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https://v.gd/vc5pGB

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Module 4 4.8                          Resource SectionCurry School of Education, University of Virginia, 2014. Co-teaching formats: http://faculty.virginia.edu/coteachUVA/5formats2.htmlTan Huynh, Empowering ELLs blog, 2017. Collaborating for ELLs Serie – Teacher Collaboration: www.empoweringells.com/category/collaboration/In particular, we suggest: 51. The Models of Co-TeachingEuropean Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2015. The Teaching Profession in Europe: Practices, Perceptions, and Policies. Eurydice Report. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. Eurydice Report (2015). The Teaching Profession in EuropeEuropean Commission Joint Research Centre (2015). Teaching Practices in Primary and Secondary Schools in Europe: Insights from Large-Scale Assessments in Education. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European UnionCRELL Report (2015). Teaching Practices in Primary and Secondary Schools in Europe: Insights from Large-Scale Assessments in Education

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Module 4 4.8                          Resource SectionCurry School of Education, University of Virginia, 2014. Co-teaching formats: http://faculty.virginia.edu/coteachUVA/5formats2.htmlTan Huynh, Empowering ELLs blog, 2017. Collaborating for ELLs Serie – Teacher Collaboration: www.empoweringells.com/category/collaboration/In particular, we suggest: 51. The Models of Co-TeachingEuropean Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2015. The Teaching Profession in Europe: Practices, Perceptions, and Policies. Eurydice Report. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. Eurydice Report (2015). The Teaching Profession in EuropeEuropean Commission Joint Research Centre (2015). Teaching Practices in Primary and Secondary Schools in Europe: Insights from Large-Scale Assessments in Education. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European UnionCRELL Report (2015). Teaching Practices in Primary and Secondary Schools in Europe: Insights from Large-Scale Assessments in Education

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Irish teachers’ reflections on teacher collaboration

Do you agree that finding time within the school day for teacher collaboration is challenging? What are your experiences of this, and what solutions have you tried to overcome this challenge? Do you agree that working with teachers from different disciplines can be very useful, and what are your experiences of this? What are the conditions needed in your opinion for this to work?

Last year in my experience we had no time to work within the shool day, but we collaborated using online environments, in this way we had the opportunity to communicate, to share resources or plan the next lesson.
In the past I worked with colleagues of other disciplines, because I taught in a Secondary School for Accountants, where the leading sujects were Law and Acoounting, so students had to study techical English dealing with the same topics of those subjects, so collaboration was a necessary condition and each teacher had to be willing to work in team. But I have to say that some years ago we did not use digital tool in order to plan our lessons, we met outside the hours of school or we phoned and we planned the next lesson. It was a bit difficult than last year.

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Collaborative teaching and learning | M4 Irish teachers’ reflections on teacher collaboration

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How technology can facilitate teacher collaboration

Do you use technology specifically for the purpose of collaborating with other teachers? Would you say that the nature of your digital collaboration with teachers is equivalent to ‘sending and displaying’, as mentioned in the video, or more about processing, analyzing and sharing? Why do you think this is and can you give examples? Which digital tools would you recommend for teachers to use for collaborating and why?

I use technology at school with my students or teachers. I use Moodle platform,  dropbox, google drive or Icloud for sharing documents or resources. All technology facilitates theacher collaboration. I use tech not only for sending or displaying, it is also useful for processing, analyzing and sharing and a very good thing to underline is that digital tools can be accessed from anywhere, anytime.

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Collaborative teaching and learning | M4 How technology can facilitate teacher collaboration

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Skills and conditions needed for teacher collaboration

Do you agree with the list of skills and conditions mentioned as necessary for teacher collaboration to flourish in schools? What would you add to this list based on your experiences? Does the leadership in your teacher training institution or the current school in which you teach model collaboration? If so, how, and do you think this is motivating and beneficial for students? Do you work with teachers who are sceptical about collaboration, and what have you/will you try to help them see the advantages of this way of working?

For a collaborative teaching skills as knowledge, motivation, attitude and communication are vbery important. Attitude is relevant because ego must be set aside as it often gets in the way and affects the collaboration process and so the final result could be a failure. My experience was a positive one because we shared skills, not just ideas, motivation and responsibilities, in short I can say we worked together to teach English to our students.

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Collaborative teaching and learning | Skills and conditions needed for teacher collaboration

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The benefits and challenges of teacher collaboration

Do you agree with the benefits and challenges highlighted by Professor Butler? Which benefits and challenges would you add based on your experiences? What opportunities have you been able to take advantage of in your own context to collaborate with teachers both in and outside of school? Do you collaborate with teachers in your own subject group, across age groups or across themes relevant to the whole school, and if so how?

Many years ago, when I stated my careeer at school I was often sad, because it was my first experience and I always asked help how to teach something or I asked if I did right or wrong and I could not find people available for helping me. Now it has been long time and I am pride when some younger colleague asks me some information about teaching. I love sharing my lesson plans, my PPT and so on, because sharing is a way to compare and discuss own experiences.
Last year when I worked in a co-teaching rotation model, at first I was really doubtful over the success on this type of work. But at the end of the year I was really surprised because all the students of the two classes where I worked in this way had acquired all the objectives we planned.

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Collaborative teaching and learning | The benefits and challenges of teacher collaboration

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A secondary teacher’s experience of teacher collaboration

Have you heard of all the platforms and digital tools mentioned by Reyhan in the video, and what are your experiences of using them for teacher collaboration? Do you agree that not all teachers have the required skills to take advantage of digital technologies? Reyhan mentions social media networks, such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, as particularly useful spaces for teacher collaboration and professional learning. What are your experiences of social media networks for teacher collaboration and professional learning? What emerging digital technologies are you aware of that can help teachers collaborate more efficiently?

I am an enthusiastic Social Media user which I consider an useful space for teacher collaboartion and professional learning. I love working in collaboration with other teacher both locally and internationally, I have learny a lot with them and from them, but I agree that lots of teachers have not got the required skill to take advantages of digital technologies.

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Collaborative teaching & learning | M4 A teacher trainer & language teacher’s experience

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A primary school teacher’s experience of teacher collaboration

What do you think about the ‘co-teaching rotation’ collaboration model mentioned by Valentina? Do you find it an interesting approach, and is it one you have experience of? Valentina mentions the need for teachers to bring their best skills and practices to the team while remaining flexible to adapt them in case others suggest better ways of working. Do you agree with this and what are your experiences of acting upon the constructive criticisms of other teachers?

Last year for the first time in my high school I worked in two different classes (a first year and a second year) using the co-teaching rotation model with two different colleagues. It was a new experience but we put a co-teaching partnership into practice using a variety of methods.

1-      One Teach, one Observe or One Teach, one Drift

In this model, one of us instructed while the other observed students to identify issues and assessed their performance. This method allowed the observing teacher to provide feedback on which content and activities were most effective for students, allowing us to continually improve our practice and best meet the needs of all students in the classroom. In the other way while one teacher was instructing the classroom, the second teacher provided additional assistance and support to students as needed.

2-      Station Teaching

With station teaching, the lesson was divided into segments as the teachers each instructed part of the lesson at independent stations or rotated between groups of students. This allowed us to provide specialized support when delivering content in areas we might have more expertise in, or if our style better fitted a certain part of a lesson.

3-      Parallel Teaching

Sometimes we divided the class into two groups and instructed each group with the same content simultaneously. In this arrangement, the smaller groups allowed closer supervision and more opportunities for interaction between the students and teacher.

4-    Alternate Teaching

Sometimes one teacher handled a larger group, while the other taught a small group who needed specialized attention and additional supports.

It was a success at the end of the year because none of the students had the debit of the English subject to be repaired on September.

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Collaborative teaching & learning | M4 A primary school teacher’s experience

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Module 3: How can you assess collaborative learning?3.7 Module 3 Learning Activity1 - Final activity - Part 1 - Create your lesson planThe final learning activity is to create and submit a lesson plan and to peer-review other participants' lesson plans. In order for you to receive the Course Badge and the final Digital Certificate, you need to submit the lesson plan and to peer-review other participants' lesson plans.The learning activity of this module (Module 3) enjoins you to start working on one or more lesson plans integrating collaborative learning and assessment, which you intend to use with your students in the classroom.How to create your lesson planTo design your lesson plan, please use the Learning Designer. More information on how to set up and use the Learning Designer in Course Introduction - C.Download and revise the 21CLD Learning Activity Rubrics, the Learning Scenarios and the examples of lesson plans by previous participants in Module 2.6.For the Assessment activities, download and revise the CO-LAB Guidelines for Assessing Collaborative Learning in the Classroom in Module 3.8.Read and follow the guidelines at the end of this page. You should consider the guidelines when creating your lesson plan and when peer-reviewing the lesson plans of two other course participants (Final activity - Part 2).Please create your lesson plan in English.2 – Share your Learning Designer lesson planIf you haven't done so yet, we also suggest that you share your Learning Designer lesson plan link with other participants:Post about your Diary on CO-LAB Facebook groupPost on other social media of your preferenceFill in the Google form and see what your colleagues have shared in section B: Getting readyClick here for the Google form to shareClick here for a Collection of Learning Diaries and lesson plansGuidelines for designing a lesson plan implementing collaborative learning1. The lesson plan includes learning activities specifically designed to develop students’ collaborative learning skills. For example, at least two of the following criteria are included (see Module 2 videos and resources – i.e. the 21CLD rubric and the example learning scenarios – for further information and inspiration):Students are required to work in pairs or groupsStudents have shared responsibilityStudents make substantive decisions togetherStudents’ work is interdependentIt is essential that the nature of the collaborative activities is fully described in the lesson plan, and clearly refers to one or more of the four dimensions mentioned above.2. The lesson plan incorporates appropriate assessment tools to assess the collaborative learning activities mentioned, preferably including the student in the design of at least one of the tools. For example, one or more of the following are included as assessment tools (see Module 3 videos and resources – i.e. the CO-LAB Guidelines for Assessing Collaborative Learning in the Classroom – for further information and inspiration):Rubric to assess a group Rubric to assess group members individuallyChecklist for self-assessment of students’ collaborative skillsChecklist for peer assessment of students’ collaborative skillsDigital tools facilitating self- and peer assessment of collaborative learningMindmaps and infographics to assess group work and facilitate peer assessment3. The lesson plan is well aligned with its learning outcomes: activities and assessment clearly link with the defined learning outcomes and allow the teacher to determine by the end of the lesson(s) if the objectives have been achieved.4. The lesson plan is balanced: there is a good mix of activities with at least four different Teaching Learning Activities used (TLAs in the Learning Designer) and none of the Activities, except in the case of collaboration, taking up more than 35% of the time (see the pie chart for this).

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Module 3: How can you assess collaborative learning?3.7 Module 3 Learning Activity1 - Final activity - Part 1 - Create your lesson planThe final learning activity is to create and submit a lesson plan and to peer-review other participants' lesson plans. In order for you to receive the Course Badge and the final Digital Certificate, you need to submit the lesson plan and to peer-review other participants' lesson plans.The learning activity of this module (Module 3) enjoins you to start working on one or more lesson plans integrating collaborative learning and assessment, which you intend to use with your students in the classroom.How to create your lesson planTo design your lesson plan, please use the Learning Designer. More information on how to set up and use the Learning Designer in Course Introduction - C.Download and revise the 21CLD Learning Activity Rubrics, the Learning Scenarios and the examples of lesson plans by previous participants in Module 2.6.For the Assessment activities, download and revise the CO-LAB Guidelines for Assessing Collaborative Learning in the Classroom in Module 3.8.Read and follow the guidelines at the end of this page. You should consider the guidelines when creating your lesson plan and when peer-reviewing the lesson plans of two other course participants (Final activity - Part 2).Please create your lesson plan in English.2 – Share your Learning Designer lesson planIf you haven't done so yet, we also suggest that you share your Learning Designer lesson plan link with other participants:Post about your Diary on CO-LAB Facebook groupPost on other social media of your preferenceFill in the Google form and see what your colleagues have shared in section B: Getting readyClick here for the Google form to shareClick here for a Collection of Learning Diaries and lesson plansGuidelines for designing a lesson plan implementing collaborative learning1. The lesson plan includes learning activities specifically designed to develop students’ collaborative learning skills. For example, at least two of the following criteria are included (see Module 2 videos and resources – i.e. the 21CLD rubric and the example learning scenarios – for further information and inspiration):Students are required to work in pairs or groupsStudents have shared responsibilityStudents make substantive decisions togetherStudents’ work is interdependentIt is essential that the nature of the collaborative activities is fully described in the lesson plan, and clearly refers to one or more of the four dimensions mentioned above.2. The lesson plan incorporates appropriate assessment tools to assess the collaborative learning activities mentioned, preferably including the student in the design of at least one of the tools. For example, one or more of the following are included as assessment tools (see Module 3 videos and resources – i.e. the CO-LAB Guidelines for Assessing Collaborative Learning in the Classroom – for further information and inspiration):Rubric to assess a group Rubric to assess group members individuallyChecklist for self-assessment of students’ collaborative skillsChecklist for peer assessment of students’ collaborative skillsDigital tools facilitating self- and peer assessment of collaborative learningMindmaps and infographics to assess group work and facilitate peer assessment3. The lesson plan is well aligned with its learning outcomes: activities and assessment clearly link with the defined learning outcomes and allow the teacher to determine by the end of the lesson(s) if the objectives have been achieved.4. The lesson plan is balanced: there is a good mix of activities with at least four different Teaching Learning Activities used (TLAs in the Learning Designer) and none of the Activities, except in the case of collaboration, taking up more than 35% of the time (see the pie chart for this).

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Answers to teachers’ questions on assessing collaborative learning

Dr. Luis Valente suggests self and peer assessment can help students to move away from seeing teachers as the only source of judgement about the quality of their learning, thereby helping them to become more independent learners. Do you agree, and what are your experiences of this? He also notes that research shows that self-assessment combined with peer assessment reduces the trend for ‘friendship dependency’, ‘benefit of the dominators’ and ‘benefit of parasitism’. Does this match with your experiences? What do you think of assigning a percentage weight to individual assessment as part of the summative assessment related to collaborative work? Any other thoughts on Dr. Valente’s suggestions?

I agree on the importance of assessing students’ performance wholly consideringn four dimensions: factual, conceptual,procedural andmeta-cognitive from diagnostic tests throughout the school year in formative and summative assessments with peer and self evaluation.

Peer evaluation helps students’ reflection on their works and performances and develops a critical attitude because they always have to give arguments for their assessment..

In my experience I had always assessed only the final product, but thanks to this course I learnt how to assess also students’ participation. I had always had a principal role in the assessment, while thanks to self and peer assessment also the students can be involved in their assessment, because they feel more responsible and it reduces the trend of “friendship dependency”.

Finally I agree that it is a good idea to assign a percentage weight to individual assessment  as part of the summative assessment related to collaborative work.

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Collaborative teaching and learning | Expert answers to teachers’ questions on assessment

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Collaborative learning - What to assess and how?

I've never used rubrics or checklists to assess collaborative work, but I found it is really interesting to include students in the construction of checklists, because they will know better what will be the target of assessment

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Collaborative teaching and learning | Collaborative learning - What to assess and how?

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Collaborative learning and student peer reviews

When setting up student groups to work on a project, Anna often leaves students free to decide who they would like to work with and each team member’s role. However, when it comes to peer assessment Anna prefers to use a random name picking tool, as she believes this helps ensure objectivity and is more likely to encourage useful and constructive feedback among peers. Do you agree with these different approaches? Anna mentions a variety of digital tools which are helpful in implementing and assessing collaborative work, such as Edmodo, Scrumy, Tackks, Padlets, Google Forms etc. What are your experiences of these tools?

Normally I let my students choose their partners in a group and to decide each team’s member role, but sometimes I set up groups of students, above all if there are in class lots of students who are weak, so they can be helped by the students with more abilities.

I have never used a random name-picking tool and I think it encourages students to be more responsible, assertive and impartial in assessing their peers.

In working groups and informative assessment I have already used Socraative, Padlet and Google form. I learnt how to use many other digital tools like Kahoot – QR codes – Prezi – Popplet – Tackk – Edmodo, but I have not yet used them in this context of collaborative work.

As a teacher I agree with Anna Laghigna, the greatest challenge in collaborative learning lies in the summative evaluation because in Italy parents and students want to know what the mark is rather than understanding the mistakes committed or pay attention to the task that was requested.

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Collaborative teaching & learning | M3 Collaborative learning and student peer reviews

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An ICT teacher’s experience of assessing students’ collaborative learning

What do you think about the projects described by Antonio, from the student collaboration point of view, as well as the teacher collaboration point of view? Do you agree with the 7 benefits Antonio associates to assessing collaborative learning? What about the challenges he mentions concerning group dynamics, team management and the time needed to prepare and implement assessment of collaborative learning in the classroom – are these challenges you also face? Antonio mentions the use of collaborative digital tools, reorganizing the classroom space and introducing more interdisciplinary teaching and the sharing of materials amongst teachers as useful tips. Do you agree and what are your experiences of these suggestions?

In this video Antonio, an ICT teacher in Portugal described his experiences in two eTwinning projects, which not only have student collaborative learning at their core, but also teacher collaboration. He talks about his opinion on the benefits of collaboration learning and assessment, and the challenges he had faced, together with some tips on how to overcome them.

As I said before the assessment of collaborative is very difficult and sometimes can encourage competition but it is important to increase motivation and self-reflection of students. The teacher’s role changes because he should assess students’ collaborative work also with IC tools. The tools presented, like Padlet, Kahoot, Teamup and others are really important and useful for collaborative learning, but I think they need time to assimilate.

The biggest challenge in the assessment of a collaborative learning activity is the group dynamic: students should have a positive and receptive attitude towards their involvement in the assessment. I fully agree with the solutions proposed by Antonio to solve the major challenges of assessment collaborative learning.

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Collaborative teaching & learning | M3 Assessing students’ collaborative learning

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A sports teacher's experience of assessing students’ collaborative learning

What do you think about the various assessment methods used by Chrysa to assess her pupils’ collaborative learning? Do you think the questions she asked her pupils were helpful in getting them to reflect about their collaborative skills? What do you think about implementing peer assessment with pupils of a young age (6-11 year olds)? Are there special considerations to be taken into account? What about her final question she asks us and our expert to reflect on; do you find it challenging to know how best to assess the individual participation of a student in a collaborative activity?

The activity described by Chrysa is well designed and realised, she acted as a counsellor and a facilitator. The questions she asked to her students are clear, simple and very effective and help them in self-assessment and critical thinking, because students can reflect on what they have done and how they felt during the activity.

With peer-assessment each student feels to have a role in the activity and feels also the responsibility to give his/her mates an opinion on the work by showing to the teacher points of strength or weakness. A self-assessment is also important because students can reflect on their involvement in the project and decide to do better next time.

Regarding the final question peer evaluation is also useful with younger students as they get used to it and they become more conscious of what they are doing.

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Assessment for improving collaborative learning

Do you think your assessment of collaborative work sometimes discourages students or encourages competition? If yes, how you do think this could be avoided? Is the assessment you carry out brief, clear and timely, and how do you ensure it is so; do you have tips to suggest for others? Does the summative assessment of each student in your school/subject take into account the learning outcomes related to collaborative work (such as project work/results)?

In general, it is necessary to say that assessment helps teachers to improve their work in order to make it more effective.

The assessment of a collaborative work may discourage or it can encourage competition, a positive competition, but in my opinion, it depends on team dynamics, personal traits or past experiences. It is the teacher’s task to foster collaboration through P2P proactive interactions. There is a need for team awareness to support learning.

The summative assessment of each student considers the learning process and the outcomes to make adjustments, reinforcement, etc. I agree that the assessment should be brief, clear and timely. I use formative and summative assessment more regularly than self-assessment or peer evaluation.

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Collaborative teaching and learning | Assessment for improving collaborative learning

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I like your page. Nicoleta, Romania

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Nice work:very compliments !!!

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Great variety of content. Congratulations!

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Great variety of content. Congratulations!

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Reading

Microsoft (2012). 21ST Century Learning Design: 21CLD Learning Activity Rubrics

2 - Tools -  Learning scenarios and examples of lesson plans

Below you will find the empty template of the collaborative learning scenario and six examples of scenarios focusing on different topics and aspects.

Following that, you will see some examples of lesson plans developed by participants in the MOOC's previous edition, which employ the Learning Designer and implement collaborative learning approaches. You can use these examples as inspiration for the final learning activity (lesson plan).

Please note that the template of a learning scenario and that of a lesson plan in the Learning Designer differ in structure. The learning scenario template is broader and designed to include contextual aspects, including assessment and final reflection. The lesson plan template focuses on the description of each learning activity.

Learning_Scenario_template

Examples of Learning Scenarios (Version 2016):

Collaborative work - Towards a healthy city (CCL, Europe), (Polish translation)

iGroup - Collaboration and Assessment in a group (CCL, Europe), (Polish translation)

Personalisation – Topic: friction (CCL, Europe), (Polish translation)

Flipped Classroom (CCL, Europe), (Polish translation)

Art & Music - Creating an exhibition (NCCA, Ireland), (Polish translation)

Asteroids, impacts and craters (NCCA, Ireland), (Polish translation)

Examples of Learning Scenarios (Version 2017):

Collaborative work - Towards a healthy city (CCL, Europe)

Assessment in collaborative learning (CCL, Europe)

Personalisation – Topic: friction (CCL, Europe)

Flipped Classroom (CCL, Europe)

Resources for the 'Asteroids, impacts and craters' learning scenario:

Asteroids Scenario Resource: Fact Sheet

Asteroids Scenario Resource: Glossary of Terms

Asteroids Scenario Resource: Physics PowerPoint Presentation

Asteroids Scenario Resource: Peer Assessment Sheet

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Content of the module

This module looks at how to effectively design and implement collaborative learning. Three of the videos featured in this module include extracts and interviews from a teacher workshop organised by the Irish National Council for Curriculum & Assessment as part of the CO-LAB project.

During the workshop, Professor Deirdre Butler explains to teachers how to embed collaborative learning into lesson design, the 4 major questions teachers need to ask themselves when designing a collaborative learning activity, as well as how to use the 21st Century Learning Design or 21 CLD Collaboration Rubric.

The final video in this module explains the learning scenario template developed in a previous project, which can also be used as a tool to help you design and reflect on your own collaborative learning activities.

3 - The learning objectives

1. Understanding how to embed collaborative learning into lesson design

2. Appreciating the four dimensions of collaborative learning concerning group work, shared responsibility, making substantive decisions, and interdependent work

3. Understanding how the 21st Century Learning Design Collaboration Rubric and Learning Scenarios can help you reflect and design collaborative learning activities

4. Assessing the two collaborative learning activities you described in Module 1 using the 21 CLD Rubric, and reporting in your Learning Diary

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Collaborative teaching and learning | Module 2 Introduction

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Content of the module

This module is all about teacher collaboration. So far on the course we have learned how to design and assess students’ collaborative learning. But preaching to students about the importance of collaboration is not enough; teachers, as well as teacher trainers and principals, need to model collaboration in order for students to take it seriously and to recognise its value. We know from recent European research (which you can access in the resource section of this module) that more opportunities for teacher collaboration are sorely needed. Such opportunities could include building networks, providing virtual spaces to interact in, and developing a collaborative school culture between teachers, students and the wider community.

In this module we hear about teacher collaboration experiences from a variety of viewpoints  – from Bulgarian, Turkish and Irish teachers as well as a teacher trainer and a researcher. The benefits and challenges of teacher collaboration are discussed, along with the skills required and the school conditions needed for effective collaboration to take place. We also hear about how technology can facilitate teachers working together.

Learning objectives

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

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

3. Understanding how technology can facilitate teacher collaboration

4. Using the Learning Designer to finalise the development of one or more lesson plans integrating collaborative learning and assessment, along with elements of teacher collaboration

5. Peer-reviewing the collaborative learning lesson plans of two other course participants

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Collaborative teaching and learning | M4 Introduction

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MODULE 1 INTRODUCTION                                                           2 - Content of the module This introductory module looks at what exactly is meant by collaboration in an educational context. We hear from our Irish expert on the topic, Professor Deirdre Butler, followed by some concrete examples of what collaborative learning can look like in a flexible, interactive classroom as well as in project-based learning.The module ends with two Italian teachers’ reflections on their experiences of collaborative teaching and learning, the challenges they have faced and solutions and questions they propose for us all to reflect on during the course.3 - Learning Objectives The learning objectives for this module are:Understanding the full meaning of collaborative learning, and that it requires more than simply putting students in groupsAppreciating the key benefits collaborative learning can bring to students and the specific skills it helps developAppreciating how collaborative learning can be facilitated by a flexible, interactive classroom, and also through project-based learningCreating a personal Learning Diary to log learning activities, reflections and resources from the courseReflecting in your Learning Diary on two learning activities and whether they require a low or high level of collaboration from students

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MODULE 1 INTRODUCTION                                                           2 - Content of the module This introductory module looks at what exactly is meant by collaboration in an educational context. We hear from our Irish expert on the topic, Professor Deirdre Butler, followed by some concrete examples of what collaborative learning can look like in a flexible, interactive classroom as well as in project-based learning.The module ends with two Italian teachers’ reflections on their experiences of collaborative teaching and learning, the challenges they have faced and solutions and questions they propose for us all to reflect on during the course.3 - Learning Objectives The learning objectives for this module are:Understanding the full meaning of collaborative learning, and that it requires more than simply putting students in groupsAppreciating the key benefits collaborative learning can bring to students and the specific skills it helps developAppreciating how collaborative learning can be facilitated by a flexible, interactive classroom, and also through project-based learningCreating a personal Learning Diary to log learning activities, reflections and resources from the courseReflecting in your Learning Diary on two learning activities and whether they require a low or high level of collaboration from students

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Collaborative teaching & learning | M1 Introduction

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Reading

University of Minho, Creative Classroom Lab Project (2013). CCL GUIDE: LEARNING STORY COLLABORATION - What is the collaboration learning model and how to use it?

Additional Resources

- Davidson, N., & Major, C. H. (2014). Boundary crossings: Cooperative learning, collaborative learning, and problem-based learning. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 25 (3&4), pp. 7-55.

- Prince, M., (2004). Does Active Learning Work? A Review of the Research. Journal of Engineering Education, 93 (3), pp. 223–231.

- Jacques, D., & Salmon, G., Routledge (2007). Learning in groups: A handbook for face-to-face and online environments

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Tablets Course | M3 Why students enjoy group work

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Learning Activity

Has using the rubric made you change your mind about whether the activities you wrote about in module 1 represent low/high levels of student collaboration? Explain why this is, or is not the case in your Learning Diary and in the Padlet below. In your Learning Diary, and in the Padlet below explain what is useful about the rubric and how has it helped you understand collaborative learning better, and how you intend to use it in the future.

Vocabulary bingo is an activity which students love and it is perfect to review vocabulary. The teacher gives a list of words and gives to students a blank Bingo card and they must write in it for example only 5 words. The teacher calls out the definition not just the word and keeps track of the words he uses each time to verify the winner. This type of activity is CODE 2 because students ٠DO work together · BUT they DO NOT have shared responsibility.

The other activity I proposed that is a different Shakespearian work for each group.

Each group was formed by 4 or 5 students, depending on the total number of students in the class.

After receiving teacher’s general advice, they developed their work by themselves, searching information on books or online. Every student of each group had a precise task. The collaboration was more evident when they put together the information they found to build up the Power Point to show and discuss their work in front of the class. This activity in my opinion is CODE 5 because students · DO have shared responsibility · AND they DO make substantive decisions together about the content, process, or product of their work · AND their work is interdependent.

Here is the link of  My Learning Diary:
https://padlet.com/daria_roni/dlv70y1jhwal

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Collaborative learning scenarios

Check out the scenario template and 6 example scenarios in the resource section of this module. What do you think of the template? What do you think of the example scenarios? Do you find them inspiring? Can you see how you might adapt some scenarios to create collaborative learning activities for your own context? What do you find useful or less useful about these scenarios?

In my opinion the scenario template is useful to plan collaborative learning activities, because planning all the Seven phases with appropriate activities, all the work will be clearer and all the students will know exactly what and how they have to do their work and what they will learn from it. The teachers will know exactly the amount of time they need on each phase of the lesson, the tools they need and the outcome for the lesson.

The six scenarios presented are a great source of inspiration. The way these scenarios were developed, allow teachers to use them to plan their own scenarios, adapting them to their own context: “their specific needs, taking into account the school curriculum, the age, the level of pupils and the subject taught.”

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Collaborative teaching and learning | Collaborative learning scenarios

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Hi Everybody!
I'm Daniela and I'm a teacher of English as a foreign language at a High School in Sicily, Italy. I've been teaching for 23 years and my students are aged 14-19.
I look forward to learning a lot from this MOOC in order to improve my teaching practices in my classrooms .
I love using everything related to new technologies and I want to learn more about collaborative teaching and learning.

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Collaborative learning is an educational approach to teaching and learning that involves groups of students working together to participate on a collective task that has been clearly assigned, all the students talk about themselves; the teacher should create an environment in which the students can learn together, because the students learn best in a classroom where they feel free to express their ideas and if they feel comfortable with their peers.

This method increases student skills such as critical thinking, communicating, reading and writing.

The students are positive about the experience because for example they learn some key points from others

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MODULE 1 Q1.2    Collaborative learning in a flexible classroom 

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MODULE 1 Q1.2    Collaborative learning in a flexible classroom 

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My classroom is different from the one in the video, because there is a teacher’s desk and a lot of student desks in front of it. There is a projector and an interactive board behind or next to the teacher’s desk, but it is used mainly by the teachers. When we work in groups we move all the student desks, creating small islands where the students can sit around them, and then they can use their personal tablets or laptops and their personal connection to the Internet.

It would be fantastic to work as the teacher does in the video.

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Collaborative teaching & learning | M1 Collaborative learning in a flexible classroom

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MODULE 1 Q1.3    Collaborative learning through project-based learning

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MODULE 1 Q1.3    Collaborative learning through project-based learning

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In my opinion “circle time” is an activity useful for some reflections about how the work went. At the end of a complete work this activity encourages positive relationships, self-discipline, self-regulating behaviour, conflict resolution and assertive communication. It is also useful for the teachers to see how the students feel and hear their suggestions. Today our students are called “digital natives” so they are happy when they can use technology in general, because they can show and explore their skills, for this reason I agree that “technology becomes useful in class especially when collaborative practices are used”.

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Collaborative teaching & learning | Collaborative learning through project-based learning

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MODULE 1 Q1.4                         A foreign language teacher’s experience of collaborative learning

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MODULE 1 Q1.4                         A foreign language teacher’s experience of collaborative learning

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In my opinion either behaviour management or assessing collaborative learning are a great challenge.

Teaching a number of students with different needs, behaviour and attention spans can be challenging, but when a positive learning culture is created, the students will learn better. Using the collaborative learning method can also help to reduce or prevent behaviour problems as it gives students less of an incentive to disrupt class, and it can also help to develop social skills naturally.

As regards the assessment, I think it is difficult to assess group efforts and assign grades to group.

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Collaborative teaching & learning | M1 A language teacher’s experience of collaborative learning

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MODULE 1   Q1.5                          A History & Geography teacher’s experience of collaborative learning

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MODULE 1   Q1.5                          A History & Geography teacher’s experience of collaborative learning

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It is always interesting to collaborate with other colleagues, even if it is not always easy, because lots of them have low digital competences and in their class, they use traditional teaching methods, they do not want to spend a lot of time for planning their work, because collaborating requires a lot of planning and reviewing.

To guarantee the quality of collaboration, it is a good thing, in my opinion, to allow students to form their own groups so it will likely result uneven groupings. It is necessary to assign roles to members of each group and change the roles periodically.

I think it could be normal for some students to feel frustrated if other students did not contribute to the team, because  they want to obtain good marks, so it is important to evaluate students on both their contribution to group processes as well as the final product, it is also important to use rubrics and the teacher has to consider asking students for feedback and including some of their ideas to the rubric and it is important to incorporate peer and self-assessment at various grades of the project so the teacher can check in on the assignment progress as well as the group dynamics.

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Collaborative teaching & learning | M1 An Italian, History & Geography teacher’s experience

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MODULE 2  Q2.1                Embedding collaborative learning into lesson designDo you agree about the importance to have a shared language concerning what we mean by collaborative learning? Do you agree that having collaborative skills is not a personality trait and that you can design learning activities to develop these skills in your pupils? Professor Butler mentions that ‘Technology can support new pedagogies that focus on learners as active participants with tools for inquiry-based pedagogies and collaborative work spaces’. Do you agree, and what are your experiences of this?

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MODULE 2  Q2.1                Embedding collaborative learning into lesson designDo you agree about the importance to have a shared language concerning what we mean by collaborative learning? Do you agree that having collaborative skills is not a personality trait and that you can design learning activities to develop these skills in your pupils? Professor Butler mentions that ‘Technology can support new pedagogies that focus on learners as active participants with tools for inquiry-based pedagogies and collaborative work spaces’. Do you agree, and what are your experiences of this?

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I agree about the importance to have a shared language, because having a shared vocabulary helps facilitate communication between team members and allows teacher to solve problems more efficiently.

In my opinion collaboration is not a personality trait, but it is something that students can develop. Only through different collaborative works students can learn how to work in groups, and teachers can teach students collaboration skills such as listening, arriving at consensus and collaborative accomplishment though individual contribution.

Technology can be used as a tool to address some of the challenges presented by collaborative activities. Lots of the uses of technology for group projects work well in any discipline, and are simple to plan and implement. New technologies are interactive, so it is now easier to create environments in which students can learn by doing, receive feedback and continually improve their understanding and build new knowledge.

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Collaborative teaching & learning | M2 Embedding collaborative learning into lesson design

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MODULE 2 Q2.2                   The 4 Collaboration QuestionsWhat do you think of the 4 major questions presented by Professor Deirdre Butler? Are they useful in helping you design a collaborative learning activity? Have you asked yourself these questions before when designing collaborative learning activities?

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MODULE 2 Q2.2                   The 4 Collaboration QuestionsWhat do you think of the 4 major questions presented by Professor Deirdre Butler? Are they useful in helping you design a collaborative learning activity? Have you asked yourself these questions before when designing collaborative learning activities?

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I fully agree, these FOUR questions are very important and useful in designing an efficient collaborative learning activity. In my experience these questions arise naturally when assessing the experience if they have not been considered when planning, but I found some difficulties in practising them because it is not always simple to control the effectiveness of them.

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Collaborative teaching & learning | M2 The 4 Collaboration Questions

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I like your work. I am Nicoleta, Romania

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MODULE 1   Q1.6               Share your activity descriptions - and explanations of why they involve low or high levels of collaboration 

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MODULE 1   Q1.6               Share your activity descriptions - and explanations of why they involve low or high levels of collaboration 

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Activities which require a low level of collaboration are for example Vocabulary Bingo and the Interview.

Vocabulary bingo is an activity which students love and it is perfect to review vocabulary. The teacher gives a list of words and gives to students a blank Bingo card and they must write in it for example only 5 words. The teacher calls out the definition not just the word and keeps track of the words he uses each time to verify the winner.

The Interview is an activity a teacher can do the first day of school. The teacher can brainstorm a list of questions and students can choose which ones they write down. The basic idea is that two students will be paired together and they will interview each other. The students who did the interviewing will report about the student who was interviewed. I usually do the interviewing on one day and the reporting out over a course of day.

An activity which required a high level of collaboration was one I did last year, when I proposed to study a different Shakespearian work for each group.

Each group was formed by 4 or 5 students, depending on the total number of students in the class.

After receiving teacher’s general advice, they developed their work by themselves, searching information on books or online. Every student of each group had a precise task. The collaboration was more evident when they put together the information they found to build up the Power Point to show and discuss their work in front of the class.

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MODULE 2    Q2.3                    21 CLD Collaboration RubricHow useful do you find the rubric Professor Deirdre Butler explained? Do you think it is useful in helping you understand the type and quality of collaboration taking place in the learning activities you design? Have you used this or similar rubrics before to help you design collaborative learning activities? What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of it?

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MODULE 2    Q2.3                    21 CLD Collaboration RubricHow useful do you find the rubric Professor Deirdre Butler explained? Do you think it is useful in helping you understand the type and quality of collaboration taking place in the learning activities you design? Have you used this or similar rubrics before to help you design collaborative learning activities? What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of it?

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I have never used rubrics before, but I think they are a really interesting tool to use in the future. I understood that this rubric helps teachers in planning a collaborative learning activity, it also helps to understand the type and quality of collaboration but in my opinion the greatest advantage is that this rubric gives a basis for self-assessment reflection and peer-assessment, so students are in control and participate in their learning process, because in this way they are able to evaluate what they have done.

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Collaborative teaching and learning | M2 21 CLD Collaboration Rubric