# data[].attributes.body
As many already have said/written, I also would like to thank everyone participating in this course for sharing their knowledge, information, ideas on collaborative learning.

I realise that most of us are sincere in their commitment to the course but due to lack of time end up making mistakes when completing tasks, just as I did when writing my final peer reviews. I did not use the provided assessment sheet but wrote my assessments within the provided text boxes.
As mentioned earlier I am really sorry for this. I only realised this when I received such a form from one of my Learning Designer peer reviewers.
I challenge myself to do better during next course.

# data[].attributes.body
Thank you Nikola Delevski and Sabriye Karahan for your comments.

Dear Colleague,

I found that the idea presented in the lesson plan had great potential to engage the students.

It's really fascinating for youngsters and really helpful to make them see how art beautiful is. Also this designer has so many ways of teaching. Well done!

Looking at the peer review made by Nikola, I have to confess I misunderstood the instructions. I wrote my comments seperate from the form as presented by Nikola and would like to appologise to the persons I sent my reviews to.

# data[].attributes.headline
Still no peer reviews.... I'm feeling sad

# data[].attributes.subject
Still no peer reviews.... I'm feeling sad

# data[].attributes.body
Hello everyone,
I handed in my LD and its link a few days ago but have not received the peer reviews. Maybe something went wrong with the link.
It is https://v.gd/D29zj6
I hope that the persons who are meant to write a peer review read this message.
Thanks for trying!

# data[].attributes.body
I just handed in my Learning Designer for the collaborative learning project. It is still a project under construction which I hopefully will be able to complete shortly and with the help and suggestions from my reviewers. Thanks in advance!

# data[].attributes.body
http://www.finchpark.com/courses/sheets.htm

A useful webpage to get ideas to create assessment sheets. I used them to create the assessment sheets for the collaborative learning project.

# data[].attributes.body
https://latinclassicsandeducationin21stcentury.wordpress.com/tag/blooms-taxonomy/
Bloom’s Taxonomy has become so useful for teachers because it assumes that one cannot move from one step of the taxonomy to the next without mastering the first step. A student can’t analyze the data unless she knows the data.

# data[].attributes.headline
4.7 Irish teachers’ reflections on teacher collaboration

# data[].attributes.subject
4.7 Irish teachers’ reflections on teacher collaboration

# data[].attributes.body
One of the reflections:
Time is an issue. Time to plan and organise how you are going to work together. Am I timetabled with the same group of students that the teacher I want to collaborate with is.

# data[].attributes.headline
4.6 How technology can facilitate teacher collaboration

# data[].attributes.subject
4.6 How technology can facilitate teacher collaboration

# data[].attributes.body
My Padlet entry:
I feel a bit incompetent when it comes to the digital world. At this moment I only use the tools provided by school like the school's website, mail as well as FB and the MOOC's I participated in through which new teacher collaboration FB pages were set up. What I lack is the time to stay up-to-date with all the information passed on by the colleagues on these platforms and to actually practise using all the digital tools mentioned everywhere. I do see the benefit of using these.

# data[].attributes.headline
4.5 Skills and conditions needed for teacher collaboration

# data[].attributes.subject
4.5 Skills and conditions needed for teacher collaboration

# data[].attributes.body
Majella Dempsey (teacher trainer at Maynooth University) shares herviews on the skills required and conditions needed for teache collaboration. Basically she mentions the same skills and conditions needed for student to collaborate; a safe environment to name one thing, communication skills, etc.

My Padlet entry:
Majella basically mentions the same conditions and skills we as teachers try to provide and train in our students in order for them to collaborate.

# data[].attributes.headline
4.4 The benefits and challenges of teacher collaboration

# data[].attributes.subject
4.4 The benefits and challenges of teacher collaboration

# data[].attributes.body
Professor Butler highlights some benefits and challenges of teacher collaboration.

My padlet entry:
Our school has just started the discussion of teacher collaboration on an interdisciplinary level. So not just collaboration with teacher teaching the same subject but also with teachers teaching different subjects. So it is all fresh.  Taking this course will hopefully help me to start and complete a first project collaborating with a colleague.

# data[].attributes.headline
4.3 A secondary teacher’s experience of teacher collaboration

# data[].attributes.subject
4.3 A secondary teacher’s experience of teacher collaboration

# data[].attributes.body
Reyhan Gunes (Foreign Language teacher from Turkey) shared with us the specific benefits digital technologies can bring to facilitate the process of collaboration.
Reyhan mentions that she discovered a way to digitally connect with fellow teachers world-wide. In order to do so she used ePals
ePals is a platform where teachers and students from all around the world can connect, communicate, and collaborate in a meaningful way (free).
Another communication platform to use with students is Wikispaces. Furthermore she worked with eTwinning (an onlince community for schools in Europe)
eTwinning provides free professional development seminars, setup groups and it offers networking events and workshops. Teachers can find partners, set up projects, exchange practices and share ideas. It has tools to collaborate and communicate.

My Padlet entry:
Thank you Reyhan for sharing your views and experiences. I am still fairly new on the digital learning market and usually need a lot of time to experiment with new digital tools I learn about. So, my experiences are limited. Having discovered the European Schoolnet Academy is helping me to internationally connect with other teachers and showing me the way along the digital teaching path.

# data[].attributes.headline
4.2 A primary school teacher’s experience of teacher collaboration

# data[].attributes.subject
4.2 A primary school teacher’s experience of teacher collaboration

# data[].attributes.body
Thank you Valentina Marinova (teacher at Vasil Levski Secondary school, Bulgaria) for sharing your experience with the different teaching methods.
Some of her comments/recommendations are:
Teachers who collaborate learn from each other with regard to the different pedagogical techniques they use making it possible to differentiate their teaching and change their assessment methods.
Working together meand sharing the responsibility for planning and implementing lessons, assessing students’ progress, sharing professional concerns, and addressing students’ learning needs.
Working together as a team gives students the opportunity to better
understand and connect with content thereby maximizing individual learning potential.

Finding time to work with colleagues, however,  is an issue.

As a conclusion she mentioned that successful teacher collaboration begins with finding time to connect with colleagues, remaining open, sharing thoughts, and being ready to provide support.

My Padlet entry:
Thank you Valentina for sharing your experiences. You mentioned that many teachers who are used to work solely face difficulty when asked to work as a team. Working interdisciplinary together already helps to start the process of collaboration with other disciplines within a school, evolving to collaboration outside the school. Step by step.
Observing each other's lessons also helps to understand different approaches. Having an open-mind creates collaboration.

# data[].attributes.headline
Module 4: How can teacher collaboration facilitate collaborative learning?

# data[].attributes.subject
Module 4: How can teacher collaboration facilitate collaborative learning?

# data[].attributes.body
The learning objectives for this module are:

1. Appreciate the benefits of teacher collaboration and how best to take advantage of them, as well as the challenges, and tips and tools for overcoming them

2. Understand the required skills needed by teachers for effective collaboration, as well as the conditions needed at school level for teacher collaboration to flourish

3. Understand how technology can facilitate teacher collaboration

4. Finalize the development of one or more lesson plans integrating collaborative learning and assessment, as well as elements of teacher collaboration, using the Learning Designer.

5. Peer review the collaborative learning lesson plans of two course participants.

4.1.1 Q&A Session with Prof. Deirdre Butler!
Unfortunately I could not participate. Sorry I missed the opportunity.

# data[].attributes.headline
3.11 "Questions and Answers" Session with Prof. Deirdre Butler!

# data[].attributes.subject
3.11 "Questions and Answers" Session with Prof. Deirdre Butler!

# data[].attributes.body
On 15th November at 18:00 CET, Deirdre Butler will be presenting an informal "questions and answers" session.
Unfortunately I will not be able to participate in the webinar as I have an activity at school.

My Padlet entry:
I loved the webinars I participated in before but I am unable to attend this one due to an acitivity in school.
I already saw several of my questions on the Padlet and hope to read about the answers in the publication of  the webinar's outcome.

# data[].attributes.headline
3.8 Answers to teachers’ questions on assessing collaborative learning

# data[].attributes.subject
3.8 Answers to teachers’ questions on assessing collaborative learning

# data[].attributes.body
In this module Luis Valente  (researcher at the University of Minho’s Institute of Education in Portugal) answers questions posed by teachers regarding the assessment of collaborative learning.

My Padlet entry:
As students entering secondary school are not always used to giving and receiving peer reviews they need time to develop the right skills. They already are struggling with fitting into the group that they find it hard to be objective. However, I do see the point that once they have developed the skills they will realise that it is more important to be objective than favour their friends.
Helping the students develop review skills will certainly benefit their learning process.

# data[].attributes.headline
3.7 Collaborative learning - What to assess and how?

# data[].attributes.subject
3.7 Collaborative learning - What to assess and how?

# data[].attributes.body
My interest immediately went out to the part titled  Using rubrics as I find it hard (time consuming) to formulate the criteria and its descriptors although I am fully aware that this is an important part.

A rubric is a scoring tool that lists the criteria for a piece of work and articulates gradations of quality for each criterion, from excellent to poor (Goodrich, 1996).
Four levels of progress are usually used, assigning 1 as the lowest level furthest away from reaching the objectives, and 4 as the highest level, closest to reaching the objectives. Each level needs a clear descriptor to avoid any doubts
The criteria should be based on characteristics of the learning outcome and not the final product.
Try to involve the students in defining the criteria and identifying quality descriptors.  In this way they are more able to understand and identify with the assessment objectives.

Useful resources:
-http://www.europeanschoolnetacademy.eu/documents/10180/0/CO-LAB+Guidelines+for+Assessing+Collaboration/0c5184cb-3650-48f0-bfe0-51434fe39d80

-http://www.europeanschoolnetacademy.eu/documents/10180/0/Collaboration+and+Assessment+Minho+University/17e48a76-a829-47e9-bacc-ed0271f294ab

My Padlet entry:
I have got hardly any experience with rubrics and checklists as shown in the CO-LAB Assessment Guidelines. So, yes I find them useful.
I will certainly take into account the suggestions mentioned in the video, like trying to involve the students in defining the assessment criteria.

# data[].attributes.headline
3.6 Collaborative learning and student peer reviews

# data[].attributes.subject
3.6 Collaborative learning and student peer reviews

# data[].attributes.body
Again Anna, thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience on collaborative learning. Listening and reading your story and the mentioning of all the tools you seem to use with such an ease, makes me feel a little incompetent. Maybe I should take a year off to practise using all the tools.... (haha)
Talking about the assessment of collaborative learning with colleagues we also came across the issue of how to show to the parents and school management the development of the 21st century skills the students go through working on projects? How to record this? Focus in our education system is still on summative assessment.

# data[].attributes.headline
3.5 An ICT teacher’s experience of assessing collaborative learning

# data[].attributes.subject
3.5 An ICT teacher’s experience of assessing collaborative learning

# data[].attributes.body
Antonio João Lopes is a Portuguese, secondary school, ICT teacher.
He explains about a project in which he collaborated with a school in Lithuania.
Before starting the project in class, he and the Luthuanian teachers involved developed rubrics for assessing the students on creativity, autonomy, cooperation, quality of work and presentation of the project. The assessment criteria were presented to the students before starting the project.  A numeric scale from 5/Very Good to 1/Very Poor was used and the students involved in the project were assessed individually.
After completion of the projects he made following observations about collaborative learning assessment:
1 - It is a student-centered process
2 - Promotes students involvement in the assessment tasks
3 - Promotes students responsibility and motivation towards the learning process
4 - Promotes self-reflection and students argumentation
5 - Students can learn socially from each other
6 – Promotes digital literacy through the use of digital web 2.0 applications
7 - Promotes development of 21st century skills and competences

Other observations he made were:
1 - Assessing collaborative learning requires regular communication between peers and peers and teachers.
2 - Digital tools can be used to support teacher’s planning activities. The use of collaborative digital tools enables teachers to efficiently observe student groups and deliver feedback. Digital tools can also support students to publish and share their assessments ( TeamUp).
3 - Reorganizing the classroom space can introduce more collaboration-friendly dynamics in the classroom
4 - More interdisciplinary teaching and sharing of materials amongst teachers also facilitates collaborative teaching

My Padlet entry:
Thanks Antonio Lopes for sharing your experience on collaborative learning assessment and the mentioning of TeamUp. I am still learning to use digital tools and am always happy to read about programmes that seem to work. Getting around to actually use them is, timewise, a ongoing battle for me.
I agree with the 7 benefits Antonio mentions. However, setting up the first project complete with rubrics and assessment criteria involves a lot of work, especially when you work in an environment where collaborative learning is new and where colleagues are not always open-minded and supportive about new developments.
Reading that it is possible gives me new energy to try again.

# data[].attributes.headline
3.4 : A sports teacher's experience of assessing collaborative learning

# data[].attributes.subject
3.4 : A sports teacher's experience of assessing collaborative learning

# data[].attributes.body
Chrysa Tsamopoulou (Greek physical education teacher for students 6-11 years old) mentions that assessment is an integral part of the learning process, since it evaluates the effectiveness of teaching and the degree of student engagement and comprehension. I do agree.
She describes the difficulties she encountered regarding assessment and gives following suggestions:
- inform the students about the evaluation criteria at the beginning of the activity
-create the right conditions for the students to actively participate in the assessment process
-make sure there is a cooperative and supportive attitude between the group memebers.
She also describes how she assessed the students individually and as a whole but does mention that it remains a process under construction, meaning any suggestion to help her improve her methods of assessment are welcome.
I loved to read the questions she posed to her students.

My Padlet entry.
Thank you Chrysa for sharing your views and methods of assessment. I was surprised to read that the students accepted the feedback they received from their group members without protest or creating difficulties in the collaboration between the group members.
Great to read that she starts working with collaborative learning projects and assessment methods at an early age. I do believe that students benefit from learning these assessment skills at an early age. It will help them to develop their 21st century skills so needed in later life. Well done!

# data[].attributes.headline
3.3 Assessment for improving collaborative learning

# data[].attributes.subject
3.3 Assessment for improving collaborative learning

# data[].attributes.body
I do find this one of the most difficult parts of collaborative learning projects.
How to effectively assess the students learning process?
How to show them that they are responsible in this process as well?
How to make our students more aware of their learning process?
I hope this module will give me some anwers to these questions.
Well, it looks promissing as the first terms I see are:
-formative assessment
-self-assessment
-summative assessment

Some key points from the video:
"Feedback most be clear, brief and timely
Self-assessment and peer assessment can be fast, timely and objective when assessing collaborative learning if:
(1) it is implemented in parallel with learning activities,
(2) it uses the same language used by group participants,
(3) it is conducted diplomatically so as not to create obstacles in the social relationship of the group."
The assessment must make sence to both teacher and students.

Some ideas for formative assessment can be found at:
https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/12-awesome-formative-assessment-examples

My comment on the Padlet:
What I find difficult to see in my students is that a majority of them listen to the feedback you give them during a project or after having done a test but don't actually do something with the feedback. Lack of motivation? Not aware of the importance? Not used to regulate their own learning process?
I also noticed that while working in groups not all students are able to cope with the feedback they get from other group members. Rather than learning from the feedback they feel 'attacked' and start defending themselves. At times a situation is created where students start working individually instead of collaborating.
At this moment the summative assessment in our school for my subject is based on the curriculum. In other subjects collaborative learning is taken into account. Next year I will start a project together with a colleague hoping to encourage collaborative learning. I hope to be able to incorporate all mentioned forms of assessment.

# data[].attributes.headline
Module 3 How can you assess collaborative learning?

# data[].attributes.subject
Module 3 How can you assess collaborative learning?

# data[].attributes.body
I have a late start but still hope to be able to finish all modules.
So let's go!
Module 3.1 Introduction
Clear
3.2 TeachMeet - Collaboration: together and beyond!
Great idea to have a TeachMeet on Wednesday 23rd November at 18:00 CET. It gives the participants an opportunity to share their views and ideas.
Well it is too late now to be a speaker at the TeachMeet but I will certainly try to participate next week.

# data[].attributes.body
1.
My dear Antonia, reading your padlet, it's clear you love teaching and your history's life made grow your competences.

Even if you didn't develop any activities, you give us good examples of L.A.

You offer good resources and a lot of web sites to share new opprtunities.

well done
Antonella Cimo

Thanks Antonella!

2.
Dear Antonia,

I liked your activities and I do believe they are very easy to follow. I agree with you about high and low level of collaboration but it's not clear to me why the students didn't collaborate preferring playing individually.

In any case, great job!!

Maria Grazia

3.
Dear Antonia,

I read your activities and I agree with you for the high and low level of collaboration, even if the activities aren't explained in a detailed way so it's quite difficult to follow the codes of the rubric. I noticed the collaboration among the students, the free choice of the things to do and the peer assessment; but I don't know if there were an interdependent work and share responsability.

Very useful links in your diary.

Best regards!!!

Thanks Maria Grazia Stefanelli and Rossana de Martino

# data[].attributes.body
My Padlet entry:
The activities I wrote about earlier were not developed by me. So, these cannot be used to complete this task.

The 4 questions to consider:
1. Are the students working together?
2. Do the students have shared responsibility?
3. Do they make substantive decisions?
4. Is their work interdependent?

My two projects:
1. A project I did do this year was for a year 4 group (Theatre class) to do a 3 minute performance in English for a year one group. The students worked in small groups. The students were free to determine the subject of the performance and how the performance would be like, who would do what, etc.
Both the students in year 1 and I filled in an assessment form about the performances. We used different criteria based on the criteria given to the year 4 students at the beginning of the assignment. Looking back I believe all four questions can be answered. However, the interdependent part was not so clear. Eventhough some of the students were not present at time of the performances, the other participants of the groups were still able to perform.

2. Another project was also for year 4 students. They were asked to design a sort of a treasure hunt in English for year 1 students according to set criteria. The students worked in groups and determined who would do what. They could decide for themselves how the end product would look like. The time frame was one month. Students from year 1 decided which group product they liked best. I did help the year 4 groups by giving examples of possible tasks to be divided within each group. The final products were all different.
Again I believe all four questions can be answered.

However, I have difficulties on how to assess skills. How to prove that students develop a certain skill and improve that skill over a period of time?

# data[].attributes.headline
Module 2.5 Collaborative learning scenarios

# data[].attributes.subject
Module 2.5 Collaborative learning scenarios

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KPnyxazNco

Let's have a look at the resources in this module.
I love the information presented on the 21st Century Learning Design and have passed it on to colleagues.

The 6 examples of Learning Designs are very helpful indeed.

# data[].attributes.body
The CLD Collaboration Rubric explained by Professor Deirdre Butler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSj17W7kTgE

MyPadlet entry:
Asking the four questions while designing an assignment will force you to include tools in the design that will prove the collaboration process. Including these assessment tools is usually a more difficult part of the designing process.
I will certainly use the rubric in my next designing attempt.

# data[].attributes.headline
Module 2.3 The 4 Collaboration Questions

# data[].attributes.subject
Module 2.3 The 4 Collaboration Questions

# data[].attributes.body
1. Are the students working together?
2. Do the students have shared responsibility?
3. Do they make substantive decisions?
4. Is their work interdependent?

My Padlet entry:
Working together, shared responsibility, substantive decisions, interdependent work....
Important questions to be answered when designing activities for collaborative learning. Questions that are not always easy to answer or that were not taken into account when designing an assignment.
I'm looking forward to see the corresponding rubric.

# data[].attributes.body
-negotiation
-conflict resolution
-agreement on what must be done
-distribution of tasks
-integration of ideas into a coherent whole

Padlet entry:
Our school is looking into ways to combine necessary theory lessons required to prepare for the final exams and cross curricular project based learning to develop the necessary skills as indicated on the key skills junior cycle poster.
We still have a long way to go.

# data[].attributes.headline
Module 2.2 Embedding collaborative learning into lesson design

# data[].attributes.subject
Module 2.2 Embedding collaborative learning into lesson design

# data[].attributes.body
Link to a poster of the key skills as mentioned in the video:
http://www.juniorcycle.ie/NCCA_JuniorCycle/media/NCCA/Documents/Key/Key-skills-posters_Eng-_June2015.pdf
The Junior Cycle education is for students aged 12-15 (secondary school Netherlands)

# data[].attributes.headline
Module 2 How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?

# data[].attributes.subject
Module 2 How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?

# data[].attributes.body
2.1 Introduction
http://www.europeanschoolnetacademy.eu/documents/1780780/1996996/2.1+English+transcript.pdf

# data[].attributes.body
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0yp5uR0e1I
Why students enjoy group work.

Articles:
http://creative.eun.org/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=003c8898-ba62-456f-9fda-249da083c397&groupId=96459
What is the collaboration learning model and how to use it?
http://www.europeanschoolnetacademy.eu/documents/10180/0/Cooperative+collaborative+and+problem+based+learning/e096a8a3-5feb-4902-b1ee-89693ca7ac0b
Boundary Crossings: Cooperative Learning, Collaborative Learning, and Problem-Based Learning
http://www.europeanschoolnetacademy.eu/documents/10180/0/.+Does+active+learning+work+A+review+of+the+research/2711181e-5969-4f40-ba4b-2c73641fbc95
Does Active Learning Work? A Review of the Research

Possible book to read:
Learning in Groups: A Handbook for face-to-face and online environments by David Jacques and Gilly Salmon

# data[].attributes.body
Reflect on some recent learning activities you have carried out with your class in the past year, which have included some level of collaboration, and follow these steps:

Select two of these learning activities; one which you think required a low level of collaboration from students, and one which you think required a high level of collaboration from students.

In your Learning Diary, describe each learning activity in no more than 300 words, clearly outlining the aspects related to student collaboration.

In your Learning Diary, explain why you think each activity requires a low or high level of collaboration from students.

Low level of collaboration
During an introduction day of this school year students were invited to a day filled with outside activities. The morning was filled with sportive activities like a water bottle race, building a raft, crawling through a maze, etc. These activities were planned to be whole group activities. The organisation was such that it turned out that some students did not participate in any of the activities at all. Collaboration between some students could only be seen during the raft building activity.

High level of collaboration
During that same day the students were offered an afternoon programme in which the whole group had to perform tasks involving collaboration. Without proper collaboration the final product could not be reached. Tasks like walking through a skipping rope holding hands with another group member till finally all group members had to walk through at one time or walking through with closed eyes following the instructions of the person holding your hand. Students had to discuss how to complete tasks. During another activity the group was divided in two sub-groups to create competition. Several tasks needed to be completed and the students could decide who would do what the task. Negotiation, persuasion, self-evaluation, leadership, listening all skills could be seen that afternoon.

What I learned from that day was that in order to create tasks/projects to instill collaboration between the students, you need to carefully plan the tasks/projects. During the morning the instructors were not properly briefed on what the objectives where while in the afternoon the instructor knew exactly what he wanted to accomplish within the group.

# data[].attributes.headline
Module 1.5 A History and Geography teacher's experience of collaborative learning

# data[].attributes.subject
Module 1.5 A History and Geography teacher's experience of collaborative learning

# data[].attributes.body
http://www.europeanschoolnetacademy.eu/documents/1780780/1938386/English+transcript.pdf
As said, my experience on PBL is limited and so far I have only collaborated with one colleague on simple projects. This collaboration went really well.
I do agree with Monica that at times not all group members collaborate in the same manner with the same effort as other group members. I found that it helped to assign different roles to the group members and keep track of everybody's role. Assigning the roles can be done by letting the students pick a role card. By keeping track of these roles you can intervene when a student only picks the same role time after time.
Students within each group should give feedback on each other's roles. So, discussing how the project went with each group might also help to see each student's participation within the group.

# data[].attributes.headline
Module 1.4 A foreign language teacher's experience of collaborative learning

# data[].attributes.subject
Module 1.4 A foreign language teacher's experience of collaborative learning

# data[].attributes.body
http://www.europeanschoolnetacademy.eu/documents/1780780/1938368/English+transcipt.pdf
Wow, I wish I was already at her stage of PBL. I do agree with her that the assessment remains a difficult stage. As I am a beginner at PBL I do not have ready answers for Anna.
In our school the students need a lot of guidance and structure so each step of the project requires a  thorough preparation.

# data[].attributes.headline
Module 1.3 Collaborative learning through project based-learning

# data[].attributes.subject
Module 1.3 Collaborative learning through project based-learning

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2-DW0YUUGU
Yes, I have done a similar exercise described as 'circle time' in the video. However, since project-based learning is a new concept in my lessons I have not done many projects and cannot say that I have found evidence of changes in the students' collaboration skills. A great part of the collaboration takes place outside school as we lack ICT resources.

# data[].attributes.headline
Module 1.2 Collaborative learning in a flexible classroom

# data[].attributes.subject
Module 1.2 Collaborative learning in a flexible classroom

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke1bcJ4ONfw
Eventhough our school does not have such furniture we are able to move the tables around and place them as groups.
As the film said it facilitates collaborative working.
As mentioned before, our school has limited technological resources. We are lucky if the classroom has a beamer or a digital whiteboard. No laptops are available. So, working as the students in the film did will not be possible. Finding resource materials would have to be done outside school or be presented by the teacher making it less student owned learning.

# data[].attributes.headline
Module 1.1 What is collaborative learning?

# data[].attributes.subject
Module 1.1 What is collaborative learning?

# data[].attributes.body
What is collaborative learning?
It is not just simply putting students together in a group. It starts by creating a meaningful real-world assignment with clearly defined objectives not only about the wished for end product but also about the student learning objectives. What should they take away from the project? What skills will they develop, what will they learn about the subject of the project? How will they be assessed for their work? Creating the meaningful assignment and its rubric needs time we teachers not always have but should have to be able to prepare our students with the required 21st century skills. Skills they will be faced with when entering the real-world.
Collaborative learning involves a learner-centred approach. The teacher's role is not to transmit information but to guide the students in a process though which they interdependently work together towards a common goal. Through collaborative learning students will be able to develop following skills:
* leadership competences
* self-evaluation skills
* listening skills
* presentation skills
* skills of persuasion and negotiation
* team working skills

I recently asked my students to work in groups in which three different tasks were to be divided among the group members (leadership competence, listening skill, skills of persuasion and negotiation). The final product was to design a sort of a treasure hunt for younger students in our school (real-world assignment 'how to get from A to B'). The final product was to be presented in class to the other groups. The students were informed how they and the final product would be assessed. The time frame was given.
Since the tasks were divided over smaller sub-groups the students depended on each other for the final group product. Each sub-group presented their work to their group and gave each other feedback. They listened to each other, they presented their product within their group and later in class to the other groups. All students gave feedback on the final products presented.
Eventhough a lot of the criteria of collaborative learning were met there is still room for improvement. Through observation I saw what roles the students played during the process but this was not documented. How can I show to others that my students are working on the 21st century skills? How can I monitor / assess this?
I still have a lot to learn...

# data[].attributes.body
Module 1 - Introduction

Our school offers secondary vocational education to three different levels called 'basis, kader, mavo'. Each level has a different student population. A characteristic all our students share is that they have a short attention span.
At the beginning of this school year (September) our school moved to a temporary location. Currently we are using a primary school building. Over the past two months lots of adjustments were made so that now we are able to use either a beamer or a digital whiteboard to enhance our lessons. Not all class rooms are suitable to place our large groups of 31 students and we miss several facilities such as a lunch area, meeting room, ..... Luckily not all groups have 31 students.
We do have two computer rooms but as a language teacher I never get to use these as other subject teachers keep these rooms occupied all the time. So, my students do not have access to computers during my lessons. The school does have wireless internet so at times it is possible for the students to use their mobile phones.
In short our school is not a hot spot up-to-date technology school.

# data[].attributes.body
Module 1 - Introduction

Hello readers,
My full name is Antonia Maria Helsper - van Duijnhoven. I live in the Netherlands. I am married and have three wonderful children.
As a little child I always dreamt of becoming a teacher but as time flew by my dream job changed from one thing into another. However, consistent factors in my different jobs were people and languages.
About 12 years ago our family moved to Thailand to start a new adventure. Unfortunately it was the year a tsunami hit Thailand. An event that changed many lives.
During that period I reflected on my life's choices. I realised that my childhood dream of becoming a teacher had remained an unfulfilled wish. I started and completed a TEFL course which in combination with my other degrees allowed me to teach at an International School in Thailand (http://www.somtawin.ac.th/) I started as a kindergarten teacher and later became a grade 5 teacher. I had a wonderful time working with students from all parts of the world.
About 6 years ago we returned to the Netherlands. The first year I helped my children to adjust to Dutch society and master the Dutch language. A year later I went back to school to get my teaching degree in foreign languages. Now I work as an English language teacher at a secondary vocational school (VMBO).
Due to many changes in the government's policy regarding the Dutch education system, our school is faced (again) with implementing new rules and regulations. At the moment the board and teachers are discussing the possibility of PBL and/or collaborative learning through 'projects' in which different subjects are integrated.
You can imagine why I am interested in participating in this course about Collaborative Teaching and Learning