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Supporting all Students During Assignments

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Supporting all Students During Assignments

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When you think about your students and consider instruction you might have a particular child in mind. Maybe you are considering a multilingual learner, or a student who is on an IEP, maybe a student who is differently abled, or one that has not gained conceptual understanding of foundation skills. In any case, the instructional practices you are considering for a particular learner or subset of learners, is likely the best instruction and therefore can support and benefit all learners. When we think about serving students who are often marginalized, we make choices that are good for all learners.
Working as a Team
Collaboration among teachers, connecting and coordinating services students receive both inside and outside of the classroom is one essential step to support this work. "Catching up is hard to do when she is bombarded with a sea of difficult and different English tasks from what she is learning in her ESL room" (Fu et al., 2019, p. 33). This same concept applies to students being pulled from the classroom for any reason. When teachers share students, and collaborate to coordinate and align interventions, vocabulary, supports and collaborate on student goals the instruction for a student can be more cohesive.

Collaboration can also allow different strategies and techniques to be shared and used by teachers. "Students from low-income families and ELs [English Learners] traditionally perform below peers on measures of academic achievement (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2018), so it is critical to understand the effect of interventions for these students to address math achievement gaps" (Nelson & McMaster, 2019, p. 1014). It is an opportunity for educators to learn from one another and their students. Educators with different backgrounds can offer insights and ideas to try, while specialists might offer other knowledge, working as a team allows everyone involved to grow.
What does it look like?
As noted it looks like teamwork, no single teacher is responsible for a student. Schedule coordination is also essential, and can be eased sometimes by push in supports, so that grade level instruction is not missed by the student in order to receive "backfill", "remediation" or other supports. Although students need a place and time to build foundational skills, it is not an either-or situation. A student can be engaged in math that is grade level content, with appropriate scaffolds and supports, and have time to engage in practice and development of conceptual understanding or skills that they need additional time (Tapper, 2012). Learning is not a linear process and while some understanding is necessary for other concepts to develop, all skills and mastery are not needed to engage with accessible tasks.

Scaffolding engagement, productive struggle, accessibility of supports and tools, discourse and high-quality instruction are necessary to meet standards-based learning. These elements of quality math instruction are applicable across content and are elements of translanguaging classrooms as well. "Students were supported when the mathematics curriculum provided multi-modal representations of content, and multiple ways of engaging in mathematical activity" (Lambert & Sugita, 2016, p. 361).When a classroom is set up to support learners with diverse needs it supports all learners, "marginalization of these students also disadvantages the mainstream community" (Fu et al., 2019, p. 63).

Best practices in mathematics instruction include discourse, visuals, model use, and productive struggle with cognitively demanding tasks. (Lambert & Sugita, 2016; Tapper, 2012; van Garderen et al., 2020; Xin et al., 2016) Allowing choice of tools, strategies and targeted instruction can support this. In a translanguaging classroom this might be access to texts, videos, resources in native language or the opportunity to think and reason using a language of choice, whereas in a math classroom it might be using a tool or technology in a way to support concept development or solve a task. In either case, these range of approaches allow students to apply their skills and knowledge as they learn. "These children [with dyscalculia] often experience greater success when they are allowed to use their abilities (strengths) to work around their disabilities" (Monei & Pedro, 2017, p. 286).
Math Learning for ALL
Math instruction should allow for conceptual understanding, be accessible for all learners and be taught with best practices to reach that goal. As students grow and learn through exploring concepts collaboratively and through strong discourse in the classroom, techniques and strategies used by educators to support learners will benefit all students. Participating in a classroom math community of learners is best for ALL students.

Erica Moy

ALN Facilitator

District Coach

References:

Fu, D., Hadjioannou, X., & Zhou, X. (2019). Translanguaging for emergent bilinguals inclusive teaching in the linguistically diverse classroom. Teachers College Press.

Lambert, R., & Sugita, T. (2016). Increasing engagement of students with learning disabilities in mathematical problem-solving and discussion. Support for Learning, 31(4), 347-366. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9604.12142

Monei, T., & Pedro, A. (2017). A systematic review of interventions for children presenting with dyscalculia in primary schools. Educational Psychology in Practice, 33(3), 277-293. https://doi.org/10.1080/02667363.2017.1289076

Nelson, G., & McMaster, K. L. (2019). The effects of early numeracy interventions for students in preschool and early elementary: A meta-analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 111(6), 1001-1022. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000334

Tapper, J. (2012). Solving for why: Understanding, assessing, and teaching students who struggle with math. Math Solutions.

van Garderen, D., Lannin, J. K., & Kamuru, J. (2020). Intertwining special education and mathematics education perspectives to design an intervention to improve student understanding of symbolic numerical magnitude. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 59, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2020.100782

Xin, Y. P., Liu, J., Jones, S. R., Tzur, R., & Si, L. (2016). A preliminary discourse analysis of constructivist-oriented mathematics instruction for a student with learning disabilities. Journal of Educational Research, 109(4), 436-447. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.2014.979910

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Best Practices Support ALL Learners - All Learners Network

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When you think about your students and consider instruction you might have a particular child in mind. Maybe you are considering a multilingual learner, or a student who is on an IEP, maybe a student who is differently abled, or one that has not gained conceptual understanding of foundation skills.

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Supporting All Students During Assignments

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Supporting All Students During Assignments

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by Stephanie Chasteen, University of Colorado Boulder

Groups do not always work productively, and not all tasks are suited to group work. Poor group dynamics, or ill-suited tasks, can reduce student engagement. This article focuses on helping students engage productively in active learning classrooms through the type of tasks that are used, and support of productive group dynamics.
Interested in more ideas on student engagement? You can see all my articles on helping students engage in active learning, and also download a PDF summary of all recommended engagement strategies.
How do group structures and tasks affect student engagement?

As you might imagine, not all "cooperative groups" work cooperatively. That is, students may be in a group, but not be working collaboratively towards a common goal that improves their learning. Students can come in with poor attitudes towards group work ( Gillespie, Rosamond, and Thomas 2006), including having a fear of loafers. Or the structure of the groups may be at fault: Often, what we think are cooperative groups are traditional classroom groups (where some students work hard and others do not), or pseudo learning groups (where students have no interest in working together) ( Moreno 2009; Nokes-Malach, Richey, and Gadgil 2015). These types of learning groups often do not actually improve student learning when compared to traditional instruction.

Students need to have a reason to work together ( "positive interdependence"), be accountable as a team as well as individually for their learning, learn skills for working together productively, and have clear expectations for the outcome of group work ( Slavin 2010; Anderman and Dawson 2010). Luckily, students typically find group work fun and motivating, and over time will typically have more productive learning experiences ( Nguyen et al. 2021; Bacon, Stewart, and Silver 1999).

Additionally, the benefits of cooperative learning are highly dependent on the task itself ( Slavin 1995). Students are motivated by interest: if a task feels stimulating, fun, relevant, authentic and novel, this will draw students in. Students are also attracted by the value of a task: A task that is useful, important, and challenging with high benefit and few costs will engage students ( Pintrich 2003; Boekaerts 2010; Engle and Conant 2002; Moreno 2009). Tasks that are less motivating are ones that can be completed using superficial memorization and without setting clear goals or involving any collaboration. A task may also be overly restrictive, offering little student latitude. Design authentic, collaborative, and fun tasks with the goal of sparking pleasure, pride, and satisfaction in students. Variety in group tasks is very motivating and tends to keep students engaged ( Shekhar et al. 2015). A commitment to variety also allows you to address different student interests ( Boekaerts 2010; Pintrich 2003; Tanner 2013), and keep student attention as the semester progresses ( Ertmer, Newby, and MacDougall 1996).

Strategies for helping students work productively in groups

Below are some general strategies for helping to support productive group work. There are many other resources devoted to this topic. See Further Reading for many of my preferred sources. Below are some of the most salient strategies related to student engagement.

Hold students individually accountable for group work

Students must have some accountability for their individual learning in order for groups to work effectively ( Slavin 1995).

Give groups a collaborative goal

It is also important to have the group working together to achieve a collaborative goal, and that the group's success is dependent on the individual learning of all members ( Slavin 1995).

Use productive group structures

The structure of groups is also important for success and engagement. The group size should be well suited to the task, and so that each student will be able to contribute. A group might benefit from having roles assigned to each student, especially early in the semester, to facilitate productive collaboration.

Can support greater group diversity. Reduces anxiety of students who may not feel comfortable asking to join a group. Students gain experience learning to work with people they don't know.

Students may prefer this. Students may be more comfortable and productive if they can choose others with whom they know they can work productively and feel safe. Some research shows students are more productive when they choose their own groups.

Students may not prefer this approach. Instructors may not know students or their context well enough to put them in groups that will work well together. The logistics of assigning groups may be more work for the instructor.

Students may choose to work with their friends and be more likely to be distracted by off-topic conversations or exclude group members who are not part of a friend group.

Aim for diversity in student achievement, gender, culture, and ethnicity. At the same time, avoid putting a single student from a marginalized group alone in a group, as they may be more likely to be excluded. Use CATME' s online team maker to form teams based on such criteria.

In a small class where many students know each other, have students write down the names of other students they do and don't want to work with, and assign groups based on their preferences, to avoid the anxiety students might feel if they have to find people to work with on the spot.

By test scores, random number generation, and then balance by race/gender.

By student choice (nearest neighbors, friends) or by characteristics (e.g., high school attended, mutual interests).

Help groups collaborate effectively and monitor their performance

Students are likely to need some help in working together well. Below are several strategies for helping students to start out on the right foot and keep working together well. See also useful training and supports for productive team-work at CATME.org, including team member preparation documents, team charters and sample team agendas. There are also several helpful suggestions for dealing with dysfunctional teams in Felder and Brent (2016).

Build motivating tasks

Build "motivational embellishments" into your activities, leveraging students' psychology to draw them in naturally to the task and make them want to engage due to intrinsic interest and value for the activity. Motivational embellishments include the insertion of specific challenges, material based on student interest, or giving students perceived control over the outcome of the task.

Summary and Action Items
This article is a product of the Framing the Interactive Engagement Classroom project, led by Stephanie Chasteen (University of Colorado Boulder), with collaboration from Jon Gaffney (Eastern Kentucky University) and Andrew Boudreaux (Western Washington University). Many thanks to University of Colorado reviewers Rebecca Ciancanelli and Jenny Knight, plus undergraduate assistant Maya Fohrman. This work was generously supported by the University of Colorado Science Education Initiative Sociocultural theory, social constructivism, positive interdependence, accountability, cooperative learning and the University of Colorado Center for STEM Learning, via a Chancellor's Award. Please contact Stephanie Chasteen with any comments or questions.
Most active learning techniques involve the creation of student groups, but groups do not always work productively, and not all tasks are suited to group work. Poor group dynamics, or ill-suited tasks, can reduce student engagement in active learning. This chapter focuses on helping students engage productively in active learning classrooms through the type of tasks that are used, and support of productive group dynamics.

Hold students individually accountable for group work

Students must have some accountability for their individual learning in order for groups to work effectively.

Follow up group work with individual assessments of learning.

Use assessments of individual effort to adjust grades.

Give groups a collaborative goal

It is important to have the group working together to achieve a collaborative goal, and that the group's success is dependent on the individual learning of all members.

Give students goals as a group.

Use achievement rewards.

Use group exams.

Use productive group structures

The structure of groups is important for success and engagement. The group size should be well suited to the task, and so that each student will be able to contribute.

Use team-building exercises.

Coach students and model effective behavior.

Help teams develop productive goals.

Require groups to self-reflect.

Help groups collaborate effectively and monitor their performance

Students are likely to need some help in working together well.

Use team-building exercises.

Coach students and model effective behavior.

Help teams develop productive goals.

Require groups to self-reflect.

Build motivating tasks

Build "motivational embellishments" into your activities, leveraging students' psychology to draw them in naturally to the task and make them want to engage due to intrinsic interest and value for the activity. Motivational embellishments include the insertion of specific challenges, material based on student interest, or giving students perceived control over the outcome of the task.

Don't bite off more than you can chew. Vary group learning methods.

Give clear, written instruction.

Focus on authentic, real world scenarios.

Allow for fun.

Give tasks that are just above student ability.

Give students choice and autonomy.

For further reading on this topic, see Ames 1991; Seidel and Tanner 2013; Millis 2012; Slavin 2010; Tanner 2013; Teed, McDaris, and Roseth 2018; Felder and Brent 2016.

Keywords to search in the literature

Image courtesy of PhET Interactive Simulations, University of Colorado Boulder

References

E. Anderman and H. Dawson, Learning with Motivation, in Handbook of Research on Learning and Instruction, edited by R. Mayer and P. Alexander, (2010).

J. Bliss, W. Firestone, and C. Richards, Rethinking Effective Schools: Research and Practice, 1st ed. (Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, 1991).

M. Boekaerts, The crucial role of motivation and emotion in classroom learning, in The Nature of Learning: Using Research to Inspire Practice, edited by H. Dumont, D. Istance, and F. Benavides, (2010).

B. Brown, A. Gamoran, S. Lamborn, K. Seashore-Louis, N. Mounts, M. Nystrand, B. Smith, G. Smith, L. Steinberg, and G. Wehlage, Student Engagement and Achievement in American Secondary Schools, 1 ed., edited by F. Newmann, (Teachers College Press, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, 1992), Vol. 1.

R. Felder and R. Brent, Teaching and Learning STEM: A Practical Guide, 1st Edition ed. (Jossey-Bass- A Wiley Imprint, San Francisco, 2016).

B. Linder, M. Somerville, Ö. Eris, and N. Tatar, Work in progress - Taking one for the team: Goal orientation and gender-correlated task division, presented at the IEEE Frontiers in Education (FIE) 2010, Arlington, VA, 2010.

R. Mayer and P. Alexander, (Routledge, Abingdon, 2016).

B. Millis, Cooperative Learning in Higher Education: Across the Disciplines, Across the Academy, 2nd edition ed. (Stylus Publishing, LLC, Sterling, 2012).

R. Moreno, Educational Psychology, (John Wiley & Sons Inc., Somerset, 2009).

K. Nguyen, J. Husman, M. Borrego, P. Shekhar, M. Prince, and M. DeMonbrun, Students' Expectations, Types of Instruction, and Instructor Strategies Predicting Student Response to Active Learning, presented at the American Education Research Association (AERA), San Antonio, Texas, 2017.

R. Slavin, Cooperative Learning: Theory, Research, and Practice, 3rd Edition ed. (Allyn & Bacon Publishers, Boston, 1995).

R. Slavin, Cooperative learning: What makes group-work work?, in The Nature of Learning: Using Research to Inspire Practice, edited by H. Dumont, D. Istance, and F. Benavides, (2010).

R. Teed, J. McDaris, C. Roseth, Cooperative Learning, Science Education Resource Center and Carleton, 2018).

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How can I help students work well in small groups, so they are more likely to engage?

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Groups do not always work productively, and not all tasks are suited to group work. Poor group dynamics, or ill-suited tasks, can reduce student engagement. This article focuses on helping students engage productively in active learning classrooms through the type of tasks that are used, and support of productive group dynamics.

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Supporting All Students During Assignments

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Supporting All Students During Assignments

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Center for Teaching & Learning : UMass Amherst

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Successful group work is characterized by trust, psychological safety, clarity of expectations, and good communication; being in the same location while working is not essential to group effectiveness (Duhigg, 2016; Kelly, 2008; Salmons, 2019). Below we offer strategies and examples that work for short-term collaborative group work (e.g., discussions in an online, hybrid/flexible, or in-person class) and long-term collaborative assignments (e.g., group projects), ending with additional considerations for long-term collaborative work.

STRATEGIES & EXAMPLES

Provide Opportunities to Develop Connection and Trust

Engage students with community building activities. Groups work best when students feel connected and trust each other. Brief icebreaker activities are fun and allow students to get to know each other before delving into group work. If using a video conferencing platform such as Zoom or Echo360, ask students to type a word or emoji about how they are doing into the chat, or during in-person classes students can share this orally or via an audience response system. Let students practice group work in Moodle or Blackboard with some low-stakes group assignments.

Create group norms. In the first few weeks of class, create participation norms that all students agree upon as a class or within their small groups. Discuss with students how certain social identities (e.g., women in STEM, transgender students) can be unintentionally marginalized during group work as a justification for creating norms around respectful and inclusive communication (Oakley, Felder, Brent, & Elhajj, 2004). Vary the groupings of students so that students can meet other students and hear different perspectives, particularly in the first weeks of class. Refer back to the agreed-upon norms when conflict arises.

Proactively check in with groups. It's important to pay attention to both process and the accomplished task. As you drop into groups during class time or consult with groups in office hours, note who does and does not speak; consider asking questions about process such as who is generating ideas and how they know everyone is on board with these ideas. Check in individually with quieter students. Remember, how you address group functioning models how they should interact with each other (Kelly, 2008).

(Over)communicate and Reinforce Expectations

Communicate the purpose. Communicate in writing and orally the skills students will develop by the end of their group work experience and why this is a valuable task or project to do in groups (as opposed to individually). You might ask students to connect skills they will learn to their personal goals and describe how they will know if they've developed these skills apart from your feedback.

Describe the tasks. In writing, describe the tasks in detail, including steps in the process with due dates/deadlines, resources needed, technology for communication, and expectations for group work. This means giving students clear topics, questions, deliverables, or goals for group work. Consider assigning rotating task roles such as discussion director, connector, summarizer, recorder, and reporter (Kennedy & Nilson, 2008). Create a space online for students to submit questions which are publicly answered for all to see; this can become an FAQ forum. At the end of group work, have groups submit something that demonstrates their engagement with the task for a small amount of points, such as group decisions, remaining questions, or discussion notes.

Clarify the criteria. Communicate specific details about how student work generated in groups will be assessed (i.e., rubrics, exemplars, grading scheme). Use positive, "do this" language rather than negative, "don't do this" language when possible. Show examples that typify important or challenging aspects of the work with narrations (i.e., on video or in a commented document) of what makes the work exemplar.

Additional Tips for Long-term Collaborative Projects

Be sure students have a communication plan. This can be specified as part of their group norms and processes at the beginning of the project. In addition, be clear how and when groups should communicate with you, where and in what format they should submit materials, and what to do if they encounter a problem.

Break apart the project into phases or milestones with clear deliverables at each stage. Clearly specify how and where students should turn in work (i.e., online or in person), and use this format consistently for all deliverables.

Have students periodically check in about their group process and report back on their process. At the beginning of the project, ask students to identify how they want to work together, what their expectations are for each other, and what collaborative tools the group wants to use. Have them post their group norms in an online forum. Include a requirement for a "team effectiveness discussion" or evaluation (self or peer) after students have some time to work together (e.g., 2nd milestone; See Oakley et al. 2004 for a "Crisis Clinic" guide). Allow them to adjust norms and set goals for the next phase of group work.

Clearly connect homework, lectures, or other learning activities to the group project. For example, after learning new concepts, students might be asked to turn in a brief "Application memo" which connects course content to their group project. An online session might end with an "Integrate it" discussion among group members to integrate new learning into their project. Homework might be called "Project Prep." Name activities by their purpose so that students see the relevance and utility of each activity more easily.

Foster cross-group peer review. Students will appreciate hearing what other groups are doing and can get ideas for their own projects. For example, have students share their milestones or group work with another group and have them record questions and feedback in a collaborative document. Review that document to provide feedback to the entire class, saving you from giving feedback to each group. Peer review can also be done as a workshop or group assignment activity in the LMS.

Please contact the CTL with any questions or for more details about the examples shared at ctl@umass.edu. For support with collaborative technology, email instruct@umass.edu.

For questions on your LMS, Google, and other educational technology contact IDEAS at instruct@umass.edu

REFERENCES

Duhigg, C. (2016, February 25). What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team. The New York Times.

Kelly, R. (2008, August 11). Creating trust in online education, Faculty Focus.

Kennedy, F. A., and Nilson, L. B. (2008). Successful strategies for teams. Team Member Handbook. Office of Teaching Effectiveness and Innovation, Clemson University.

Oakley, B., Felder, R. M., Brent, R., & Elhajj, I. (2004). Turning student groups into effective teams. Journal of Student Centered Learning, 2(1), pp. 9-34.

Salmons, J. (2019). Learning to collaborate, collaborating to learn: Engaging students in the classroom and online. Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Image by Armin Rimoldi for Pexels.

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Center for Teaching & Learning : UMass Amherst

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Successful group work is characterized by trust, psychological safety, clarity of expectations, and good communication; being in the same location while working is not essential to group effectiveness (Duhigg, 2016; Kelly, 2008; Salmons, 2019).

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Education has shifted; although many schools are back to teaching in person, educators know that components of hybrid and virtual learning are here to stay. We know that in order to keep learning engaging, meaningful, and student-centered, we have to be flexible. But with flexible learning comes the challenge of keeping students accountable for their learning.

By utilizing effective online resources, co-creating norms, developing clear and consistent structures and deadlines, and keeping student needs in mind, educators can build a learning environment that reaches all learners and paves the way for student ownership. Here are some helpful strategies for accountability as well as coach tips to help you achieve the virtual, hybrid, or in-person learning environment you are envisioning.

Create clear norms and expectations with your students.

By creating clear norms and expectations with your students instead of just for them, you can hold students accountable for their behavior inside and outside of a lesson and use student voice to create community and increase engagement. This also ensures you are all on the same page and have agreed to these rules/norms.

Coach tip

Don't wait to do this! Do this in your lesson or before introducing a new online resource. Revisit these norms and expectations often with your students depending on their needs. Allow them to self-assess and give them a voice to adjust these norms as a class community if they feel necessary throughout the school year.

Prioritize relationships by using consistent structures for checking in/monitoring progress.

By creating time to check in as a class, set goals, and conference around those goals, you can strengthen and maintain those relationships and keep students on track. A class meeting is also a great time to allow students to brainstorm and share around what routines might need readjusting to better serve your entire class community.

Coach tip

I always started my lessons by greeting each student so they knew I saw them and valued them. This automatically holds them accountable for being in class. Then, I moved into our class meeting time. By creating a routine around greeting students and meeting with students as a class and then individually, students know what to expect and that their presence, voice, and work matters. Additionally, by conferencing individually with students, I was able to get to know them on a deeper level and by strengthening that relationship, they stayed more accountable.

Be clear with goals and deadlines.

Another barrier to keeping students accountable is helping them stay on top of assignments and deadlines. It's important to use a calendar system so students know what they need to accomplish and where they are headed, especially in self-paced work. Show this calendar to the entire class and provide access and a copy for students. Depending on your grade level, you can give more support in this process if necessary.

Coach tip

Don't forget that many students have several teachers and subjects to balance. We all need deadlines to keep us on track. Planning towards deadlines is an important life skill; it also helps you as the teacher when you are planning and thinking about what your students need.

Keep students engaged throughout the learning process.

We all know that sometimes students "tune out" whether they're in person or across a screen. Provide stopping points or checkpoints for students to interact with each other, complete a quick exit ticket, or give peer feedback on assignments. If you are holding class in an online or hybrid environment, giving students online "jobs" can also make them feel more involved within the lesson.

By creating exit tickets, you can keep track of student progress and keep students accountable for the learning in each portion of the lesson. Many online platforms such as Google Forms can help you create a simple and quick exit ticket if you are working online.

A chalk talk or silent discussion is a great way to involve all students in the thinking at any part of a lesson or unit. In-person students can use sticky notes or colored markers. Online students can use platforms like Padlet or Google Jamboard.

Utilize peer feedback tools: Giving and receiving peer feedback helps students stay accountable for not just improving their own work, but also the work of others.

Coach tip

For online classrooms, reflect on the structures you used within the walls of a physical classroom and think about how you could bring those to life online. For example, many jobs in the in-person classroom can be transitioned into online learning, such as the "time keeper," and there is room for many roles that are unique to online learning, like the "chat monitor." Try classroom jobs to give students ownership and make them feel valued throughout the learning process. In my classroom, our favorite feedback tool in-person was "glow and grow" so while online we continued to give this feedback within different sharing options like Google Docs.

Create personalized pathways.

Creating personalized pathways can have the biggest impact on student accountability because it allows your students to take ownership of their learning, understand where they are, track progress, and work towards goals.

Use self-assessment tools to help students determine growth areas: Marzano's self-assessment rubric is a great way for students to gauge how much support they need and help them to determine the appropriate next steps or activity to choose.

Use goal setting/reflection templates to help students determine their strengths and areas in need of growth and encourage ownership and accountability for working towards those goals.

Try implementing an individual progress and mastery tracking system. This is the ultimate accountability strategy; competency-based learning gives students ownership over their learning and data. There are various approaches to this strategy and it can be personalized to you and your students.

Coach tip

Creating a competency-based learning system can feel overwhelming at first. Start small by implementing goal setting and self-assessment tools to help students be more reflective about where they are within a standard/concept. You can learn more about competency-based learning here.

Provide options for extra support.

In class, it may seem like your students "got it," but when they go to complete the assignment asynchronously or independently without you there, they may need help. Providing opportunities for extra support while you're not there will help your students stay accountable with trying out their work even when it feels difficult.

Coach tip

For online learning, one way to provide extra support is by using video for flipped learning environments. These videos can help students with specific skills and allow for quick checks for understanding. You can also use programs like Zoom, Loom, and Screencastify to record short videos of yourself to help your students better understand a concept, find where to access materials, or outline the goals of an assignment. This is also extremely helpful for families who are trying to support their children at home.

Motivate students by celebrating growth and success.

In order to stay accountable, students need to feel that their work is important and means something. A simple digital space to share and celebrate growth and success can make a huge difference.

A positive news board is a great place for students to recognize the growth that has emerged from their hard work. This board can be up in an in-person classroom or created in a digital space.

Coach tip

You can have students add to the board themselves by using Padlet or Google Jamboard in a virtual or hybrid environment. In-person students can easily add to a physical board with sticky notes or notecards. Encouraging students to celebrate themselves as well as their peers fosters key social-emotional skills such as relationship skills. You can take a brief period of time daily or each week (ex: five to ten minutes) to verbally share out bright spots or "glows" from the week.

By holding our students accountable, we hold ourselves as educators accountable. We ensure that our expectations and directions are clear, that we are strengthening our relationships with all students, that we know where we're headed, and that we can create systems to engage and support all students in their own learning journey-whether that's in a virtual, hybrid, or in-person classroom. Our students are very capable, but we have to help them get there. At the heart of this work is continuous improvement: trying, measuring, and learning (TML).

If you would like further support implementing these strategies, a BetterLesson instructional coach can help you get started. If you are interested in learning more about hybrid and virtual learning, explore this focus area here.

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15+ Strategies to Help With Student Accountability - BetterLesson

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Education has shifted; although many schools are back to teaching in person, educators know that components of hybrid and virtual learning are here to stay. We know that in order to keep learning engaging, meaningful, and student-centered, we have to be flexible. But with flexible learning comes the challenge of keeping students accountable for their learning.

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Small-group learning transforms the traditional teacher-driven classroom into a student-centered learning environment characterized by high engagement and achievement. By providing space for personalized learning and collaboration, small groups create a space where students receive the differentiated support they need. Teachers are often hesitant to use small-group learning due to concerns about classroom management and learning support given the multiple pods of students working collaboratively on different tasks around the classroom. How can teachers effectively facilitate learning when students are working on five or more different tasks simultaneously, especially when one of those tasks might be a teacher-led small group? How can teachers effectively administer small groups in online or hybrid learning environments?

For small groups to function well in the physical, online, or hybrid learning environment, there must be levers of accountability established and ready to employ. The following post will delve into concrete strategies teachers can use to create metrics and tools of accountability that will ultimately promote student independence, agency, and leadership in the classroom through small-group learning.

Routines and Procedures

Classrooms that function well have established routines and procedures that lead to safety and organization. Depending on the grade level and subject area of the classroom, these routines and procedures may include expectations for how students enter and exit the classroom, steps for obtaining materials, procedures for requesting permission to go to the restroom, or even ways to ask for help while working. Teachers prepare students for success and make excellent use of instructional time when they plan in detail how students should complete routine activities in class.

For small groups, teachers should consider developing step-by-step routines and procedures for any common movements or transitions that take place during small-group learning. Consider, for instance, how students may move from one small group to another in a timely and safe manner. The following common occurrences may merit the planning of a routine or procedure during small-group learning: accessing technology, obtaining and returning supplies, submitting small-group work, seeking help from the teacher, leaving the classroom to collaborate outside. In my Spanish classroom, I used the following "Workstations Rotation" procedure to empower students to lead the learning process and spend as little time as possible in transition between activities:

1. Step One: At the end of a workstation, the teacher rings the bell twice, stands up, and is seen by all students scanning the classroom. Students end conversations within 10 seconds. For students who are not on task, the teacher says, "Waiting on (specific number) of students to have their eyes silently on the speaker." Then the teacher uses positive narration to call out those who are on task: "Thank you (insert name) for your attention."

2. Step Two: Once all students are silent and have their eyes on the teacher, the teacher says the following instructions in an even tone and a moderate volume: "When I say go and not before I say go, quietly wrap-up conversations, pack up materials and prepare to transition. You have 60 seconds on the timer. Go." The teacher sets and displays a timer and is seen scanning the room or walking around. (Note that the teacher is careful never to speak while students are talking. If students start talking during instructions, the teacher self-interrupts . If a student is not paying attention, the teacher uses close proximity. If a student is wildly off task, the teacher interrupts the transition and tells students to continue working momentarily until the issue can be resolved privately and individually.)

3. Step Three: At the end of the timer, the teacher rings the bell twice and is seen scanning the room. Once all students are silent and have their eyes on the teacher, the teacher says the following instructions in an even tone and a moderate volume: "When I say go and not before I say go, stand up, push in chairs, walk silently to the next workstation. You will have 15 minutes to work." Before saying go, the teacher does a choral check for understanding: "We will stand... (students chorally complete the sentence). We will push in our... (students chorally complete the sentence). We will walk... (students chorally complete the sentence)." The teacher says, "Go." Then the teacher sets and displays the timer and is seen scanning the room or walking around. (Note that the teacher uses positive narration to point out students who are following directions. For students off task, the teacher gives quick verbal reminders in a private and respectful way. If a student is consistently missing the mark, the teacher has a private conversation and practices transitioning.)

4. Step Four: Once all students have arrived at their next workstation, the teacher circulates through stations and assists where needed. Any students who may have struggled during the transition are given a chance to meet with the teacher.

As detailed and specific as this may seem, the procedure I have just described helped my classroom function like a well-oiled machine with little or no disruption due to unwanted behavior or confusion. Students spent the vast majority of their time working independently and collaboratively in small groups because we wasted no time on messy transitions.

Within virtual and hybrid learning environments, it is important to step back and consider the specific context in which learning occurs. Each environment will require different routines and procedures to function properly; however, a few best practices remain true for any effective routine. According to Doug Lemov's groundbreaking manual for effective teaching and learning, Teach Like a Champion 3.0 , highly effective classroom procedures have the following characteristics: simple, quick, requiring little narration by the teacher, and planned in detail. One invaluable tool for small-group instruction online is called "Breakout Rooms," virtual spaces in which a large group of participants in a virtual meeting are split into smaller groups temporarily. This feature is available through the Zoom and Microsoft Teams platforms. to read a comprehensive article on best practices for managing breakout rooms in Zoom, and for the same resource for Microsoft Teams. What routines and procedures are essential for small-group learning in your classroom?

Clear Instructions

Students need access to age-appropriate instructions to guide them in small-group learning. Depending on students' grade level, these instructions may come in writing, pictures/images, or even video. (Consider the impact of combining two or more of these formats for increased student comprehension through multimodal instruction , especially for students with special needs and students with language barriers!) Some best practices to consider in developing clear instructions include writing concisely, eliminating extraneous steps, and integrating flexibility by providing multiple options. Teachers must provide students with easy access to instructions for any small-group task. In the physical classroom, this might be done by providing small-group work binders with specific instructions and materials at the ready; however, in hybrid environments teachers might create tasks on Google Classroom or another learning platform that students can access from their personal computers or tablets. Then students can work in small groups through breakout rooms in Zoom or Teams meetings while the teacher monitors each group periodically. (Note that students can record their breakout rooms and upload them as evidence of their collaboration as permitted by school and district policies.) One way or another, students need access to clear and concrete instructions for small-group tasks that require little or no teacher involvement.

While step-by-step directions are essential for some tasks, teachers must also consider the ways in which clear instructions provide space for students to engage in higher-order tasks that might require collaborative problem solving, synthesis of knowledge and ideas, or even the creation of a new process or product. For this, teachers craft guiding questions that inspire students to engage deeply with the topic at hand by connecting to students' interests and passions or even allowing students to relate back to their own lives. Using guiding questions as a springboard, students become steadfast explorers and collaborators who are excited to learn. Below are examples of effective guiding questions for small-group learning:

Mathematics: How might you model (insert mathematical concept or theorem) using the materials and resources available at this workstation?

Social Science: What constitutes a good home? How can governments, charities, and other institutions contribute to people's access to good homes?

Language Arts: How is the theme of this text relevant and important to folks today? What can we learn and apply in our lives immediately from this text?

Physical Science: How is your life affected by the laws of motion? Provide examples for each law of motion.

Biological Science: What can we apply from our most recent unit of study to promote awareness of the importance of handwashing? How might you present this information to the general public?

World Languages: What are the keywords you would need to learn to communicate effectively about (insert topic) in our language of study? What strategies would best support you in learning those words?

Fine Arts: How do musicians improve the quality of their compositions and performances? What examples can you provide to support your analysis?

Physical Education: What routines and habits from your daily life contribute to your overall wellbeing and health? Conversely, what routines and habits might negatively impact your overall wellbeing and health?

While teachers may choose to develop a task aligned to a guiding question, they may also choose to allow students to be agents of their learning as they develop their own unique responses. In my Spanish classroom, students often developed innovative, creative, and unique projects in response to guiding questions I provided in each of their student-led small groups. Some examples of the types of tasks that students proposed and completed in Spanish class are a classroom newspaper, a hydroponic garden, a cooking show, and even a trip to a local Spanish mission. In the online Spanish classroom, students wrote dramatic skits, recorded group podcasts, and developed computer games in their small groups. Using these guiding questions as starting points for small-group work, students can tap into their own interests, opinions, and perspectives.

Student-Facing Rubrics

Rubrics are a powerful form of accountability that allow teachers and students to work from a shared understanding of the learning outcomes of any small-group learning opportunity. A rubric is an evaluative tool that includes a set of learning criteria and performance levels that are equally applied to all students in a given task. According to EdGlossary , an online resource defining common academic and school-improvement concepts, "In instructional settings, rubrics clearly define academic expectations for students and help to ensure consistency in the evaluation of academic work from student to student, assignment to assignment, or course to course." Rubrics clarify expectations and help create consistency within the evaluation process. Check out the resources below designed to help teachers create their own rubrics:

In the small-group learning environment, rubrics can be used throughout the learning process. Teachers must provide students with access to rubrics either in paper or electronic formats that are easily accessible throughout the learning process, not just at the end. Students at the start of an activity or assignment might be invited to review the rubric in order to plan their work and set collaborative goals as a team. While they work, students might refer to the rubric as a self-monitoring tool. Finally, rubrics allow teachers to provide data-rich feedback to students during and after small-group work by highlighting achievement and growth opportunities in alignment with performance levels detailed for each rubric criteria. The following is an example of a generic rubric I used in my Spanish classes for any small-group assignment students completed in both physical and virtual learning environments. I would make changes and adjustments for specific tasks. This rubric enabled me to create a student-c learning environment through small groups.

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Creating Accountability in Small-Group Learning - Moreland University

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For small groups to be effective in the classroom, there must be transparent tools of accountability including tight transitions, clear instructions, and accessible rubrics.

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3 Group Work Strategies That Help Hold All Students Accountable

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From delegating roles to involving students in rubric design, here are group work strategies to help hold all students accountable.

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60 Second-Strategy: Cooperative Learning Roles

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Taking Responsibility for Your Actions | Behavior Management

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Cooperative learning theory is an offshoot of constructivism, the practice of building new knowledge upon the foundation of previous learning. It incorporates the idea that the best learning occurs when students, of mixed levels of ability, are actively engaged in the learning process and work in collaboration with other students to accomplish a shared goal. While constructivism focuses on personal experience as the foundation for learning new material, cooperative learning utilizes not only the student's own experience to solidify knowledge, but also uses the experiences of others. Both theories emphasize the importance of interactivity with respect to the design and implementation of lesson plans. Cooperative learning can incorporate constructivist techniques that encourage and/or require students to experiment, hypothesize, and do real-world problem solving. Students then reflect on the new knowledge they have gained and discuss what they are doing and how their understanding has changed. This constructivist theory of learning is based on observation and scientific study. It postulates that we construct our own understanding and knowledge of the world through experience and reflection on those experiences. New knowledge has to be reconciled with previous ideas and experiences altering our understanding. Students must be able to ask questions, explore, and assess their experiences to learn thus becoming active creators of their own knowledge.

In the mid-1960s, cooperative learning was relatively unknown and largely ignored by educators. Elementary, secondary, and university teaching was dominated by competitive and individualistic learning. Cultural resistance to cooperative learning was based on social Darwinism, with its premise that students must be taught to survive in a "dog-eat-dog" world, and the myth of "rugged individualism" underlying the use of individualistic learning. While competition dominated educational thought, it was being challenged by individualistic learning largely based on B. F. Skinner's work on programmed learning and behavioral modification. Educational practices and thought, however, have changed. In 1994 Johnson and Johnson published the 5 elements (positive interdependence, individual accountability, face-to-face interaction, social skills, and processing) essential for effective group learning, achievement, and higher-order social, personal and cognitive skills. Johnson and Johnson identified that cooperative learning promoted mutual liking, better communication, high acceptance and support, as well as demonstrated an increase in a variety of thinking strategies among individuals in the group. Students who showed to be more competitive lacked in their interaction and trust with others, as well as in their emotional involvement with other students.

Cooperative learning is now an accepted and often preferred instructional procedure at all levels of education. Cooperative learning is presently used in schools and universities in every part of the world, in every subject area, and with every age student. It is difficult to find a text on instructional methods, a teacher's journal, or instructional materials that do not discuss cooperative learning. Materials on cooperative learning have been translated into dozens of languages. Cooperative learning is now an accepted and highly recommended instructional procedure.

Contemporary classrooms are laboratories of learning using cooperative learning groups to accomplish tasks that are intellectually demanding, creative, open-ended, and involve using higher order thinking skills. The role of the teacher has changed from giving information(lecturing) to facilitating learning through structuring positive interdependence. Unlike individual learning which is often competitive in nature, cooperative learning groups must work collectively to accomplish academic goals and everyone succeeds when the group succeeds. These heterogeneous groups are structured to allow students to capitalize on their strengths, share information with others, evaluate one another's ideas, and monitor one another's work. Research reports higher levels of student satisfaction engaged in cooperative learning experiences.

So what is cooperative learning theory? Five essential elements of cooperative learning have been identified by Johnson and Johnson as essential to a successful cooperative classroom. A successful classroom has positive interdependence, individual and group accountability, promotes face to face interaction, group processing, and teaches required interpersonal and small group skills. Cooperative learning also accommodates learning styles that are visual-spatial, aural-auditory, verbal-linguistic, kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, social-interpersonal, and solitary-intrapersonal.

Research by Johnson and Johnson indicates students in cooperative learning environments reason better, achieve more, gain higher self-esteem, like classmates and the learning tasks more and have more perceived social support. Johnson and Johnson identified five variables that influence the effectiveness of cooperation.

Positive interdependence - Students must fully participate and put forth effort within their group. Each group member has a task/role/responsibility and therefore must believe that they are responsible for their learning and that of their group. Students have the sense that they're 'in this together,' feeling that each member's individual effort will not only help him, but the whole group. The grade of each student is dependent upon the effort of other group members.

Individual and group accountability - Each student must demonstrate mastery of the content being studied. Each student is accountable for their learning and work and their own contribution to the group, therefore eliminating " social loafing ". Clearly identified goals specify what individuals are responsible for and what the group responsibilities are.

Face-to-face interaction - Members promote each other's success. Students explain to one another what they have or are learning and assist one another with understanding and completion of assignments. Although some work may be divided up and done individually, other work must be done interactively with students giving each other feedback, challenging reasoning and conclusions, and teaching and encouraging one another.

Group processing - Group processing occurs when group members (a) reflect on which member actions were helpful and (b) make decision about which actions to continue or change. The purpose of group processing is to clarify and improve the effectiveness with which members carry out the processes necessary to achieve the group's goals.

Social skills - Social skills must be taught in order for successful cooperative learning to occur. Skills include effective communication, interpersonal and group skills.

1. Leadership

2. Decision-making

3. Trust-building

4. Friendship- development

5. Communication

6. Conflict-management skills

While cooperative learning offers potential benefits of increased self-esteem, greater liking for school, enhanced inter-ethnic ties, and improved complex thinking, cooperative learning also offers hope that we can move away from the unhealthy forms of conflict and competition toward collaborative environments that will produce the twenty-first century learners whose innovation and creativity will keep the United States competitive in a global economy.

The classroom focus shifts from a teacher pouring knowledge into passive students to a teacher acting as facilitator who coaches, guides, mediates, prompts, and assists students in developing and assessing their understanding as they create their own learning. Knowledge is no longer just fixed facts to be memorized but part of a dynamic, ever-changing view of the world around them. Twenty-first century classrooms are student focused rather than teacher centered. The teacher is a facilitator who prompts students to formulate their own questions(inquiry), allows multiple interpretations and expressions of learning (multiple intelligences), and encourages group work and the use of peers as resources (collaborative learning). Cooperative learning in the classroom engages students more intensely because they accomplish learning tasks in a mutually supportive social environment.

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Cooperative learning theory is an offshoot of constructivism, the practice of building new knowledge upon the foundation of previous learning. It incorporates the idea that the best learning occurs when students, of mixed levels of ability, are actively engaged in the learning process and work in collaboration with other students to accomplish a shared goal.

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See also Group Work: Design Guidelines The instructor poses a question. Students are given time (30 seconds or one minute) to think of a response. Each student then pairs with another and both discuss their responses to the question. The instructor invites pairs to share their responses with the class as a whole.

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What is Collaborative Learning?

After reading this guide, you will better understand collaborative learning.

You will get actionable tips on how to improve and implement collaborative learning within your organisation.

Discover:

The definition of collaborative learning
Collaborative learning is the educational approach of using groups to enhance learning through working together. Groups of two or more learners work together to solve problems, complete tasks, or learn new concepts. This approach actively engages learners to process and synthesize information and concepts, rather than using rote memorization of facts and figures.
Learners work with each other on projects, where they must collaborate as a group to understand the concepts being presented to them.

Through defending their positions, reframing ideas, listening to other viewpoints and articulating their points, learners will gain a more complete understanding as a group than they could as individuals.

Collaborative vs. cooperative learning: What is the difference?

There is some confusion about what the difference is between these two types of learning.

In fact, cooperative learning is a type of collaborative learning, which is why at first glance, the two might seem similar.

The difference between cooperative learning and collaborative learning is that, in cooperative learning, participants are responsible for a specific section of their own learning and success, and also that of the group as a whole.

They must use their knowledge and resources to make sure that all team members understand the concepts that they are learning.

The roles and structure of cooperative learning are predefined, and are often likened to the cast and crew of a theatre production: the success of the show depends on all of the interconnected roles supporting each other, but there is a director overseeing the project closely.

To think about collaborative learning in terms of roles within an organisation, in software development, a group of junior developers has a task to learn a new framework, then develop part of a program while using it. Each developer has their own part of the code to develop, but their work will only be successful if everybody learns and performs their part properly. Even though each person has a separate role in the work, the entire group has a stake in the success of others.

In collaborative learning, individual participants must also take responsibility for their team learning and succeeding, but their roles, resources, and organisation is left up to them. There is no director to administer the rules of engagement, so the group itself must self-direct.

The benefits of collaborative learning

Why use collaborative learning? Because every organisation can benefit from having an energized and informed workforce.

There are many benefits of collaborative learning, both for the organisation as a whole and the learners as individuals.

The organisational benefits of collaborative learning

1. Develops self-management and leadership skills

When individuals are tasked with working together to achieve a common goal, they are being given the opportunity to develop high-level skills.

While having to organize, assign, and teach, they are learning how to manage both themselves and others while leading in a productive fashion.

2. Increases employee skills and knowledge

When employees participate in collaborative learning, they are developing a wide range of skills and knowledge.

Not only will they strengthen their existing skills by having to teach others, they in turn will learn new skills from other employees.

This reduces the need for formal training while encouraging employees to continually upskill in known concepts and engage with new concepts.

3. Improves relationships across teams and departments

When individuals have limited contact across teams, it is difficult to foster connections and teamwork.

Collaborative learning across teams forces individuals to develop new connections and find ways to work together.

This can be especially beneficial for organisations that depend on remote workers, as fostering strong connections among distant workers can be difficult.

4. Improves knowledge acquisition and retention

Studies have shown that utilizing collaborative learning may lead to increased involvement and better retention of knowledge.

The process of collaborative learning allows participants to achieve higher levels of thought and the information is retained much longer than when learned in a non-collaborative setting.

5. Improves employee retention and promotes workplace engagement

Employees that are given the opportunity to learn new skills tend to be more satisfied in their work, and are less likely to seek out other opportunities.

Satisfied employees are more productive and will engage in their work, leading to increased efficiency and output.

The individual benefits of collaborative learning

1. Turns learning into a truly active process

The learner must organize their thoughts, present a cohesive argument to demonstrate their point, defend that point to their peers, and convince others that their argument is correct.

This active engagement means that the individual learns, and retains, more knowledge.

2. Promotes learning from others viewpoints

Learners benefit from hearing diverse viewpoints.

Studies show that when a person is exposed to diverse viewpoints, especially from people with varied backgrounds, they learn more.

3. Teaches how to think critically and quickly

The learner must quickly synthesize responses and, if they find that their argument is lacking, adjust their ideas on the fly.

Individuals learn how to think critically and quickly, while intaking new information and adjusting their own viewpoint as new ideas are introduced.

4. Promotes listening to criticism and advice

The learner will also listen to others talking through their ideas, offering their thoughts for or against their peers' arguments.

This dynamic approach means that learners gain a more full understanding of the topic, as they have to consider it from all angles.

5. Develops public speaking and active listening skills

Individuals learn to speak well in front of an audience of their peers, to listen actively, to challenge ideas and build a framework of ideas in conjunction with others.

This increased social ease will help individuals both socially and at work.

6. Improves cooperation

When given a specific goal, learners are more likely to engage in thoughtful discussion with each other, improving both their understanding of the subject and their esteem for each other.

Examples of collaborative learning activities

There are many ways to foster collaborative learning within an organisation:

1. Evaluating training systems

Within teams or departments, pair newer employees with more senior ones.

Have them work together to evaluate the training systems currently in place, assess flaws in the system, and develop recommendations on how to effectively update the training to better serve the organisation and its employees.

2. Solving problems across teams

Bring together various teams and present them with a problem to solve.

This might be how to develop a new feature for a product, what changes should be actioned on an existing software, or instituting a new training program.

Outline what results you would like to see in broad terms, then let the teams work.

At the end, the teams will present what they have developed, justify their choices, and outline their plans to accomplish the task.

3. Developing new products

When it comes to developing new products, collaborative learning can be a massive asset.

Teams can work together to identify relevant niches, brainstorm solutions, and create product concepts.

After presenting their products, a question and answer session can help develop the idea further, as they defend their ideas, respond to criticism, and sharpen their pitch.

4. Explaining concepts to other departments

Have departmental teams create a presentation that teaches their work to the other departments.

They should present the work that they do, the problems that they solve, and present some ongoing concepts that they are working on.

Other departments will participate in a question and answer session, giving the benefit of their experience to help solve ongoing issues while also learning more about how the organisation works as a whole.

5. Build a collaborative learning community

A collaborative learning community is an environment that fosters working together to solve problems, prioritizes open communication and gives individuals many opportunities to both learn from and teach others.

An organisation that chooses to provide these opportunities on a regular basis will create a collaborative learning community, in which individuals will actively participate in collaborative learning.

Good examples of collaborative learning activities will have clear instructions, a set goal, mid-sized groups of three to five individuals and flexible rules, so that groups can experiment within themselves and work with open communication.

Collaborative learning theories

While there are some differences between collaborative learning theories, as a whole, collaborative learning is underpinned by the concept that learning is a naturally social act, and that learning occurs through talking, attempting to solve problems, and seeking to understand the world.

To begin, we will look at the first theories of collaborative learning, which were concerned with how children learn. Later theories took into account how adults continue to cognitively develop throughout their lives.

Vygotsky's theory of social development

Lev Vygotsky's social learning theory puts an emphasis on the importance of social interaction for the development of learning and cognition.
He believed that community was an important factor in the process of creating meaning and knowledge.
Vygotsky's theory approaches learning from a sociocultural viewpoint, arguing that individual development does not happen without being informed by social and cultural contexts.

He proposed that speech plays a major role in the development of thought, with conversations with more knowledgeable people driving forward understanding and cognition.

An important aspect of Vygotsky's social learning theory is the Zone of Proximal Development.

This is the idea that, if you visualise what a person can and cannot do as zones, between those zones is a third zone, known as the zone of proximal development. This is what a person is able to learn, but needs guidance to be able to do so.

It is in this zone that new skills, in the process of development, are found. When a person has access to other people who will teach them, they will learn the skills found in their zone of proximal development.

Vygotsky also developed the concept of the More Knowledgeable Other ( MKO).

More Knowledgeable Other is a person who already has the knowledge or experience that the learner is seeking. It could be a parent, teacher or older adult, but could just as easily be a peer.

It is through interactions with this person that a learner can see desired behaviours modeled or receive important information.

Vygotsky termed this as collaborative dialogue, as the learner seeks knowledge, internalises the information provided by the More Knowledgeable Other, then uses that information to guide their own actions.

More Knowledgeable Others allow the learner to operate within the Zone of Proximal Development.

Piaget's theory of cognitive development

Jean Piaget set out to understand how infants and children develop their understanding of their world, and how they become able to use reason and thought to develop hypotheses.
His theory states that, as children grow, they construct an understanding of the world around them, experience discrepancies between their understanding and their experiences, then correct those discrepancies through reorganizing their mental processes.
Piaget developed the concept of ' schemas,' which he defined as units of knowledge, the basic building blocks that allow humans to organize knowledge and understand complex concepts.

He defined a schema as "a cohesive, repeatable action sequence possessing component actions that are tightly interconnected and governed by a core meaning."

He believed that there are some innate schemas, such as the sucking response of newborn infants, and others that are acquired through experience.

For Piaget, the cognitive development of a person was directly connected to the number and depth of their schemata.

As children develop, they use their schemata to process the world around them using assimilation and accommodation. In assimilation, a child uses an existing schema to handle a new object, situation or interaction. Accommodation is when a child finds that their existing schema does not work for the new object, and so the schema is changed.

Piaget believed that this is driven by a need for equilibrium, which in turn drives development. Equilibrium is the state in which a child's existing schemata can handle most new information in the assimilation process. When that doesn't happen, disequilibrium will commence and the child will be uncomfortable. The child will respond to that by seeking to adjust, through the process of accommodation, and will master new knowledge through that process.

To Piaget, the processes of assimilation and accommodation require an active learner, as the child must seek to discover the problem-solving skills they need. In this process, the child must interact with physical and social environments to learn.

Piaget's four-stage cognitive development process

Piaget also presented a four-stage cognitive development process, which he believed must happen before learning could commence.
1. Sensorimotor
From birth to two years, is the stage where a child learns to form mental representations.

This is when a child will develop object permanence.
2. Preoperational
From two to seven years, is the development of symbolic thinking.
3. The concrete operational stage
From seven to eleven years, is the beginning of using logic to work things out in their head, rather than needing to learn concepts physically.
4. The formal operational stage
It begins at age eleven, it's a stage when full logical cognition is possible, including working out complex hypotheses.

Piaget versus Vygotsky: What is the difference?

While both Piaget and Vygotsky agreed that cognitive development comes in stages and has roots in both nature and nurture, they differed on some key points.

1. Piaget believed that a child drives their own cognitive development, as children have an innate tendency to adapt to new experiences, whereas Vygotsky believed that social interaction is what drives the cognitive development of children.

2. Piaget thought that children learn best when allowed to use self-discovery and active learning, and Vygotsky thought that instruction and guidance were key to a child's learning.

3. Vygotsky also posited that different cultures and periods of time have an impact on cognitive development, while Piaget thought that it was the same universally.

4. Piaget also thought that, while the stages of development are more or less set, children will only proceed to learning when they are ready, and Vygotsky believed that development could be accelerated by using the zone of proximal development and more knowledgeable others.

An essential difference is that Piaget thought that the result of cognitive development was language, Vygotsky thought that language was the key to cognitive development.

There is evidence that a child being exposed to guided learning within Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development shows greater understanding than a child learning alone within Piaget's discovery learning framework, according to a study conducted in 1990 by Freund.

Kegan's Cognitive Developmental Theory

The developmental theories discussed above center around cognitive development in children. It was previously thought that cognitive development ended around 25, but there are some who believe that it is a lifelong process.

Robert Kegan posited that it is possible for people to continually develop the systems they use to create meaning by transforming the way that they interact with the world.

He developed five stages that put an emphasis on transitioning from a subject (I am) to object (I have) framework.

According to Kagan, the subject framework does not allow self-reflection, as it is too closely held for objectivity to happen. It can include beliefs, behaviours and assumptions about the world.

The object framework allows a person to detach from the concept, reflect upon it, and consider it objectively. This exercise of transitioning framework, according to Kegan, drives cognitive development.

Simply put, Kagan theorised that becoming an adult means transitioning to higher stages of development.

This means developing an independent sense of self, and gaining the traits associated with wisdom and social maturity.

An adult with a high stage of development is in control of their behavior, is self-aware, and is able to more effectively manage their relationships and the social factors affecting them.

Kegan's five stages are:
1. Impulsive mind
This stage is early childhood, where impulses drive action.
2. Imperial mind
Subject: Is needs, interests, wants
Object: Has impulses, perceptions

This is the adolescent stage, although some adults remain here.

Relationships are transactional, and self-interest is the driving force behind all behaviour.

Actions are driven by outside consequences, rather than internal belief systems.
3. Socialised mind
Subject: Is mutuality, interpersonal relationships
Object: Has needs, interests, wants

This is the stage where most people are, according to Kegan.

This stage is dominated by external sources, such as other people, groups and the society around us as a whole, and what they think of us.

The culturally prescribed way of living is paramount to a socialised mind, regardless of personal desire.
4. Self-authoring mind
Subject: Is self-definition, personal autonomy
Object: Has mutuality, interpersonal relationships

At this stage, a person is able to self-define.

They are not swayed by the opinions of society, and will decide for themselves who they are, what they stand for, and how they should behave.
5. Self-transforming mind
Subject: Simply is
Object: Has self-definition, personal autonomy

Kegan believes that only 1% of adults reach this stage.

At stage 5, the sense of self is not static, but is instead able to constantly adjust and react as new information, interactions and experiences are processed.

Summary

In an organisation, it is ideal to give your employees the tools to transition to the upper stages.

Fostering growth within an organization has many proven benefits, including increased output, higher employee retention, and better employee satisfaction.

Transitioning to the upper stages involves curiosity, critical thinking and openness to new ideas and concepts, all of which are desirable traits to curate in a workforce.

Collaborative learning research and articles

1. Collaborative learning in the workplace: Practical issues and concerns

2. Collective Learning in the Workplace: Important Knowledge Sharing Behaviours

3. Improving Collaborative Learning and Global Project Management in Small and Medium Enterprise

4. A Change Theory: Key Concepts for Understanding the Work of Robert Kegan

5. Lev Vygotsky

6. Jean Piaget

7. Collaborative learning

8. The benefits of collaborative learning

9. Active and Collaborative Learning

10. Collaborative learning: What is it?

11. Part 1: How To Be An Adult- Kegan's Theory of Adult Development

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What Is Collaborative Learning? Theory, Examples of Activities

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Learn what collaborative learning is and what benefits it brings. Discover examples of collaborative learning activities. Cooperative vs. collaborative learning.

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Students working in small groups learn more and demonstrate better knowledge retention than students taught in other instructional formats. Working in groups provides students with a sense of shared purpose that can increase their morale and motivation. Group work can be incorporated into almost any course, regardless of size, discipline, or level. The following are just a few strategies instructors have used to create and manage groups in their courses.

Plan for each stage of group work

Decide which topics, themes, or projects lend themselves well to group work.

Think about how you will organize students into groups, help group members negotiate among themselves, provide feedback to the groups, and evaluate the products of group work.

Structure effective groups

Groups of four to five members typically work best. Larger groups decrease opportunities for participation and some members may become passive observers. In general, the less skillful the group members at the assigned task, the smaller the group should be.

Assign groups intentionally (based on skills and/or backgrounds). This strategy minimizes the chance that high ability students will flock together leaving others out, allows you to create more diverse groups, and creates opportunities for students to work with peers they otherwise might not have interacted.

Explain how groups will operate & how students will be graded

Discuss group task objectives and define the relevant concepts.

Provide advice about how to work as a team, how to get started, and how to know when their task is done.

Set forth grading standards. Group work is more successful when students are graded against a set standard rather than each other.

Encourage productive group dynamics

Assign tasks that allow for a fair division of labor so that each member has a chance to contribute.

Choose tasks that require interdependence to promote greater interaction and group cohesion.

Start by assigning simple tasks and increase complexity as students become more skilled at group work.

Ask groups to set out a timeline and a plan of action outlining group goals and individual responsibilities.

Check in regularly with the groups to monitor progress and identify problems.

Strategies for managing groups

Group work can present unique instructional challenges. There are some strategies for managing them:

Consider using written contracts - Ask students to sign contracts, generated by the students or by the instructor, that list members' obligations to their group and penalties for failing to meet them.

Responsibilities might include arriving prepared and ready to share, listening actively, and being supportive of others.

Resolve issues of unequal participation - Develop a plan of action at the onset. Assign roles and responsibilities to encourage equal participation. Peer evaluations can motivate members to contribute equally.

Negotiate a poor group dynamic - Do not break up a group because they "don't get along." Explain to the students that deciding how best to work together is part of the learning process. Encourage students to sort out their differences through open conversation before coming to you.

Sample group work activities

Discovery learning

With discovery learning, present a novel situation, an interesting puzzle, a set of observations to explain, or an open-ended question for students to explore in a largely self-directed manner. Provide guidance throughout the process by identifying problem-solving activities, facilitating those activities during the discovery process, helping students stay on task, and pointing students toward appropriate resources.

Guided design

In guided design, lead groups of four or five students through a complex sequence of steps to solve real world problems, providing feedback at each step. These steps might include defining the situation, stating the problem and goal to be achieved, generating ideas and selecting the best one, defining the new situation that would result when the selected idea is implemented, preparing a detailed plan to implement the idea, implementing the plan, and evaluating and learning from the success or failure of the process and the plan.

Team-based learning

To incorporate team-based learning, begin a course unit by asking students to complete an initial set of tasks. Students then take a short multiple-choice test that measures their understanding of the basic concepts underlying the tasks. After students take the test individually, they should meet in their assigned groups to discuss the questions and reach consensus on the answers. Both the students' individual scores and their team scores are recorded and factored into their grade for the course.

Authentic learning

With authentic learning, the instructor selects a problem that is ill-defined or has no correct answer and requires sustained investigation and collaboration. Student groups may or may not be given a list of resources and should conduct their own research and distinguish relevant from irrelevant information. Students engage in making choices, evaluating competing solutions, and creating a finished product.

Problem-based learning

In problem-based learning, open-ended problems are introduced at the beginning of the instructional cycle and used to provide the context for the learning that follows. Instead of teaching students what they need to know and then posing problems, begin with a problem that determines what students study. The problems derive from observable phenomena or events, which students come to understand as they learn about the underlying explanatory theories.

Resources

Bergom, I., Wright, M. C., Brown, M. K., & Brooks, M. (2011). Promoting college student development through collaborative learning: A case study of "Hevruta." About Campus, 15(6), 19-25.

Davis, B. (2009). Tools for teaching (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Gillies, R. M. (2002). Structuring cooperative group work in classrooms. International Journal of Educational Research, 39(1-2), 35-49.

Jacques, D., & Salmon, G. (2007). Learning in groups (4th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

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Students working in small groups learn more and demonstrate better knowledge retention than students taught in other instructional formats. Working in groups provides students with a sense of shared purpose that can increase their morale and motivation. Group work can be incorporated into almost any course, regardless of size, discipline, or level.

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Picture it-you design an exciting, collaborative lesson that that you're sure your students are going to love. The best part about it? They get to work together in groups! Everything is going amazingly until:

One group has that slacker who's not doing their fair share.

Another group has that student does all of the work while the others look on.

And in the end, one group's project turns out awful, and the group turns on each other.

While working cooperatively with others is an important life skill, it can definitely be tricky when it involves kids whose abilities (and attitudes) vary wildly. Middle school teacher Sara recently wrote into our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE! with a group work dilemma involving one student who was bulldozing the other members of the group. Not only that, but when she was recently absent the group had no access to the project's materials and no idea how to proceed without her. Here are some words of wisdom our teachers offered to conduct successful group work in the classroom.

Top 📸 credit from Beyond Traditional Math -check out their site for additional tips for group work!

1. Assign roles.

"Assign each student in the group a unique role so that everyone has to work together to make the project a success," said Jaime L. Being solely responsible for a portion of the work gives students ownership over the project's success. The nature of the project will dictate the roles, but some examples are: proofreader, fact-checker, and scribe.

2. Make sure every group member has access.

Technology makes it easy for each group member to have access to all work and collaborate. "I have each member share any and all work on Google drive," advised Sonja L. This helps facilitate the notion of working together and contributing equally.

If your students don't have daily access to technology, make sure they have a system to store hard copies of their group work in the classroom. "When I do group work, I have a work-in-progress folder for each class. That way, they always have the work even if someone is absent." -Karen K.

3. Ask for input.

Becky M. shares, "At the end of a project, I have each student write a reflection. What was easy about the project? What was challenging? What grade would you give each person in your group, and why?" Let students know the contents of their letter will remain confidential but will also factor into their final grade. Listening to your students can help give you insider information about who really worked and who didn't. It can also help you structure your project differently next time, if necessary.

4. And grade accordingly.

Include a participation grade into your rubric and make a point of observing each group's activity during class. When students know that their grade is dependent on their participation, they are more likely to work toward the project's success. "If I see that only one member is doing most of the work, I absolutely adjust grades to incorporate that information," says Sonja L..

5. Speak to outliers privately.

Slackers are easy to redirect, but students who can't help themselves from taking over have their own set of issues that need addressing too. "Sometimes high-achieving students are afraid of letting others do any work for fear it won't be good enough," says Mark J., "and so they control all of the work, which leads to them doing everything." If that's the case, talk with the student about the importance of collaboration and letting go.
What do you do to ensure successful group work in the classroom? Come share in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook! Also, check out 5 #teachertruths about group projects.

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5 Tips for Successful Group Work in the Classroom

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Picture it-you design an exciting, collaborative lesson that that you're sure your students are going to love. The best part about it? They get to work together in groups! Everything is going amazingly until: One group has that slacker who's not doing their fair share.

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24 Ways to Encourage Students to Work Effectively in a Group Setting - The Edvocate

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Spread the loveAre you looking for ways to encourage students to work effectively in a group setting? If so, keep reading. 1. Give the learner the chance to select a cooperative learning experience and the group members (e.g., along with the teacher, decide what the learning experience will be and d…