Definitions and Introduction
“Collaborative learning is an active learning process where two or more students work together in learning the identified content.”
Collaborative Learning
“… structuring learning so that students are required to respond to one another’s ideas, create a product together, and, more to the point, teach each other, can be an effective teaching strategy.”
Collaborative Learning
Collaborative learning activities can be used with an entire class, small groups, or pairs. These exercises can serve a variety of functions, for example (a) to facilitate active learning and discussion of a topic; (b) to help students develop their ideas or brainstorm solutions to a problem; or (c) to create a group project that results in a formal presentation, paper, or other product. Collaborative learning necessitates social interactions, which promote sharing of ideas, support, and resources. Thus, collaborative learning involves students working together and, in the process, not only teaching each other, but also improving their own learning.
Reframing Student Roles in Collaborative Learning
A prerequisite for successful collaborative learning experience involves a change in students’ attitudes and behaviors. Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning at George Mason University, “to be successful, collaborative learning must involve a shift in roles for student so that they focus on becoming active contributors with information to share who collaborate with their peers to teach and learn.” Specifically, to be successful at collaborative learning, students must learn to shift their understanding of their roles.
- From a more individually oriented approach to a more team-oriented approach
- From listener, observer, and note-taker to active problem-solver, contributor, and discussant
- From low or moderate expectations for class preparation to high expectations for class preparation
- From a private presence in the classroom (e.g., keeping a low profile, staying off the radar screen) to a public one that involves associated risks related to active participation in classroom/group activities and the learning process.
- From attendance dictated by personal choice to attendance expected as part of community standards.
- From competition against peers to collaboration with peers.
- From responsibilities and self-definition associated with learning independently to those associated with learning interdependently.
- From seeing faculty members and texts as sole sources of authority and knowledge to seeing themselves, their peers, and the classroom community as additional sources of authority and knowledge.”
Benefits for students
Using collaboration or small groups instruction can impact student learning and have a range of benefits for students. Participating in these experiences can help them
- Develop oral communication and leadership skills
- Develop interpersonal and group skills
- Learn about and share diverse perspectives
- Increase active engagement in their own learning
- Develop metacognitive skills
- Develop problem-solving skills
- Refine their understanding of content through discussion
- Establish a shared identity with other group members
- Find effective peers to emulate
- Learn to
- Break complex tasks into parts and steps
- Plan and manage time
- Give and receive feedback on performance
- Challenge assumptions made by others
- Risk being wrong, offer suggestions, and defend their opinions
- Develop their own voice and perspectives in relation to peers
- Explain their ideas to others
- Delegate roles and responsibilities
- Pool knowledge and skills
- Hold one another (and be held) accountable
Potential Pitfalls
It is tempting to use groupwork – a common application of collaborative learning – as a convenient teaching strategy – without thinking through the goal, developing a structure and process, preparing students, or monitoring progress and assessing outcomes. As a result, the experience often becomes counterproductive for students, who come to dread group work as an unproductive burden. Specifically, when groupwork is done ineffectively, it has disadvantages for students that include
- Wasted time
- Greater workload than when working alone
- Unequal sharing of knowledge and skills
- Conflict over roles and responsibilities
- Demotivation due to frustration with unequal participation
- Miscommunication among participants
- Problems in coordinating meeting times
- Lack of productivity
Approaches to Successful Collaboration
Designing Effective Collaborative Learning Experiences
Although the potential learning benefits of collaborative learning experiences are significant, simply assigning group activities is no guarantee that desired goals will be achieved. Given the potential benefits and challenges of designing and implementing collaborative learning experiences, below are some suggested guidelines for achieving success with this instructional strategy using groupwork:
- Organize group activities with a purpose; have a learning objective in mind and share this purpose with students
- Do not simply put students in groups with vague directions to discuss a topic; instead, focus the discussion with a question or a specific task to complete
- Structure the task so that students are required to respond to one another’s ideas or teach each other
- Design the activity so that individual success depends on group success
- Require that every student contribute to the work of the group and all participants be responsible for its success
- Always require a product, even if it is as informal as a summary of the discussion
- Discuss with students some of the problems that may arise in each stage and explain the benefits of working collaboratively
- Incorporate team-building exercises and teach communication and conflict-resolution skills
- Establish clear expectations for group members by setting ground rules and/or using team contracts
- Increase individual accountability by combining group assessments with individual assessments
- Explain to students how they will be graded; prepare and distribute a grading rubric
- Incorporate self – assessmentand peer assessment for group members to evaluate their own and others’ contributions
- Ask participants to reflect on and evaluate the group process and come up with ideas for improvements
- Keep groups small, ideally no more than 4 or 5 members
- Create groups that are heterogeneous with respect to knowledge, skills, and perspectives
- Designate some class time for group meetings and monitor group activity to provide clarification of the task and evaluate progress
- Assign roles (e.g., recorder, facilitator, reporter, and summarizer) or encourage students to do so
- Do not overuse this technique
Sources
Dartmouth University Writing Program
Collaborative Learning
Penn State University Pedagogical Practices
Collaborative Learning
Cornell University Center for Teaching Innovation
Collaborative Learning
University of Chicago
Approaches to Successful Collaboration
University of North Texas Teaching Commons
What is Collaborative Learning?
George Mason University Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning
Collaborative Learning
University of Maryland Teaching and Learning Transformation Center
Collaborative Learning
Carnegie Mellon University Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation
Using Group Projects Effectively
Additional Resources on Group Work
Harvard University Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning
Group Work
Western Michigan University WMUx
Facilitating Group Work
University of Michigan Center for Research on Learning and Teaching
Project-Based Groups or Teams
University of Buffalo Office of Curriculum, Assessment, and Teaching Transformation
Group Work