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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Portions adapted from Kerner (2009); Black, Gach, & Kotzian (2007); Chadwich (1989); Winter, Lemons, Bookman, & Hoese (2001)

GSI Tip: Students in a team or in a group do not spontaneously develop skills in leadership, time management, communication, and problem solving. Research on managing student teams notes that effective skill development of teamwork and group work requires the instructors to promote individual accountability, the use of interpersonal skills, and chances for self-assessment of personal and team functioning (Woods, Felder, Rugarcia, & Stice, 2000). While this may take time up front, it will save you time in the long run.

Your students will do most of their experiments as a member of a team where they will be expected to combine and compare data. Research on learning has shown that students learn better, develop interpersonal skills, and enjoy a course more when they work in a group-learning environment. In addition, teamwork typifies real-world science better than independent learning. Team learning does not mean that students simply work side by side on a problem, or the best student works while the others watch. Rather, a well functioning group has interdependent team members who effectively communicate ideas, interact around questions, analyze data, and problem solve together. Your job as an instructor is to help students learn how to work in a team and to mediate learning difficulties. This section will provide skills specific to the laboratory class. See Guidelines for Using Groups Effectively for more information on working with student group work and teams in classroom instruction.

Use the following strategies to help you manage group interactions with the goal of developing team cohesion through individual accountability and interpersonal communication skills.

1. Suggestions for supporting groups with individual accountability and collaboration: A successful laboratory team has everyone contributing to get the lab work completed. Walk around and pay attention to group dynamics to see if one team member is doing all of the work or if another student is not participating. Encourage the team to work together by:

Deciding ahead of time how you will assign teams. The most effective lab groups consist of two to four students. The number of students can be determined by the nature of the class or the availability of equipment. There are several ways to assemble teams. (1) Teams can self-select. The advantage of this approach is that students like to work with people they know, and friends will often self-select creating a relaxed classroom atmosphere. The disadvantages are that social teams may focus more on being social than being productive, and you may need to monitor their behavior to ensure that they complete their work. In addition, self-selection may mean that certain students are left out. (2) Teams are randomly assigned. This has the advantage of providing a balanced mix of skills that approximates a real-world work experience. It has the disadvantage of possibly creating a group with conflicting personalities or work styles that will need you to help them work thought their difficulties. (3) Teams are designated by criteria. This has the advantage of ensuring a balance of skills or interests on each team in the class. The downside is that you need to spend time gathering data on your students before you assign the teams.

Determine how long teams will be together. It is important to be clear with the students how long they will be working with their team. In some lab classes, students stay with the same team for several lab sessions; while other labs students change teams more frequently. It is important to note that effective teams need time to learn to work together, and that most teams go through a period of "storming" or negotiating roles and responsibilities before they begin to operate effectively. Switching teams frequently will prevent team members from learning how to work together. If a team does not seem to be able to negotiate their differences, then you should step in help them solve the problem, or suggest how to restructure the group roles or level of participation. If nothing else works, then reorganize the team.

Assign team roles to ensure that everyone participates. Roles might include a manager to organize the activities, a technician to set up equipment, a materials handler to collect all chemicals and supplies, a recorder to collect all measurements and distribute them to the team, and a group process monitor to make sure everyone contributes and gets the work done on time. Support each team role with guidance in your overview at the beginning of the lab. NOTE: Be sure that team members change roles for each new assignment to prevent role repetition.

Ask questions to the disinterested student. This requires the disinterested student to respond to the group and not you: "Hey John, can you share two sources of error in the data with your team?"; "Amelia, what do you think Carlos should do next?"

Ask each group member to summarize ideas. This gets each team member to describe a concept or the progress that they have made. It encourages them to interact with each other around ideas or to make it clear to them that you are paying attention to each person's contribution.

2. Suggestions for helping groups to develop problem-solving skills: In a laboratory, students are supposed to develop problem-solving skills with their team. Beginning laboratory instructors have been observed making two common mistakes when working with groups: they step in and tell students what to do or how to get the right answer instead of encouraging students to interact with each other, and they spend unequal time supporting group progress in class (Winter, Lemons, Bookman, & Hoese, 2001). You can best help groups by using the following strategies:

Don't just tell students if an answer is correct or incorrect. Instead of a quick answer, encourage the team to tell you how they got their answer first. This provides you a chance to see their thought processes, misunderstandings, or where they are making a mistake. When they tell you their answer, note what was right about it first before prompting them in a new direction.

Be sure to cycle around the room. You should work to make some kind of contact with each group with a simple question like "Is everything going okay with this part of the lab?" If a team is struggling, don't spend all of your time with this group at the expense of other teams. Get them going with a hint or prompt, and then tell them you will check back with them in a few minutes. Do make sure you follow up with them to check on their progress and acknowledge their self-effort.

3. Suggestions for how to use questions to develop interpersonal skills: Good instructor-student interactions promote student-centered learning through the use of effective questioning techniques. The kinds of questions you ask will send a message to students about how you expect them to work together and the depth of learning you expect them to achieve in class:

Responding to questions. When a student in a group asks you a question, don't answer it if you think the group can figure this question out. Respond with phrases like "Does anyone else have an idea what to do next?", "Was anyone else able to work this out?" or to check a student's answer "What did other people get for their calculations?"

Vary Question Levels. You can vary the kind of question to help students learn. Ask "fact level" questions (e.g., how, what where, when) when you need to verify what they know before they attempt the next step or do something dangerous. "What is the voltage on the motor?" or "How will that solvent interact with the gasket?" Ask "higher level" questions, (e.g., evaluation, prediction, and opinions), when you want students to be more aware of their own thinking about the lab concepts. "How would you interpret your results based on the goal of the lab?" "What do you think will happen if you increase the pressure?" or "Aiesha, can you explain to Kirk what figure 1 means in relation to...? or "Why did you all measure the friction in the first part before you moved on...?" (See "Typology of Questions on page 106 for more information on varying levels and types of questions).

References

Black, B., Gach, M., & Kotzian, N. (1996). Guidebook for teaching labs for University of Michigan Graduate Student Instructors. Ann Arbor, MI: Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, University of Michigan.

Chadwick, N. (1989). Introduction to lab sections. Learning to teach, a handbook for Teaching Assistants at U. C. Berkeley. pp. 28-30. Berkeley, CA: University of California, Berkeley.

Kerner, N. (2009). Instructor Information: Chem125/126. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Winter, D., Lemons, P., Bookman, J. & Hoese, W. (2001). Novice instructors and student-centered instruction: Identifying and addressing obstacles to learning in the college science laboratory. The Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 2(1), 15-42.

Woods, D. R., Felder, R. M., Rugarcia, A., & Stice, J. E. (2000). The future of engineering education: Part 3. developing critical skills. Chemical Engineering Education, 34(2), 108-117

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Strategies for Developing Students' Group Work Skills in the Laboratory Class

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GSI Tip: Students in a team or in a group do not spontaneously develop skills in leadership, time management, communication, and problem solving. Research on managing student teams notes that effective skill development of teamwork and group work requires the instructors to promote individual accountability, the use of interpersonal skills, and chances for self-assessment of personal and team functioning (Woods, Felder, Rugarcia, & Stice, 2000).

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Group work is a great opportunity to analyse, discuss and explore ideas with fellow students making it an increasingly significant part of many degrees

It allows you to develop key transferable skills such as teamwork, organisation, communication, leadership and problem solving. In addition to this it can be extremely beneficial to both your academic performance and long-term personal development, particularly as the ability to work well with others is a key requirement for many graduate jobs.

Follow these tips to help ensure that your assignment results in success...

Set clear goals

At the start of any team project, you should spend your first meeting agreeing on specific targets and setting some ground rules.

It's a good idea to decide how often you'll meet, how you'll communicate with each other and how the group will be led. This way, everyone is clear about what is expected of them.

You should also ensure that all team members have a shared understanding of the project. Discuss how you can best divide the task up to work to the advantage of everyone within the group.

Ensure everyone contributes

All members of the group should strive to create a supportive atmosphere that allows everyone to feel comfortable expressing their thoughts without the threat of being dismissed, ridiculed or ignored.

While some people are naturally confident in group work situations, others may initially find putting their points forward challenging.

You may need to ask some quieter individuals directly if they have anything to add. The group will benefit from hearing everyone's opinion and others may have valuable insight that you have not considered.

Not everyone strives to be a leader, or is able to quickly generate ideas. Indeed, the best teams have a balanced mix of individuals whose contributions complement one another. There are generally seven roles that people can play in group meetings:

Compromiser - Attempts to maintain harmony and rapport among all team members by encouraging others, and recognising and resolving any differences of opinion.

Encourager - Energises the team through humour or enthusiasm, suggesting ideas and confronting any problems.

Evaluator - Offers critical analysis of all options before coming to an informed decision.

Ideas person - Suggests original and potentially radical new ways to organise the task or solve problems.

Leader - Ensures the group remains on-task, coordinating resources, assigning tasks and driving members to achieve a positive end result.

Recorder - Keeps the group focused and organised through timekeeping and note-taking, ensuring that every member understands their individual responsibilities.

Summariser - Clarifies objectives and elaborates on others' ideas, wrapping up the group's discussion and conclusions.

Read the Prospects blog to stay up-to-date on news, insights and opinions

Avoid negativity

Unless you want to seriously jeopardise your chances of success, some behaviours should be avoided at all costs. You'll find that your task can quickly go off the rails if even just one participant:

becomes overly aggressive

displays unhappiness with any decisions made

disrespects others and criticises their ideas without suggesting alternatives

distracts focus by acting the clown

fails to contribute

listens too little and interrupts others when they're talking

talks too much and dominates the discussion.

While disagreements are inevitable, it's important not to make things personal. Try to ensure that discussion and disagreements are focused on the task in hand.

If you have an issue with the level of commitment of certain members, speak to them individually and check there's not something else going on that they may need your support with.

Find out more

Written by Rachel Swain, Editorial manager

Prospects · December 2021

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Written by Rachel Swain, Editorial managerProspects · December 2021

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3 tips for successful group work | Prospects.ac.uk

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Read this advice to help you make sure that any group work that you’re asked to do at university goes smoothly.

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Accountability is the primary practice that will make collaboration a success. After all, if no one is held accountable for the practices that emerge from the collaborative group, then collaboration was a complete failure.

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Accountability is the primary practice that will make collaboration a success. After all, if no one is held accountable for the practices that emerge from the collaborative group, then collaboration was a complete failure.

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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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Mind Your Manners - Manners at School (Part 1 of 4) [School Rules & Self-Regulation]

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How to Be a Good Student - Puppets give Kids Advice

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Being Responsible - Responsibility Song,  Kids and Toddlers

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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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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Collaborative Learning Theory practices for your L&D program

Collaborative Learning Theory makes a great foundation for your high-level L&D structure, but you'll need to dig into its methodologies to put it into practice. Many of these concepts work well in online learning-an increasingly vital tool in L&D.

Problem-focused learning

During problem-focused learning, learners apply their knowledge together to solve a problem. The social nature of this side-by-side collaboration opens the door for participants to pick up new skills, perspectives, and facts from their collaborators. The practice ties back to Collaborative Learning Theory's core ideas of learning as an active process and learning in context.

When team members collaborate to solve a problem using new information, they also build skills in decision-making, conflict resolution, and practical application in their training topic. Employees use these abilities in the workplace every day, and problem-focused learning strengthens them.

Problem-focused learning can also help employees retain the information they learn during training. Scientific research shows that active types of learning like problem-focused learning are more effective than traditional, passive learning activities. People observe and imitate each other during active learning, stimulating their mirror neurons.

What does problem-focused learning look like in L&D? Try training methods like collaborative projects, case study discussion, and simulations.

Peer learning

Peer learning involves learners teaching each other subject material by building online courses, adding information to content, and asking and answering questions. The workplace provides an ideal environment for peer learning where employees can democratize L&D through peer training. In a peer training framework, all employees rely on each other's expertise to learn, going back to Collaborative Learning Theory's concept of social learning.

Workplaces that have coaching cultures put peer training at the core of their L&D. They have a collaborative onboarding process where new team members learn from a community of colleagues instead of a single mentor. All employees get to propose new learning topics and contribute to lessons.

One of the most popular examples of peer learning in the workplace is peer review or feedback loops. In this approach to learning, employees give each other objective and constructive feedback on their performance.

Learning communities

A learning community is an L&D program structure designed to connect knowledge subjects and learners for a more cohesive educational experience. In one of these communities, learning happens inside and outside the classroom. This L&D structure touches on many of Collaborative Learning Theory's foundations, including social learning and shared perspectives.

You'll mostly see the concept of learning communities explored in schools, but you can also structure your workplace to create a Learning Organization. Learning Organizations are organizations that focus on continual and active learning to engage employees. They give team members guidance while leaving room for self-directed and Collaborative Learning.

You can also think of a workplace learning community as a learning ecosystem where everyone learns in harmony. In a learning ecosystem, leadership guides and coaches employees instead of reinforcing a strict hierarchy. Everyone in a learning ecosystem has a unique role that contributes to the greater whole.

Democratized learning

In a democratized learning environment, anyone can share or request knowledge for the group as a whole, connecting to Collaborative Learning Theory's principle of shared expertise. There are no designated teachers-instead, everyone is a learner.

This concept slightly overlaps with peer learning, but while peer learning is a practice, democratized learning is an L&D program framework. It subverts the traditional top-down learning structure in L&D, where a trainer leads and trainees follow.

One way to promote democratized learning in your organization is to share institutional knowledge throughout your team. When you make those resources accessible, you'll break down information silos in your workplace that get in the way of learning. Your team members will have access to the exact resources they need when they need them.

You can also democratize workplace learning by revamping your training needs analysis process. In a bottom-up training needs analysis, the learner suggests courses and topics for their L&D program. This approach enables L&D professionals to provide content that team members find meaningful.

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What Is Collaborative Learning Theory and Why Do You Need It?

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Collaborative Learning Theory makes a great foundation for your high-level L&D structure, but you'll need to dig into its methodologies to put it into practice. Many of these concepts work well in online learning-an increasingly vital tool in L&D. During problem-focused learning, learners apply their knowledge together to solve a problem.

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Use these five best practices to help your students build a valuable 21st-century skill.

iStock.com/Christopher Futcher

Most of us who teach believe in the power of collaboration and frequently engage our students in collaborative activities. But how many times have we put students in groups only to watch them interact with their laptops instead of each other? Or pursue their own individual goals instead of consult with one another? Or complain about a lazy teammate?

Promoting real collaboration is hard to do well-and it doesn't just happen on its own. If we want real collaboration, we need to intentionally design it as part of our learning activity. These are five strategies to encourage effective collaboration.

Create Learning Activities That Are Complex

Students need a reason to collaborate. If the assignment is too simple, they can more easily do it alone. At most, they may check in with each other or interact in superficial ways. The real reason to collaborate is because the task is complex-it is too difficult and has too many pieces to complete alone.

Complex activities are challenging, engaging, stimulating, and multilayered. Complex activities require "positive interdependence" (Johnson, Johnson & Holubec, 2008), a situation in which attaining the goal, completing the task, being successful, and getting a good grade require that the team work together and share knowledge.

One way to do this is through rigorous projects that require students to identify a problem (for example, balancing population growth in their city with protection of existing green spaces) and agree-through research, discussion, debate, and time to develop their ideas-on a solution which they must then propose together.

Prepare Students to Be Part of a Team

Help students understand the benefits of collaboration and what successful collaboration looks like.

Guide students through the stages of team building (forming, storming, norming, and performing).

Give students time and opportunities within the activity to develop leadership, decision-making, trust-building, communication, and conflict-management skills.

Establish expectations and norms for working together.

Design, or have students design, protocols for handling conflict disagreement so they can resolve issues within their teams.

Teach students active listening skills.

Collaborative groups can't be assigned-they have to be built and nurtured. Students often need to learn how to work effectively with others and as part of a team. We have to help students understand the what, why, and how of collaboration. We can do this in several ways:

Minimize Opportunities for Free Riding

Create small groups of no more than four or five people. When there is less room to hide, nonparticipation is more difficult.

Ensure a high degree of individual accountability (Johnson, Johnson & Holubec, 2008) by assessing students both individually and as a group. For example, at the end of the day give students an individual quiz based on the intended outcome of their collaborative activity.

Design meaningful team roles that relate to the content and to the task. Roles like time keeper are episodic and don't intellectually engage students in the content, and this can encourage free riding. In contrast, more meaningful roles such as manager, monitor, and leaders for each subtask of the activity give students ownership in the process and allow the teacher to assess students based on successful completion of these roles.

Have students evaluate their own participation and effort and that of each team member and triangulate those assessments with your own

When students complain about collaborative groups, it often has to do with the free riding of one member who lets others do all the work and then benefits from the group grade. We can eliminate free riding in a number of ways:

Build in Many Opportunities for Discussion and Consensus

Many group projects are based on efficiency, dividing labor to create a product in the most effective way possible. This focus on the product means that we often ignore the process of collaboration. Rich discussions that connect students with the experiences of others, that engage them deeply in a shared intellectual experience, and that promote coming to consensus are essential to collaboration.

For instance, students can come to consensus around a solution or decision where they must defend or propose a common vision or develop a set of beliefs or principles. This focus on discussion and consensus builds both academic and social skills-students learn to defend their ideas through evidence and analytical reasoning, to negotiate meaning, and to argue constructively.

Focus on Strengthening and Stretching Expertise

The challenge of designing good collaborative activities is ensuring that all students, even those who struggle, play an important role. Collaboration should not just strengthen students' existing skills but ensure that their interactions stretch existing knowledge and expand one another's expertise. If, for example, a student is much stronger in one skill than her peers in her group, she can teach others and her grade can be contingent upon how much her peers learn.

In collaborative activities, we want to ensure that students don't just occupy the same physical space but that they share an intellectual space-that they learn more, do more, and experience more together than they would alone. As teachers, we can promote real collaboration by shifting our role from instructor to coach-promoting team autonomy, checking in on students and providing instant feedback, and helping them increasingly learn to work together productively to attain a common goal.

Reference:

Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R., & Holubec, E. (2008). Cooperation in the Classroom.

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5 Strategies to Deepen Student Collaboration

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Use these five best practices to help your students build a valuable 21st-century skill.

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12 ways to increase student participation

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12 ways to increase student participation

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Top 12 Ways to Increase Student Participation - TeachHUB

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Every teacher has experienced it: students that don't contribute. Engage even the most reluctant kids with our top 12 ways to increase student participation