Learning as a Teaching Philosophy

There are many successful ways of teaching groups and individuals, and collaborative learning as a teaching philosophy attempts to address both. Collaborative learning is about choosing to work with a group to improve one’s knowledge of a particular subject or situation. Often instruction places students at various performance levels together to achieve a single goal. The idea is that they will succeed or fail together.

In a deeper approach, the success of collaborative learning as a teaching philosophy can be seen as a way to help poor performing students improve as they work side by side with high performing students. This form of instruction works well in the classroom, around small group projects. Once it moves into larger settings, it might be defined as cooperative learning.

The distinction between the two teaching philosophies is that collaborative learning is focused on the students’ achievements where cooperative learning is usually an educator designed environment that focuses on the interaction between teachers and students. The terms are sometimes interchangeable as teachers are certainly involved in the collaborative learning model, too.

Collaborative learning has four distinct characteristics. They are:
The shared knowledge among teachers and students
The shared authority in designing lesson plans, goals and assessing what it is learned
Teachers as mediators instead of the authority
Diverse groupings of students to mix various backgrounds, cultures and experiences to enhance the learning model.

A critical feature of the collaborative learning philosophy is that it lacks segregation. Children are not separated by ability, interests or achievements. They are grouped together so that they can learn from each others’ experiences and knowledge. This fosters a deeper understanding of different cultures, lifestyles, and insights. Often brighter students actually learn something from the average or poor student, so the learning environment is enriched on a number of levels. Life skills, people skills and public interaction become lessons that are learned and improved upon in a collaborative setting.

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How to Make Team Learning Successful

Team learning can be very successful if it’s structured right. However, a poor lesson plan or lack of accountability for the individuals in the group can spell disaster. In order to get the full benefits of the team learning environment a few criteria need to be met.

The groups have to be properly formed and managed. Typically, the group should be no bigger than five to seven students. There also needs to be an even distribution of member characteristics. In other words, four high achieving students placed with one poor student will not foster a good learning environment or produce satisfactory results. Likely the poor performer will continue to under perform as the odd man out.

The students must be made individually accountable for preparing their individual components for the group project, devoting time and effort towards the group project, and by interacting in a positive way. Therefore, the individual components have to be the same for each student.

The team assignment has to promote good team learning and good team development. Some of the biggest complaints from team members are the presence of free riders and conflict within the group. The best way to avoid team conflict is to make assignments that promote team decision making in simple forms. Don’t make it too complex where poorer students will fall behind.

The overlying philosophy in team learning is about the collaboration. Academics are certainly key, but so are the life lessons that are learned when students are expected to work together and achieve together. Ultimately, the unique characteristics of each team member should bring assets to the project that will make it successful.

Teachers should stress commitment by the entire team and allow the students to exercise free will in completing the project. In this way, the students engage in a collaborative learning model that allows them to teach and learn from each other.

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How Some Businesses Use Collaborative Learning

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Businesses are often dedicated to helping their employees grow while they are with that particular company. One of the ways that an employee can grow is by learning new skills and trades while on the job. Many companies, in an effort to help these employees learn and grow, have started to turn to collaborative learning techniques to help distribute new information and help their employees accumulate additional skills.

Collaborative learning is the ability of two or more people to get together and learn from one another. This can either be done by having a group of people get together and debate and talk about what should be done on a project or just simply by having groups of people get together to learn new skills that are essential to their particular career path.

Here are some ways that companies have used collaborative learning to help further their employee’s carers.

Enrichment Courses. An apartment community in the Seattle area signed up all their employees for an enrichment course. This course got all managers together to learn about various selling techniques that are being used recently and how to market their apartments for rent in Seattle so that people are interested. The group sat together and learned from one other in this collaborative learning environment.

Motivational Courses. A carpet cleaning company has had a motivational speaker go around and speak to all their employees. While this motivational speaker is supposed to motivate the sales team to sell items, he also brought the group of employees together so that they could brainstorm — collaboratively — about various ways to sell their products and maximize their revenue and earning potential.

While these are just two examples of how companies are embracing the idea of collaborative learning, it is a sure bet that more companies will start to incorporate this style of learning into their company’s plan.

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The Peer-Led Team Learning Approach

The peer-led team learning approach offers a unique collaborative learning technique that allows groups of six to eight students to work on course study together. A student peer leader will guide the group. The individual who is chosen to lead is a student who has previously succeeded in the course.

As a peer leader, the student receives valuable experiences that can have a huge impact on professional growth. The leader is not there to give answers, but to provide guidance, support, motivation and constructive criticism. This style of teaching helps provide timely assistance when the group encounters a problem, brings new techniques and ideas to problem solving and keeps encouragement in the forefront.

There are six critical components that make peer-led team learning successful. First, the workshop has to be a regular led course that students are expected to attend. The teacher has to be closely involved in the workshop and its leaders. Naturally, the peer leaders have to be well trained and closely supervised. The workshop materials have to be challenging and conducive to collaborative learning. The space, time and other organizational factors have to be optimal for group learning, and finally, the school has to support the peer-led learning approach and it’s innovative way of guiding students.

For those interested in exploring peer-led team learning, there is a website that helps explain and guide, as well as offer current news and publications. It can be found at http://www.pltl.org. The FAQ section of this website is very comprehensive and can answer the questions that even the most critical educator may have about this style of teaching and learning.

What is most important to understand is that the peer leader is not the teacher. He or she is a guide and a support. The experience is about the group, not the individual.

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What Is Collaborative Learning?

You may not be familiar with the phrase “collaborative learning.” The concept itself is not new, but it is beginning to enjoy resurgence, so you may be hearing it more often.

Simply put, collaborative learning is when learning is done in groups of two or more. If your child comes home from school and says that she is in a reading group made up of two good readers, two average readers, and two readers who need a little more help, and she’s one of the helpers, then she is participating in a form of collaborative learning.

Likewise, when students are assigned to a group for a project, and one is responsible for finding out information on one part of the project, another on the other part, and still another on the conclusion or findings, this is a type of collaborative learning. Each is responsible for a portion of the work, as well as checking up on each other to make sure everything is being done correctly.

Not every subject can be taught through collaborative learning, nor will every child benefit from this specific learning technique. Those subjects that provide a base of knowledge, however, such as reading, usually lend themselves to this concept.

And while children do learn certain things together, they are still responsible for filling in the blanks, especially when it comes to group projects. They must remember that their part isn’t the only one that will be on a test; rather, everything they have learned through their efforts together will be included.

You can find information on collaborative learning by using such sites as Canada 411 to find local education resources. Once you have learned more about it, if your child’s school is not using this technique and you feel it may be helpful, you can approach the teachers or administrators with the idea using the information you have learned.

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Benefits of Collaborative Learning

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There are easily dozens of benefits associated with collaborative learning that you should be aware of. For example, collaborative learning helps you to develop higher levels of thinking skills while promoting student-faculty familiarity and interaction. Additionally, collaborative learning can increase student retention while building self-esteem and enhancing the level of student satisfaction in the learning experience. Through these experiences, you will find that collaborative learning can promote a positive attitude in the direction of the subject matter while developing skills in social interaction, race relations and communication.

The environment created by collaborative learning is involved, active and exploratory. The collaborative learning style uses team approaches for problem solving, encouraging understanding of diversity and the responsibility of learning in the students. Additionally, collaborative learning allows students to explore alternate solutions for problems in a safe environment while stimulating critical thinking skills. People promoting collaborative learning post flyers listing its many advantages, including that it can promote higher achievement as well as higher class attendance.

In colleges using collaborative learning, this method of learning is capable of improving the community environment inside of the classroom. It can improve leadership skills among female students and can create environments allowing students to practice building their leadership skills. It has also been found that collaborative learning is capable of creating a social support system that is stronger than in other learning styles, and it can promote innovation within teaching and innovation within classroom techniques. This collaborative learning is also capable of addressing the differences in learning styles from student to student. With so many benefits associated with collaborative learning, it should make sense why this style of learning is being promoted in educational institutions. No style of learning reduces anxiety or boosts community the way that collaborative learning is capable of doing. This is the type of educational style that most schools should employ in teaching children, teens and adults.

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Using Internet Sources for Collaborative Learning

If your daughter comes home from school telling you that she’s been put into a particular group for a project, she is actually describing what is called collaborative learning. It’s not a new concept, but it has been showing signs of resurgence in the past few years.

Collaborative learning has many advantages, not the least of which it’s simply more fun to do things in groups. Why do you think so many college students form study groups (another example of collaborative learning) almost as soon as they arrive on campus in their freshman year?

Collaborative learning can also provide the needed boost that some students need. When a student is struggling with a particular aspect of an assignment, someone else in the group may be able to help him or her see it more clearly. Also, oftentimes, when the help comes from a peer, it is better accepted.

Collaborative learning is used quite a bit in online universities. Many of them require that their students “link up” either through e-mail, instant messaging, a social network, or even through technology that allows for “face-to-face” contact, to work on an assignment. This means you may be in one state working with someone who is clear across the country, or even with someone who is in another country.

Online resources such as elearners.com can help you find online universities that incorporate collaborative learning into their programs. These same resources can also help you determine which online universities are legitimate and whose degrees are recognized, rather than those that are simply “diploma mills.”

If you are familiar with collaborative learning and enjoy using this method, you should have no problem finding an online university that uses it. You may get a chance to communicate with a student who is already enrolled to find out if the school does use collaborative learning techniques before you make your decision to enroll.

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