COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

Effective communication and Collaboration are essential for becoming a successful learner. It is primarily through dialogue and examining different perspectives that students become knowledgeable, strategic and self determined and empathetic. Moreover, involving students in real world tasks and linking new information to prior knowledge requires effective communication and collaboration among teachers, students and others. Indeed it is through dialogue and interaction that curriculum objectives come alive. Collaborative learning affords students enormous advantages which is not available in traditional instruction.

“Collaborative learning” is an umbrella term for a variety of educational approaches involving joint intellectual effort by students, or students and teachers together. Usually, students are working in groups of two or more, mutually searching for understanding, solutions, or meanings, or creating a product. Collaborative learning activities vary widely, but most center on students’ exploration or application of the course material, not simply the teachers presentation or explication of it.

Collaborative learning represents a significant shift away from the typical teacher centered or lecture-centered milieu in college classrooms. In collaborative classrooms, the lecturing/ listening/note-taking process may not disappear entirely, but it lives alongside other processes that are based in students’ discussion and active work with the course material. Teachers who use collaborative learning approaches tend to think of themselves less as expert transmitters of knowledge to students, and more as expert designers of intellectual experiences for students-as coaches or mid-wives of a more emergent learning process. Collaborative learning puts students together to work in heterogeneous groups. All perspectives of all learners are utilized for enriching learning; all are seen as equal contributors, collaborating to achieve a mutual goal. Collaborative consultation encourages shared responsibility in planning and decision making. The focus on the collective knowledge and thinking of the group changes the roles of students and teachers and the way they interact in the classroom.

Essential features of Collaborative Learning

1. A group learning task is designed based on shared learning goals and outcomes

2. Students work in teams to master academic materials

3. Reward systems are group oriented than individual oriented

4. Co-operative behaviour involves trust building activities, joint planning and understanding of team support.

5. Students involvement in learning activities are more

6. Encourages students to acquire an active voice in shaping their ideas

Advantages of Collaborative Learning

1. Promotes social and intellectual involvement

2. Cultivation of teamwork, community building, and leadership skills

3. Enhanced student satisfaction and promoting positive attitudes

4. Open expression of ideas in groups

5. Patience in hearing others

6. Team building

7. Shared responsibility

Jigsaw Strategy

The Jigsaw Strategy is an efficient way to learn the course material in a cooperative learning style. The jigsaw process encourages listening, engagement, and empathy by giving each member of the group an essential part to play in the academic activity. Group members must work together as a team to accomplish a common goal; each person depends on all the others. No student can succeed completely unless everyone works well together as a team. This "cooperation by design" facilitates interaction among all students in the class, leading them to value each other as contributors to their common task.

For example, students are divided into small groups of five or six students each. Each member of the group is assigned a portion of an assignment or research project. Each member must research the material pertaining to their section of the project and be prepared to discuss it with their classmates.

The Jigsaw strategy places great emphasis on cooperation and shared responsibility within groups. The success of each group depends on the participation of each individual in completing their task. This means the Jigsaw strategy effectively increases the involvement of each student in the activity.

 To implement the Jigsaw:

1. Divide the material needed to cover a topic into four roughly equal parts.

2. Assign a different topic to each team member.

3. Develop and assign homework questions or essays over the material. These can be turned in for points or a grade in undergraduate classes.

4. When class meets again, students consult with experts from other teams.

5. Experts return to their teams and teach.

6. Team synthesis activity.

Managing Group Learning in Classroom

Classroom management is the most vital skill that the teacher should demonstrate. The factors of classroom management depend on the teacher’s knowledge of structuring his presentation, knowledge about the psychology of the learner rapport between the students, rule making capacity etc. the efficiency for managing the group learning techniques depends on teacher’s efficiency in handling human resources.

The teacher should not be a dictator for the execution of the task but he should be dictator of ideas. He should plan the activities in such a way that effective utilization and involvement pupil participation should be maintained. To be an effective classroom manager teacher

must learn to exercise, the least amount of power necessary to accomplish the desired result.

Tips for managing group learning

Teachers can use some techniques for producing better efficiency in group learning techniques.

1. Change group composition frequently so that students of different backgrounds, academic achievement levels, and social skills learn to work together. This capacity is build to familiarity, insights, and trust.

2. Organize the work so that each team member contributes to the achievement of the team goals.

3. Use teacher observations, tests, checklists, and individual assignments to measure each student’s achievement.

4. Promote group responsibility by holding groups accountable for completing specific tasks or project steps during work sessions.

5. Tech, model, and assess the social skills you expect teams to demonstrate: Listening, taking turns, encouraging, and supporting each other, staying on task, cleaning up the work area, etc.

6. Pick the right sized task. Bit must be challenging enough to keep students interested, but easy enough for students to achieve success (with effort) in the time allotted.

7. Include a very specific assignment or menu of options for teams to work on. “every meeting results in a product “-a list to create, a diagram to draw , an outline to display, a form to fill out.

8. Anticipate that not every group will finish at the same time. Have a classroom poster or handout with a list of “what to do if you finish early” items on it.

9. Teach teams how to assess how well they work together. Encourage “team reflection” as part of every activity.