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Collaborative Teaching and Learning course

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Collaborative Teaching and Learning course

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http://colab.eun.org/

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Someone looking to learn a little bit more each day...

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My school, EB1 / PE of Nazaré, is located in Funchal, the capital of the Madeira archipelago, Portugal. This educational institution accompanies children from the first months of life to the end of primary school. Our children have been in contact with the new technologies from a very early age and this is an area that particularly captivates them. Last year I was responsible for the ICT discipline and with my students I was able to explore the collaborative work through tools like Google Drive, padlet, lucidpress, ... and it was a success!

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Module 1: What is collaborative learning?

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Module 1: What is collaborative learning?

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Module 1: What is collaborative learning?

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Module 1: What is collaborative learning?

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1.1 What is collaborative learning?
Caroline Kearney

UNESCO definition of what Collaborative Learning means

Collaborative Learning is a process through which learners at various performance levels work together in small groups toward a common goal.  It is a learner-centred approach derived from a social learning theories as well as the socio-constructivist perspective on learning. Collaborative learning is a relationship among learners that foster positive interdependence, indivudual accountability, and interpersonal skills.
in learning video 1 - Collaborative teaching & learning | What is collaborative learning? , Caroline Kearney

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Every day, I ask my kids, "What did you make in school today?" Too often, they can't give me an answer. But on the days that they do, their eyes light up and they passionately describe their projects. It's in those moments that I am reminded that making is magic.

I want to see schools transform into bastions of creativity and wonder.

But here's the thing: this is hard to pull off. We all have curriculum maps and limited resources and standards we have to teach. We don't always have fancy maker spaces or high-tech gadgetry. Our time is limited and so creativity is often a lofty ideal that rarely becomes a reality.

This is what I love about design thinking. It works within the standards in every subject. It's a flexible approach that you can use with limited resources. It isn't something new that you add to your crowded schedule. Instead, it's an innovative approach to the work you are already doing - a process designed specifically to boost creativity and bring out the maker in every student.

This is why A.J. Juliani and I developed the LAUNCH Cycle. It's a design thinking framework specifically tailored to K-12 classrooms that you can use at any grade level. Think of it this way. Making is the mindset. Design thinking is the process. The LAUNCH Cycle is the framework.

Every Child Is a Maker

I believe that every classroom should be filled with creativity and wonder. I want to see teachers unleash the creative potential in all of their students so that kids can be makers, designers, artists, and engineers.

I realize that school can be busy. Materials can be scarce. The creative process can seem confusing, especially when you have a tight curriculum map. So creativity becomes a side project, an enrichment activity you get to when you have time for it. But the thing is, there's never enough time.

We can do better.

I am convinced that creative thinking is as vital as math or reading or writing. There's power in problem-solving and experimenting and taking things from questions to ideas to authentic products that you launch to the world. Something happens in students when they define themselves as makers and inventors and creators.

I believe all students deserve the opportunity to be their best creative selves, both in and out of school. I believe all kids are unique, authentic, and destined to be original.

I have a crazy belief that all people are naturally creative. Too many people have believed the lie that there are certain "creative types" who are the exception to the rule. This is why I believe in design thinking as a powerful process for helping students embrace a maker mindset and recover this sense of creative wonder.

What Is Design Thinking?

The term "design thinking" is often attached to maker spaces and STEM labs. However, design thinking is bigger than STEM. It begins with the premise of tapping into student curiosity and allowing them to create, test and re-create until they eventually ship what they made to a real audience (sometimes global but often local). Design thinking isn't a subject or a topic or a class. It's more of way of solving problems that encourages risk-taking and creativity.

Design thinking is a flexible process for getting the most out of the creative process. It is used in the arts, in engineering, in the corporate world, at universities, and in social and civic spaces. You can use it in every subject with every age group. It works when creating digital content or when building things with duct tape and cardboard. It can even be used in planning events or in designing services.

When students use design thinking, they are more likely to develop a maker mindset and when that happens, you see this . . .

Isn't that what we want for our students? Isn't this what we mean when we talk about students as passionate, creative, lifelong learners? And is this what it looks like when we talk about preparing kids for the creative economy of the future? But how do we actually make this happen?

The Student-Friendly LAUNCH Cycle

For the last 12 years, I've used design thinking. As a teacher, I used it for everything from coding projects to service projects to documentaries to engineering challenges. As startup co-founder, we used the design thinking cycle for product development. As an author, it's a framework I use for publishing. However, as a teacher, I realized that design thinking needed to be relevant, developmentally-appropriate, and simple enough that any child could use it.

A.J. Juliani and I realized the need for a student-friendly design thinking framework tailored specifically for a K-12 environment. We both had spent over a decade using design thinking and we had each added a few innovations, including an inquiry phase, a research phase, and a launch phase. After testing this out in multiple classrooms, we finalized the LAUNCH Cycle.

You can read all about it in our book Launch: Using the Design Thinking Process to Boost Creativity and Bring Out the Maker in Every Student.

We created an acronym to help make it easier to remember:

L: Look, Listen, and Learn
In the first phase, students look, listen, and learn.The goal here is awareness. It might be a sense of wonder at a process or an awareness of a problem or a sense of empathy toward an audience.

A: Ask Tons of Questions
Sparked by curiosity, students move to the second phase, where they ask tons of questions.

U: Understanding the Process or Problem
This leads to understanding the process or problem through an authentic research experience. They might conduct interviews or needs assessments, research articles, watch videos, or analyze data.

N: Navigate Ideas
Students apply that newly acquired knowledge to potential solutions. In this phase, they navigate ideas. Here they not only brainstorm, but they also analyze ideas, combine ideas, and generate a concept for what they will create.

C: Create a Prototype
In this next phase, they create a prototype. It might be a digital work or a tangible product, a work of art or something they engineer. It might even be an action or an event or a system.

H: Highlight and Fix
Next, they begin to highlight what's working and fix what's failing. The goal here is to view this revision process as an experiment full of iterations, where every mistake takes them closer to success.

Launch to an Audience
Then, when it's done, it's ready to launch. In the launch phase, they send it to an authentic audience. They share their work with the world!

Getting Started with Design Thinking in the Classroom

The following is a series I created on design thinking. Note that I continue to update this and revise this, so be sure to bookmark this page an come back to revisit it periodically.

Part One: An Overview of Design Thinking

Part Two: The LAUNCH Cycle

Part Three: Taking the Leap

The FREE Design Thinking Toolkit and Maker Project

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Getting Started with Design Thinking in the Classroom

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Every day, I ask my kids, "What did you make in school today?" Too often, they can't give me an answer. But on the days that they do, their eyes light up and they passionately describe their projects. It's in those moments that I am reminded that making is magic.

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Module 1: What is collaborative learning?

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Module 1: What is collaborative learning?

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1.1 What is collaborative learning?
Caroline Kearney

Collaborative Learning - Skills

- Negotiation;
- Feedback;
- Listening;
- Consensus

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1.1 What is collaborative learning?
What do you understand collaborative learning to mean? In your experience of implementing collaborative learning in the classroom, have you witnessed academic achievement, student attitudes, engagement and retention being enhanced? What about the skills mentioned in the video – have you witnessed your students developing these as a result of collaborative learning?
My ideas...
Working collaboratively consists of carrying out activities in small groups  whose main purpose is to achieve a common goal.
The student becomes the subject of his learning and the teacher the moderator whose main purpose is to make the groups work.
Last year my students worked often in collaboration. Children can express their opinions, make valid contributions, manage emotions, share, learn to listen and respect each other and learn more and better. I think feedback is very relevant and that is why I bet on moments of self-assessment and peer assessment. I was amazed at the ability of children to analyze their peers' work.

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Module 1: What is collaborative learning?

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1.2 Collaborative learning in a flexible classroom
Is your classroom set up to be flexible and interactive, like the one shown in the video? Without necessarily having access to flexible classroom furniture, has the video inspired you to make your classroom environment more collaboration-friendly? What about the technology and online tools used by the students? Have you used these with your students and have they effectively facilitated collaborative learning?
My ideas...
I teach ICT and I can say that I am in a privileged environment. Although my classroom does not have furniture that facilitates the creation of multiple scenarios, I consider it flexible and interactive. I always use the new technologies in my classes and if I think my classroom needs to leave the four walls, we leave, although this dynamic is more complicated. The use of new technologies in the classroom is unavoidable. Children feel very motivated and perform with pleasure the tasks proposed when using these tools.
Although they are the same tasks as in the past (Write, read, comment,...) now they gain a new meaning. And how about working together? I must say I didn't like my students to work collaboratively but now they do it daily.

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8 Tips and Tricks to Redesign Your Classroom

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A classroom designer walks you through the process of redesigning your room, with videos to inspire you.

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1.3 Collaborative learning through project-based learning
Have you ever carried out a similar exercise to the ‘circle time’ described in this video, where the teacher explicitly discusses with students how the group work went, what the positive and negative aspects were, and possible solutions for the future? If so, has this improved your students’ collaboration skills and have you seen evidence of this in collaborative work carried out afterwards? The teacher states that ‘Technology becomes useful in class especially when collaborative practices are used’. Do you agree, and why?
My ideias...
In my opinion the project-based learning is quite effective. Collaborative work and the use of new technologies are key elements for children to feel motivated to learn. The fact that students work towards a final product is fundamental to the success of this pedagogical practice. In my classroom we have already done some projects and I was quite surprised with the results obtained. We talked about how the groups work, but self-assessment and peer assessment helps a lot in understanding what went well and what needs improvement.

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1.4 A foreign language teacher’s experience of collaborative learning
In your experience of collaborative learning, is behaviour management and getting students to stay on track a challenge? Do you agree that assessing collaborative learning is particularly difficult, and what are your experiences with this? How do you monitor teamwork? Do you find the methods mentioned in this video (e.g. self- and peer assessment) useful? What about the online tools mentioned?
My ideas...
Effectively, the collaborative work raises some issues notably in the noise level and also in the need to know if the students are on the right track. Assessment is a difficult task when using collaborative work. On the other hand self-assessment and peer review are a good solution. The presented tools are very interesting and an added value for the collaborative work because they allow teachers to follow effectively the evolution of their students work.

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Listen to my interview with Michael Linsin ( transcript):

Sponsored by Write About and Peergrade
In my first few years of teaching, student talking was like popcorn.
I gave the class instructions for some kind of work; let's say journal writing. And for a few seconds, they did it. Things were quiet. Then, like that first kernel of popcorn, one student said she didn't know what to write, so I walked over to her desk to help her. While we talked, two more raised their hands-two more pops-and said they were stuck, too. I signaled to them that I'd be over in a minute, but in the meantime, someone else was closing his journal, finished already. Another pop. The two who were stuck asked him what he wrote about.

The room needs to stay quiet so we can concentrate, I told them.

Someone else had a question. Another pop. I squatted by her desk, and behind me, a conversation started between two others. Pop pop. Another journal closed while a different hand went up.

Okay people, I said, this time louder. Let's keep it down. And with rascally smiles, they turned back to their journals to pretend to write some more. At this point, it had turned into a game.

Someone needed to sharpen their pencil. Pop. Someone else decided to race them over to the sharpener. Pop. In a matter of seconds, the whole room had erupted, a huge hysterical bowl of popcorn, exploding all around me, and I couldn't find my way out.

And then I yelled.

If this sounds anything like you, you're not alone. I hear it from teachers all the time. One of the things they don't teach us in our education courses is just how freaking much students talk, and how hard it can be to quiet them down in order to get anything accomplished.

To find solutions to this problem, I went to Michael Linsin, the creator of Smart Classroom Management and my go-to person for all classroom management needs. Last year, he taught us how to set up a clear, simple classroom management plan. Now he's going to help us understand the causes of excessive talking, what you should be able to realistically expect from students, and how you can fix the problem.

First, two quick caveats.

One: I believe students need to talk. People need to talk. So if you're shooting for a classroom environment where students sit silently and do rote seat work all day long, where they never have an opportunity to talk to their peers, where they never get out of their seats, and where the work is not engaging, you are going to have problems.

Two: A big part of good classroom management is building good relationships with your students. If you haven't taken the time to get to know them as individuals, if you mispronounce their names, if you regularly use sarcasm or make them feel stupid for asking questions, then they aren't going to want to behave well for you. And that's a different problem.

So this post is based on the assumption that you're planning engaging lessons and you have a decent relationship with your students. Without those two, these solutions might kind of work, but you're still probably not going to love your job.

Why It's Happening

Before you can solve this problem, you have to understand its cause. According to Linsin, excessive talking-talking that occurs during independent work time or direct instruction-happens for two reasons.

Reason 1: They don't believe you mean it.

Despite the fact that you specifically tell students not to talk, deep down they don't believe you mean it. "Or they don't care," Linsin says.

"At some point," he explains, "Your authority has faded. If you're able to teach to a quiet classroom in the beginning of the year and now you're not able to, or if it happened right off the bat, then somehow at some point, the students' respect for you and for the process, for the classroom, and your authority has faded."

So even if they hear you, even if they understand that you want quiet at a certain time, they don't believe anything negative will happen if they ignore your request. If they come to you with this behavior, it's likely that it has just been part of their conditioning.

"Because so many teachers struggle with this problem," Linsin explains, "many after a while kind of throw up their hands and just decide they're going to talk over students, they're going to do their best to keep things as quiet as possible during independent work time, so the students come to you (from) classrooms where the teacher asked them to be quiet but doesn't really follow up on it."

Reason 2: They don't understand what "no talking" means.

This one is going to be harder for teachers to believe, but bear with us here: "No talking" may not mean exactly the same thing in different contexts, and if your students are talking more than you want them to, there's a good chance you're working with different definitions.

"When they come to your classroom," Linsin explains, "and they've had teacher after teacher say the same thing, yet continue to allow it to happen in the classroom, then students think, Well, he or she just means we need to kind of keep our voices down, or We're mostly quiet, but if we have important things to say to a neighbor, then we're allowed to do that. And so they're confused as to what the definition of 'quiet' really is."

In many cases, Linsin notes, the problem is likely being caused by a combination of both of these reasons. But notice that neither reason is a blanket statement about students being disrespectful. This is why I like Linsin's approach: He puts control for classroom management in the teacher's hands, rather than placing blame on the student. That's not to say that you won't have disrespectful students, but shifting the blame to them means you have no power over the situation. Blaming the students simply isn't a useful way to address the problem.

"When students are not doing something that you've previously taught them how to do," Linsin says, "whether it's talking or entering the classroom, and they don't do it well, even though the students are responsible for their behavior, when most of the class is not doing what you ask, it's on you. It's about you. There's some disconnect there, there's something they're not understanding."

What You Should Be Able to Expect

Some teachers might wonder whether it's reasonable to expect students to be quiet at all, especially if they are younger. Linsin says yes without hesitation. "You should absolutely expect, no matter where you're teaching or what grade level, that the students are able to sit quietly while you're giving instruction or directions, and they should be able to sit quietly and work during independent work times."

Should there also be times when talking is permitted? "Absolutely," Linsin says. "It's really important to give students an opportunity to express themselves, to get up and move around, to work in groups and pairs and discuss. Classrooms should be vibrant and interesting, exciting places, and so I'm all for getting students up and moving and having fun. Those things just make classroom management stronger, and they free you to ask anything of your students, including silence."

The Solution

If you came here looking for a few tricks to end excessive talking, the bad news is that you won't find anything clever or earth-shattering. The good news is that the solution is pretty simple, and it requires no behavior charts, tokens, or Jolly Ranchers.

Step 1: Define expectations in explicit detail.

"The fix," Linsin says, "is to define, in detail, exactly what you want during independent work time and when you're teaching a directed lesson."

If you believe you've already done this, and it hasn't worked, the issue is probably lack of detail in your explanation. Linsin says you need to go far deeper than what most teachers probably do.

"So you may bring a desk or a table up in front of your classroom, sit down, and pretend to be a student. You may have other students acting as models also. Show students how you expect them to behave while you're giving instruction, and then how you expect them to behave when they're doing independent work."

"It's also important to include what not to do," he adds. "So you'll model those exact behaviors that you're seeing, those exact talking behaviors, whether it's side-talking or standing up and whispering to someone, or whatever your classroom looks like. Even if it's chaotic, whatever that chaos looks like exactly, you want the students to be able to see themselves in your modeling and what isn't okay."

Step 2: Have students practice.

Once you've modeled the desired behavior, have students practice it, just like you'd have them practice any skill you're teaching.

Linsin gives an example of what this might look like. You'd start by saying, "'I'm going to give you 60 seconds, and I want you to show me what good listening looks like, and no talking. So let's pretend I'm standing and giving you a lesson. I want to know what that looks like.' And then you'll stand and maybe you'll cross your arms and put your hand under your chin, and you'll watch them."

Keep this instruction light, he says. Keep it fun. "You'll stare at them and you'll walk around the room, and you'll watch one of them, and you'll nod your head and say, 'Mmhmm, okay, that looks good. Mmhmm. Chin up a little higher!' It's okay to have fun with it. None of this is a punishment. It's just good teaching. Whether you're teaching how to find a topic sentence or how you want your students to line up before recess, it's all teaching. So it's okay to have fun with it. It's okay for them to laugh at some of the things you say or to see themselves in the behaviors, which they love, by the way, especially if you exaggerate it and have some fun with it."

The Sign Strategy: Students are often put in an awkward position when a classmate tries to talk to them during these quiet times. They want to follow your guidelines, but they also don't want to be rude to a classmate. Agree on some kind of physical sign they can give each other at these times. "It can be a scissors or peace sign or whatever's culturally acceptable wherever you teach. And all they do is just hold the sign up, and the sign means, 'I'm really sorry, but I have to listen to the lesson,' or 'I'm really sorry, but I have to do my work.' And you can tell them that if they give the sign and that student who sees the sign turns and gets back to work, you will not enforce a consequence, because they're showing responsible behavior."

Step 3: Teach the consequences.

"Walk them through the exact steps that would happen if they turn and talk to a neighbor, for example," Linsin says. "The exact steps a misbehaving student would take from your initial warning to contacting parents or whatever your consequences look like."

In order to do this, you have to know what your consequences are. Spend some time making sure you're clear on that. If you need help, read our post on creating a classroom management plan.

Step 4: Do it for real.

Once students have been taught your expectations and have practiced exactly what they look like, it's time to apply it in a real lesson. "Have a directed lesson ready," Linsin advises, "to have them prove to you they can do it in practice."

If you've taught the expectations in detail, students should do a good job, but if they don't, you need to enforce your consequences exactly as you described. "You almost hope during that first wonderful lesson, that one student maybe turns, and so the class can see that you're holding them accountable."

If enforcing your consequences is difficult for you-and for many teachers, it will be-read Linsin's post on why teachers struggle to consistently enforce consequences.

Step 5: Continue to define expectations in small chunks.

This last step is crucial. From this point forward, keep telling students what is expected of them before every switch in classroom activity. When you are about to do group work, let students know that talking within the group is okay. If you then switch to independent work, remind them that absolute quiet will be expected. Briefly describe what that will look like, even spelling out what not to do if that fits the activity.

Taking time to do this might seem unnecessary, but being clear ahead of time will prevent problems. "Anytime you can give a reminder before misbehavior," Linsin says, "it's a good thing. Anytime you give a reminder after you see misbehavior, it's a bad thing. You should be holding students accountable, but be preemptive whenever you can."

Learn More from Michael Linsin
The Happy Teacher Habits
(Links to this book are Amazon Affiliate links, which means I get a small commission on purchases you make through my links at no additional cost to you.)

There's more where this came from.
Join my mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration-in quick, bite-sized packages-all geared toward making your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to my members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Come on in!!

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What they don't teach us in education courses is just how freaking much students talk, and how hard it can be to quiet them down. Help is on the way.

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Module 1: What is collaborative learning?

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1.5 A History & Geography teacher’s experience of collaborative learning
Have you experienced similar or different difficulties in collaborating with teachers, and if so, why? Do you, like the teacher in this video, find it difficult to guarantee the quality of the collaboration that takes place between your students? What about the uneven efforts made by individual group members, resulting in frustration for some students when it comes to assessment of the whole group?
My ideas...
I agree with Monica Giansanti that sometimes it is difficult to work collaboratively with colleagues. I have been through this experience in Etwinning's learning events because some teachers did not master the tools. In my school working collaboratively is not easy as well because some colleagues refuse to leave their comfort zone. However, this year I have met colleagues with the same enthusiasm as myself. When we speak about students I think that the larger the group the greater the problems in assessing the work of each element. It is only natural that some feel wronged. I've already felt it! I think it is important for each group member to reflect on their performance and that of others in an attempt to improve group performance. This feedback will help the teacher to better understand the dynamics of a given group.

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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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1.6 Module 1 Learning Activity
1 - Reflect on your current learning activities

Reflect on some learning activities you carried out with your class in the past year which included some level of collaboration.

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

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

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

Last year I implemented a learning scenario that attempted to answer the question "Which animals are in extinction in Madeira and why?». The question arose after a survey of the topics of interest of the fourth grade students.

Students worked in pairs during several classes doing research, creating videos on Animoto, pamphlets on Lucidpress and using Google Drive to work on the construction of informative texts in word online. They used the same tool to leave feedback on their colleagues' work with the main goal of improving it. The self-assessment of group work was also a reality that allowed, in some cases, to improve the commitment of the group. Throughout the implementation of the scenario, I asked the students twice to choose another pair to work on and I think the groups worked well. I find this a high-level activity of collaboration once the students have built their own knowledge, the teacher monitored and students worked together for the final product: building a book to offer to the school library. In some classes I did not resort to collaborative work because they were classes shared with other colleagues who preferred the traditional exposition of subjects with later application of knowledge in an online platform that contained exercises on the topic approached. In this activity the levels of collaboration were low since the process was teacher-centered and there was no room for students to make their findings, interact, exchange opinions, build knowledge,….

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1.7 Module 1 Resource Section

Main objective

«The main objective  of the model of collaborative learning is to put students in the centre of the learning.»
in CCL Guide: Learning Story Collaboration

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What is essencial?

In collaboration work it is fundamental to develop the conscience that by sharing objectives and responsabilities,  the members of the group benefit as a group and individually of the sucess they have.
in CCL Guide: Learning Story Collaboration

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Social and educational benefits

- Sharing ideas;
- Wisdom and resources with peers;
- Gaining experience in conflict resolution;
- Collective learning;
- Leadership competences;
-  Self-criticism;
- Self-evaluation;
- Self-reflection;
- Negociation;
- More effective relationship;
in CCL Guide: Learning Story Collaboration

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Teacher's role

«[...] The teacher's role is to serve as a facilitator for learning.»
« He must become an organizer of people into communities for a specific purpose-learning»
«... is to organize the learning community»
in CCL Guide: Learning Story Collaboration

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Stages in the preparation of group learning

1. Forming
2. Storming
3. Norming
4. Performing
5. Adjourning
Bruce Tuckman, in CCL Guide: Learning Story Collaboration

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«How is the group defined?

"...a group should possess, in different stages, the following features:
1. Collective perception
2. Needs
3. Shared aims
4. Interdependence
5. Social organization
6. Interaction
7. Cohesiveness
8. Membership
in CCL Guide: Learning Story Collaboration

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«Distributing roles to each members of the group»
1.Team leader
2.Team reporter;
3. Organizer;
4. Lead researcher
Each team selects a team name and creates a team blog where they will report on their progress...»
in CCL Guide: Learning Story Collaboration

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Created using PowToon -- Free sign up at http://www.powtoon.com/youtube/ -- Create animated videos and animated presentations for free. PowToon is a free tool that allows you to develop cool animated clips and animated presentations for your website, office meeting, sales pitch, nonprofit fundraiser, product launch, video resume, or anything else you could use an animated explainer video.

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Collaborative tools

Read  CCL Guide: Learning Story Collaboration,...
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8kFjhCaxXLoalduSlZoZ3g3TzQ

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Module 2: How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?

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Module 2: How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?

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Module 2: How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?

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Module 2: How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?

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2.1 Embedding collaborative learning into lesson design
Ben Murray/ Prof. Deirdre Butler

The important collaboration skills:
- Negotiation;
- Conflict resolution;
- Agreement on what must be done;
- Distribution of tasks;
- Listening to the ideas of others;
- Integration of ideas into coherent whole.

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Module 2: How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?

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Module 2: How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?

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2.1 Embedding collaborative learning into lesson design
Do you agree about the importance of "speaking the same language", of understanding the same thing under collaborative learning? Do you agree that having collaborative skills is not a personality trait and that you can design learning activities to develop these skills in your pupils? Professor Butler mentions that ‘technology can support new pedagogies that focus on learners as active participants with tools for inquiry-based pedagogies and collaborative work spaces’.Do you agree, and what are your experiences of this?
My ideas...
I think it is very important to standardize the concept of collaborative work so that one can construct learning and pedagogical intervention consistently.I agree with the idea that collaborative skills can be developed through the implementation of activities that focus on this goal. We learn by practicing and working collaboratively implies practice in the management of collaborative skills. In this context, technology plays a large role because there are tools that can make collaborative work more motivating, both for learners and for teachers.

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Module 2: How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?

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Module 2: How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?

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2.2 The 4 Collaboration Questions
Prof. Deirdre Butler

The 4 collaboration questions when designing a collaborative learning activity - The big ideas in collaboration
- Are they working together?
- Do they have shared responsibility?
- Do they make substantive decisions?
- Is their work interdependent?

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Module 2: How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?

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Module 2: How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?

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2.2 The 4 Collaboration Questions
Prof. Deirdre Butler

Working together:
Students work together when the activity requires them to work in pairs or groups to:
- Discuss an  issue;
- Solve a problem;
- Create a product.

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Module 2: How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?

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Module 2: How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?

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2.2 The 4 Collaboration Questions
Prof. Deirdre Butler

Shared responsability
When students work in group to develop a:
- Common product;
- Design;
- Or response
Collectively own the work and be mutually responsible for its outcome.

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Module 2: How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?

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Module 2: How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?

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2.2 The 4 Collaboration Questions
Prof. Deirdre Butler

Substantive decisions
« They make substantive decisions when they have to resolve important issues that will guide their work together. Important issues about the content, the process or the product. Initially, it would be just one. »

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Module 2: How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?

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Module 2: How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?

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2.2 The 4 Collaboration Questions
What do you think of the 4 major questions presented by Professor Deirdre Butler? Are they useful in helping you design a collaborative learning activity? Have you asked yourself these questions before, when designing collaborative learning activities?
My ideas...
Regarding the four big ideas about collaboration, I must confess that I thought in some of these questions, namely, whether learners are working in groups and sharing responsibility for the work they do. I admit that I did not give enough attention to the point of substantive decisions, at least  the one I should have given. This reflection made me conclude that whenever I plan tasks of collaborative work, I am much more concerned with the result of the activity than with the process itself to reach the product. Something has to change in my pedagogical practice.

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Module 2: How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?

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Module 2: How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?

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2.3 21 CLD Collaboration Rubric
How useful do you find the rubric Professor Deirdre Butler explained? Do you think it is useful in helping you understand the type and quality of collaboration taking place in the learning activities you design? Have you used this or similar rubrics before to help you design collaborative learning activities? What do you think are its advantages and disadvantages?
My ideas...
This rubric is fantastic! Furthermore it has two purposes: it helps to create the learning designe and facilitates students assessment. I never thought it was necessary to create rubrics and plan the collaborative work the way described here. I changed my mind. It makes perfect sense!

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Collaborative teaching and learning | M2 21 CLD Collaboration Rubric

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2.4 Collaborative learning scenarios

7 phases
1- Dream ( students can brainstorm, think freely and share ideas )
2- Explore (students collect information on a certain topic )
3- Map( they structure their thoughts and ideas and seek to understand how they are related)
4- Make ( students develop or create a product or practise an activity )
5- Ask (interview experts and stakeholders )
6- Re-make (students replan or revisit their product, on the basis of the feedback or further information they received)
7- Show (students publish and present the results of their work)

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Module 2: How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?

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Module 2: How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?

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

The proposed template is quite interesting and complete. One of the advantages of this template is to allow the teacher to know in detail what he wants with each stage of his learning scenario. The learning scenarios presented are inspiring but I think I would have to adapt them to be able to apply them in my classroom since some of them are outside the age group with which I work. However, I find it easy to see that each of these scenarios involves a lot of work, reflection and a great capacity to be focused on the path, students and teachers.

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Module 2: How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?

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Module 2: How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?

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2.5 Module 2 Learning Activity
1 - Reflect on your current learning activities and code them with the rubric

Read the PDF entitled ‘21ST Century Learning Design: 21CLD Learning Activity Rubrics’, available in the Resources section of Module 2, pages 3-9

Reflect on the two learning activities you described in Module 1 and code them according to the collaboration rubric, as explained in Video 2.3

In your Learning Diary and for each activity, add the code (from 1 to 5) that best reflects the collaborative learning level

The first activity, which implies a high degree of collaboration, consisted, in the first phase, of surveying students' curiosities. Subsequently, small working groups were set up to explore the question "Which endangered animals are there in Madeira?". We decided it would be interesting to create a blog so we could share our work. Students chose the name of the blog using the AnswerGarden tool. The final product would be the compilation of a book. Each of the pages would be designed on the Lucidpress tool. The students wrote informative texts online and did the review of the works. For this, it was important the feedback given by the students and teacher through Google Drive. Videos were also made at Animoto with the information collected. Students work were presented to colleagues in other classes. Although this activity has some gaps, more concretely in the mapping step, I think this is an activity for code 5. The second activity that implies a low degree of collaboration is the exposure of a subject and subsequent exercise using the new technologies. In an online platform students would individually respond to a set of questions to test knowledge. This is a code 1 activity.

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According to the knowledge acquired in this course, I believe I need to improve the planning of collaborative work activities. The template provided greatly facilitates teachers work since, following all the suggested steps, it allows great organization when constructing the learning scenario. Of course I intend to use this tool to plan collaborative work in my classroom because it seems clear to me that it is useful since it allows  teachers not to lose focus or forget the details to be taken into account when planning collaborative activities.

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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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Module 3: How can you assess collaborative learning?

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Module 3: How can you assess collaborative learning?

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Module 3: How can you assess collaborative learning?

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Module 3: How can you assess collaborative learning?

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3.1 Assessment for improving collaborative learning
Assessment

"Assessment has multiple goals[...]"
"[...]impact on strengthening the improvement of learning collaboratively.[...]"
"[...]helping students position themselves in the learning process and become aware of the extent of their efforts to achieve objectives[...]"
"[...]make learners take responsibility for their own learning by helping to regulate their efforts, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and enable them to seek help in order to overcome difficulties."
"[...]doesn’t discourage learners, but rather strengthens their commitment to learning."
"[...]should encourage students to learn collaboratively and not encourage competition."
"It should also contribute to a collective conscience promoting the belief that we learn better in groups because we can overcome our difficulties more easily when we help one another."

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Because PBL is about more than learning content, PBL teachers should investigate and experiment with multi-model strategies for assessing their students’ learning skills.

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Module 3: How can you assess collaborative learning?

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Module 3: How can you assess collaborative learning?

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3.1 Assessment for improving collaborative learning
Assessment

Feedback, self-assessment and peer assessment
"Feedback regarding assessment must be brief, clear and timely. Self-assessment and peer assessment can be fast, timely and objective when assessing collaborative learning if:
(1) it is implemented in parallel with learning activities,
(2) it uses the same language used by group participants,
(3) it is conducted diplomatically so as not to create obstacles in the social relationship of the group.
Ultimately, assessment has to be useful for learning; it must make sense for those being assessed and not only for those assessing."

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I recently participated in a two-session writing class, and at the end of the first session, we were tasked with writing a short scene that we would share and discuss in small groups the following week. Knowing I was to share my work motivated me to put time and effort into it. I was both anxious and excited-I was curious to see what others thought of my work and to hear both criticism and validation.

Workshopping is a very active process, both intellectually and behaviorally, and requires students to read, formulate comments and suggestions, and discuss in a small group setting. We often think only of the benefits of receiving feedback on work, namely that others' suggestions can help writers improve a piece of writing. Authentically giving feedback, however, is also crucial to students' development as writers.

Giving peer feedback allows students to see concrete examples of what works and what doesn't in similar types of writing, strengthens their language around writing, encourages them to think of their peers-and not just the teacher-as their audience, and helps them develop their "editor's voice" that they can take back to their work.

Helping Students Give High-Quality Feedback

Giving good feedback takes practice. Scaffolding and discussing strategies for delivering feedback helps students become better writers and better peer reviewers.

Scaffolding with a checklist: With my younger writing groups (ages 7 and 8), I've found some success in giving a checklist. It's important that the checklist matches the skills covered in a term or unit. For example, ask students to check for a closing sentence only if you've specifically practiced this skill. Pairing students to check each other's work gives them a taste of workshopping with specific guidance: Students help their partners revise and correct work using the checklist.

I like, I wish, I wonder: This is a great tool to help students think about how to frame feedback in a constructive way. When reading each other's work and giving feedback, they must discuss one thing they liked about the other person's work, one thing they wished that person had done differently, and one thing they wondered about (for example, how a main character felt about or reacted to an event). This framework helps students focus on content and organization, rather than grammar, when giving feedback. It's easier to find grammatical or spelling errors, but it takes creativity and critical thinking skills to give meaningful feedback.

Areas/categories of feedback: With some of my older students (ages 10 and 11), I start workshopping sessions by having them list things they could look for when giving feedback. The list might include description, organization of ideas, punctuation, or sentence structure, for example. We divide the list into three categories: content, organization, and mechanics. As a group, we discuss which categories are more important to focus on early in the editing process, before they turn in and share their work. This is a helpful discussion because students become aware of what types of feedback they give and helps them brainstorm more meaningful edits.

Speaking constructively: You can have some fun with this one. Ask students to make a list of workshopping dos and don'ts. Start with the don't column. For example, "Don't tell a peer, 'Your writing stinks!'" or, "Ewww... your introductory paragraph." After making a list of don'ts, have students formulate a list of good sentence starters in the do column. For example, "I'm interested in learning more about _____. Could you provide more details?"

Specific vs. general: Remind students to be specific as well as constructive. One "I like" I hear too often is "I really liked your story." Give examples of what specific feedback sounds like-for example, "I really liked your simile 'the rain hit the pavement like arrows' because it helped me visualize the setting," rather than the more general "I liked your description."

Workshopping and Student Engagement

The act of workshopping aids student engagement. As I observed in my continuing education class, we're naturally curious to see others' work prior to completion and to see what they think of ours. I put more time into my writing when I knew others would read and critique it. And I was fully engaged during discussions of my classmates' excerpts.

After my learning experience, I completed two versions of the same activity with some of my younger students (ages 6 to 8). The first day, I had students evaluate their own work using a checklist. The second day, I had them evaluate a partner's work using the same checklist. I noticed that when students worked in pairs and switched work, they were more focused and less likely to rush. They were also more critical of each other's work than of their own-it's difficult to gain perspective on your own work. Giving feedback and editing someone else's writing allowed students to step back and identify areas of improvement.

I recommend beginning each feedback session with a reminder that the workshop is a safe space that celebrates students' work and focuses on successes and improvements rather than criticism. With time and encouragement, even students who are hesitant to share will participate in workshopping.

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I recently participated in a two-session writing class, and at the end of the first session, we were tasked with writing a short scene that we would share and discuss in small groups the following week. Knowing I was to share my work motivated me to put time and effort into it.

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Module 3: How can you assess collaborative learning?

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Module 3: How can you assess collaborative learning?

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3.1 Assessment for improving collaborative learning
Assessment

Formative assessment...
"...can help to improve teaching strategies and students’ study because it provides very contextualized feedback both to students individually and to groups, as well as to their teachers."

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Everything about school provides some sort of formative feedback to students.

By formative, we mean "shaping or molding." Indeed, everything about a learning environment shapes and molds the overall student experience.

The culture makes it clear that all lives matter and that all opinions matter-or not. The goals embrace high expectations for all learners-or not. The structures are inclusive and equity promoting-or not.

Where the school is located, what it looks like, how students get there all speak loudly to what is important to a community. The adults at school and the extent to which they embrace and look like the community of learners speaks to priorities.

The nature of learning experiences-short, narrow, and thin or extended, integrated and deep-signal what is important. Work focused on compliance and completion kills motivation. Work that inspires a culture of possibility around public products encourages a culture of revision (and all that growth mindset stuff).

Want your students to do excellent work? You can't just improve formative assessment-everything is formative. Make sure everything-structures, policies, practices and, most of all, learning experiences-says "excellent work is done here."

While everything about a learning environment may provide formative feedback to students, not everything qualifies as formative assessment.

Defining Formative Assessment

Overall, we've done a good job helping students "learn how to learn." One of the biggest growth opportunities today is to help teachers and students to "know how they know." Educators skilled at designing formative assessment practice are able to understand where students are and where they need to be on a daily basis and adapt learning experiences accordingly.

The Council of Chief State School Officers ( CCSSO) recently adopted the following definition of formative assessment:

Formative assessment is a planned, ongoing process used by all students and teachers during learning and teaching to elicit and use evidence of student learning to improve student understanding of intended disciplinary learning outcomes, and support students to become more self-directed learners.

~ CCSSO FAST SCASS Austin, Texas, June 2017

The complete CCSSO definition goes on to describe the importance of providing clear learning targets, eliciting evidence of learning, engaging in self-assessment-and ultimately, using evidence to move learning forward.

This definition was generated through the work of CCSSO's Formative Assessment for Students and Teachers State Collaborative on Assessment and Student Standards ( FAST SCASS). The group has been leading the way for over 15 years.

The updates to this definition emphasize a couple of things over the 2006 definition:

Increased student role: Emphasis on the role of the students themselves, which aligns beautifully with an emphasis on SEL, self-awareness and self-management (all key to learning today).

Standards focused: The specific reference to ensuring that all students understand "intended disciplinary learning outcomes" grounds the work in standards.

When implemented effectively, formative assessment is not an isolated event but rather a regular and integral part of the classroom routine, as well as all the formal and informal feedback students receive (or perceive) in the course of their studies.

What We Know About Current Formative Assessment Practice

In 2015, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation sponsored work with teachers in the Austin, Denver and Metro Nashville school districts to learn how (and how well) teachers in these districts use data to inform instruction on a daily basis. Data was gathered from this project and detailed in Formative Assessment in the Classroom, published in May of 2016. Key findings include:

Uneven practice. Teachers regularly use some type of formative assessment strategies, but the implementation of their practice is uneven. In general, teachers need more support and practice to improve effectiveness. This is particularly true in important areas such as inviting student participation and ownership of learning. One example is frequency-most teachers typically engage in formative assessment practice on a weekly basis when ideally they would do so on a daily basis by integrating formative assessment into regular classroom teaching and learning routines.

Insufficient support . Teachers report that the support provided by districts for formative assessment is insufficient and that they most often turn to their colleagues for support to improve their formative assessment strategies.While all of the involved districts provided some form of support for formative assessment practice, there was not always agreement regarding definition or priority for ongoing support.

Barriers to implementation . Significant barriers to implementing effective formative assessment practice still exist. The barriers cited-including, but not limited to time, training and resources-reflect common structural, technical and attitudinal changes when making and fundamental shift in instructional practice

Relationship to use of technology . Teachers who used formative assessment practices more frequently also reported more use of technology, especially if they had school or district support .While overall technology usage by teachers across the study districts was consistently low, there was a correlation in usage. In order to effectively use technology for formative assessment, teachers need to have a working knowledge of formative assessment.

The study also shows teachers are optimistic about their abilities to understand and use formative assessment in the classroom, believe their curriculum supports formative assessment and individualized instruction, and feel they have administrative support to incorporate formative assessment into their teaching practice.

Creating Places Where Excellence is Done: Work Worth Doing

Students in some blended schools get a lot of embedded feedback but they just traded paper worksheets for digital worksheets. Some schools get so focused on combining formative data streams they forget about the learning experience. Want to provide better feedback? Start with providing authentic work worth doing and then work to design effective formative assessment practice within that context.

It's hard to create places where all learners-young and old- do excellent quality work. Where we've seen high school students do professional quality work, it is a result of:

High expectations: Starting with a picture of quality like EL's Models of Excellence or a tradition of great publications like High Tech High or Palo Alto High journalism

Public products: Moving beyond "turn it in" to publish it or present it to a client.

Honest feedback: Students at One Stone (in the Boise high school and after school program) receive feedback from coaches (teachers), mentors, peers and clients.

A culture of revision: At One Stone, students know it make take more than 50 tries to get a great idea or a quality product (the call it "51ing it").

Strong real time support: If you want high quality, you have to support it with strong supports-there are several ways to get real time help.

Supportive culture: Students may not take tough feedback well if they don't know you care not only about the work but about them.

Being aware of what provides formative feedback to students won't boost achievement by itself. Skilled formative assessment practice is critical. It starts with work worth doing, in a place worth being, with people who care.

For more, see:
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Mary is a Getting Smart Director of Strategic Design.

Tom Vander Ark is author of Smart Parents, Smart Cities and Getting Smart. He is co-founder of Getting Smart and Learn Capital and serves on the boards of 4.0 Schools, eduInnovation, Digital Learning Institute, Imagination Foundation, Charter Board Partners and Bloomboard. Follow Tom on Twitter, @tvanderark.

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Better Formative Feedback: Work Worth Doing in a Place Worth Being | Getting Smart

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Everything about school provides some sort of formative feedback to students. By formative, we mean "shaping or molding." Indeed, everything about a learning environment shapes and molds the overall student experience. The culture makes it clear that all lives matter and that all opinions matter-or not.

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Module 3: How can you assess collaborative learning?

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Module 3: How can you assess collaborative learning?

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3.1 Assessment for improving collaborative learning
Assessment

"Self-assessment should focus on individuals and their commitment, motivation, engagement in teamwork and their ability to achieve personal goals. Group goals can be formulated using checklists or progress level scales applied over a pre-defined timeline systematically or at particular milestones while carrying out projects or tasks."

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Module 3: How can you assess collaborative learning?

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Module 3: How can you assess collaborative learning?

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3.1 Assessment for improving collaborative learning
Assessment

"Summative assessment aims to provide a formal academic record of students’ learning progress and to establish proficiency levels. Often summative assessment is confined to tests only, which is not fair. If students are requested and expected to engage in group work, develop projects and present results, build blogs or other digital products, then summative assessment should consider these type of “artifacts” as learning outcomes to be assessed.»

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John McCarthy

Education Consultant, Advocate for Student Voice in Learning

Whenever announcing group or team assessments, the typical response by students and parents is "Groan." Even parents who are teachers do the same. Individual assessments are missing in teamwork. Group assessments are useful for managing a large number of students and their work. Collecting data on eight teams of four students each seems more time-efficient than assessing 32 students. Right?

The issue is that group work creates problems for knowing what each student understands and does not understand. A common complaint is that a few students do the work, while their teammates stand aside and get credit for the assessed skills. Also, parents don't want their child's grades to suffer because the group work by other students was below quality. In all of these cases, collecting group data lacks any validity for what each student knows and does not know as an individual.

For example, consider the classic group presentation at the end of a unit. If four students team up to give a ten-minute presentation, each will have about two minutes of talk-time to demonstrate a deep understanding of the unit's major concepts and skills. Given the limited time for each presentation part, demonstrating content understanding based on depths of knowledge would be shallow. In this example, the limited time is likely helpful to give feedback on demonstration of college and career readiness skills like communication and collaboration.

Eliminate assessment fog from group assessments. Consider the following guidelines for students to work in groups while checking for each individual's understanding.

Observe This Rule

Rule 1: All academic assessments are individual. Rule 2: Refer to rule 1. Follow this mantra. The result is clear data on how each student is progressing. Any data used for individual coaching or recording of grades are intentionally individual, so there can be little chance of foggy data that might misrepresent the learner's progress. Use a variety of tests, quizzes, journals, and interviews. A side benefit is that parents and students feel more confident about the work, because students have a sense of being in control of their own destiny. Prior to the group presentation, they could each write a position paper that addresses the key concepts, which is then assessed for feedback and academic recording. The team collects these papers to use for crafting the presentation. Another option is to give an exam after the group presentations. In this case, the presentations become a review experience prior to the test.

Use and Communicate Checkpoints

One value of teamwork is the mutual support that each person receives when tackling complex work and building a comprehension base. Spaced through a unit, checkpoints are formative assessment opportunities to track the growth of each student. The results are used to help those falling behind and to challenge those who need appropriate complex work. This ensures that no student falls behind for more than a day, and that no advanced learner stagnates due to lack of challenge. Break the major products into chunks based on what concepts should be understood at a given level and timeframe. Use assessments that anchor each section. Some quick assessments include:

Exit cards

Reflection journals

Checklist reflections

Non-graded quizzes

Make Work Collaborative, Not Group Tasks

Often there is "the" product that the team must craft. Even if everyone did their part, they would only know their part. In collaborative work, each student develops a draft or prototype of the product, which is turned in for individual assessment. The team's job is to take something from each person's work when forming the group's final product for a public audience. Another benefit is that as students work on their vision for the product, they can have collaborative conversations about the content and processes. Have students produce reflective learning journals about their understanding, which will document their unique perspective on the work, even when several students have similar ideas. Helpful tools include:

Graphic organizers

Thinking maps

Feedback and revision team conversations

Checklist-based team discussions

Group Work Has Value

Many schools strive to focus on preparing students for college and career opportunities after graduation. Working in teams is integral to student development of these important skills found from such sources as Tony Wagner's work on survival skills and the P21 organization. There is broad consensus for such skills as collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity, and self-management. Yet content curriculum remains the emperor of instruction. Both curriculum and the benefits of teamwork can occur -- provided that the academic assessments are individually based. Otherwise, the emperor is unclothed. Turn student groans into grunts of effort by truly knowing where each student is in his or her mastery of skills and concepts, while using authentic group experiences that ready students for their post-secondary future.

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Going Beyond Group Assessments for Learning

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John McCarthy Education Consultant, Advocate for Student Voice in Learning Whenever announcing group or team assessments, the typical response by students and parents is "Groan." Even parents who are teachers do the same. Individual assessments are missing in teamwork. Group assessments are useful for managing a large number of students and their work.

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Module 3: How can you assess collaborative learning?

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Module 3: How can you assess collaborative learning?

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

In my case, I think that the type of assessment I use does not discourage my students or power the competition. I believe that my instruments for assessment need to be improved because they are not always clear and applied in a timely manner. In the case of the subject I teach, the summative assessment of my students is always based on what they produce in class. They do not do summative assessment tests.

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Module 3: How can you assess collaborative learning?

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3.2 A sports teacher's experience of assessing collaborative learning

Personal performance vs teamwork
« In collaborative learning when students’ assessment is based on their personal performance it results in a reduction of team spirit, whereas when evaluation is based on teamwork, some members become disengaged and leave the others to carry out the work. I made sure that I informed students about the evaluation criteria at the beginning of the activity. Furthermore, I tried to create the right conditions for the students in order for them to participate actively in the assessment process. Regarding the functionality of the group, I tried to see whether there was a cooperative and supportive attitude between the members of the groups »

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3.2 A sports teacher's experience of assessing collaborative learning
« I had to make the evaluation in each group using three different factors: individual performance, group performance and the group’s functionality.»
« At the end of the presentation, a discussion followed at plenary level. I made questions, which helped students to implement a peer assessment, such as: What point did you like most in the other group’s presentation? Did you find something different in their performance? What would you keep from their presentation , which would you like to use yourself in a future performance? This worked really well with the children.»
« Concerning the groups’ functionality as I have already mentioned I walked between groups. I observed and made notes throughout the process of the team work, which made me realize which group was not working well thus making it possible for me to restore functioning in a stimulating and encouraging way . »

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Module 3: How can you assess collaborative learning?

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3.2 A sports teacher's experience of assessing collaborative learning
« each student completed a self-assessment sheet to evaluate his/her personal contribution to the group functionality. They answered questions, like: Did I participate in an active way providing information and ideas for my group? Did I listen carefully to what the other members suggested? Did I applaud and encourage the efforts of other members? Did I do something to alleviate the tension and the conflicts within the team? Pupils were asked to answer on a scale including the options: YES – LITTLE – NO).»

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Module 3: How can you assess collaborative learning?

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3.2 A sports teacher's experience of assessing collaborative learning
What do you think about the various assessment methods used by Chrysa to assess her pupils’ collaborative learning? Do you think the questions she asked her pupils were helpful in getting them to reflect on their collaborative skills? What do you think about prescribing peer assessment to pupils of a young age (6- to 11-year-olds)?

Are there special considerations to be taken into account? What about the final question she asks us and our expert to reflect on: do you find it challenging to gauge how best to assess the individual participation of a student in a collaborative activity?

My Ideas...

I think that Chrysa Tsamopoulou did an excellent job. I got some ideas to apply in my classes. Thank you. The questions were well directed and easy to understand. Students were able to see what factors to take into account when working in groups. Regarding peer evaluation with children between the ages of 6 and 11, I am totally in favor. The children are sincere and able to evaluate in a surprisingly serious way. I agree with Chrysa when she says that individual assessment is the most difficult. It's a real challenge. But I think part of the solution is in peer assessment. The team can assess the individual work of their co-workers.

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3.3 An ICT teacher’s experience of assessing collaborative learning

« we developed a checklist with several rubrics for assessing students about these items of our project: creativity, autonomy, cooperation, quality of work and presentation of the project. These items were presented to students at the beginning of the project. A numeric scale from 5/Very Good to 1/Very Poor was used which allowed teachers to assign a grade to each student involved in the project.»

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3.3 An ICT teacher’s experience of assessing collaborative learning

«So, these are my proposed solutions to solve those problems:
1 - Assessing collaborative learning requires regular communication between peers and peers and teachers.
2 - Digital tools can be used to support teacher’s planning activities. The use of collaborative digital tools enables teachers to efficiently observe student groups and deliver feedback. Digital tools can also support students to publish and share their assessments.
3 - Reorganizing the classroom space can introduce more collaboration-friendly dynamics in the classroom
4 - More interdisciplinary teaching and sharing of materials amongst teachers also facilitates collaborative teaching»

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3.3 An ICT teacher’s experience of assessing collaborative learning

« The main challenges I experienced in assessing collaborative learning are:
1 - Changing role of the teacher/students in the classroom.
2 - Group dynamics: students must have a positive attitude and receptivity towards their involvement in the assessment
3 - Group assessment versus individual assessment
4 - Management of teams/groups of students so that everyone participates and collaborates in the activities
5 - Time available to prepare and apply assessment of collaboration in the classroom »

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3.3 An ICT teacher’s experience of assessing collaborative learning

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

My ideas...

I think that the projects that teacher Antonio describes are very interesting both from the point of view of the students and from the point of view of the teachers. Working as a team we are stronger. The use of new technologies greatly facilitates the work of the teacher and saves time. The classroom space has to be reorganized as the student has to be at the center of the whole process, which requires new methodologies and new approaches to the classroom space. Interdisciplinary teaching is a determining factor since, in the Portuguese case, the programs are so extensive that this is almost a requirement. I totally agree with the benefits considered by teacher Antonio regarding group work. Is an opportunity for everyone to become stronger.

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3.4 Collaborative learning and student peer reviews

Uau...

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Collaborative teaching & learning Collaborative learning and student peer reviews

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

My ideas...

After listening to Anna Laghina I am amazed at her extraordinary work. What an inspiration! I also want to be like this! I am taking the first steps in the use of new technologies regarding assessment. I confess, therefore, that my records are still on paper but I have heard of these tools. I think I'm still afraid because I'm still not able to master them well. I have to get out of my comfort zone!

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3.5 Collaborative learning - What to assess and how?

What to assess?
«When assessing collaborative learning we have to consider the skills and knowledge required (in other words - what to assess) and the type and complexity of assessment tools (in other words - how to assess). Our aim is to adopt a flexible assessment model to provide useful data for formative teacher intervention and to induce the adoption of self-regulatory actions of the student and the group.»
«...choice of assessment model according to the project or task...»
(a) Individual and collective learning outcomes;
(b) Teamwork and group goals including individual commitment;
(c) The methodological process adopted to implement and complete the project or task;
(d) The product or;
(e) A mix of targets.

« collaborative learning scenarios,  the emphasis should be put on assessing the development of team work skills and the results achieved by the group, much more than evaluating individual successes. »

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3.5 Collaborative learning - What to assess and how?

How to assess?
«...if we want to make an assessment at the end of a class, the assessment tool will have to be simple and not take too long to implement. A complex tool could provide us with biased data or hasty information. A checklist in this case could be adequate, but a written reflection would probably be of little use.»
goal -  provide information to the learners about their progress
« we need instruments to collect information that we can display in the shape of scales, trend lines or graphics. Here our choice of instruments include Likert scales, checklists, rubrics and quizzes with detailed feedback. »
provide further information to the teacher
«...using infographics, mind maps, portfolios, blogs or multimedia presentations can be appropriate options. » «...rubrics can be used to assess specific items or learning outcomes...»

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3.5 Collaborative learning - What to assess and how?

Using rubrics
«A rubric is a scoring tool that lists the criteria for a piece of work and articulates gradations of quality for each criterion, from excellent to poor (Goodrich, 1996)»
«... is a speedy and effective way of collecting information on students’ learning ...» «... very useful as they are flexible and effective for both self- and peer assessment....» «... Goodrich (1996) states that "rubrics can improve student performance, as well as monitor it, by making teachers' expectations clear and by showing students how to meet these expectations". »

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3.5 Collaborative learning - What to assess and how?

Constructing rubrics

To construct a rubric :
1- decide on the level of knowledge that the rubric should assess.
2- establish assessment criteria and progress levels for each criterion. (4 levels of progress - 1 lowest level furthest away from reaching the objectives, 4- highest level, closest to reaching the objectives

«Each level needs a clear descriptor to avoid any doubts.»

«...two important tips when constructing rubrics. »
1- «... make sure your criteria is based on characteristics of the learning outcome, and not of the task itself. »
2- «... involving students in the design of rubrics is really effective...»

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3.5 Collaborative learning - What to assess and how?

Using checklists
«They are useful in reducing common errors made when assessing and validating knowledge. The simpler they are, the higher their value. Checklists help us to identify flaws of attention, memory and accuracy. Yet they also have limits...»
«Good checklists are accurate, efficient, well-targeted and easy to use in all situations, provide clear clues on the most critical and important aspects and are, above all, practical. Checklists help people to manage a complex process, to establish priorities clearly, and to work better in teams...»
Before starting to build a checklist:
1- «... define its purpose...»
2 - «... it should be as short as possible. » «... between five and ten items...»
3- «...wording should be simple, accurate and belong to the
common lexicon of context...»
4 - «The layout should have a sober typography, with appropriate use of case,...»
5 -«... be easy to read,...»
6- «... and ideally occupy no more than one page...»
7- « ...it should be of quick application...»

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3.5 Collaborative learning - What to assess and how?
Have you ever used existing rubrics and checklists to assess collaborative work? Have you ever constructed your own rubrics or checklists for this purpose? What about involving students in the design of rubrics, checklists or other assessment tools? What are your experiences? What do you think of the tips given for constructing rubrics and checklists in the video? Are the guidelines and examples given in the CO-LAB Assessment Guidelines useful?

My ideas...
This module has brought great ideas for the improvement of my work. I have designed some tools to evaluate the group work but I believe that with the tips given throughout this module I will be able to improve their quality. I think that student participation in building assessment tools makes sense because it will help them understand the expected performance.

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3.6 Answers to teachers’ questions on assessing collaborative learning

Diagnostic assessment
«... it is important to opt for simple, clear and fast to use tools and, preferably, tools that can cover the aspects we are planning to use more in the future. For this purpose it seems appropriate to use a rubric covering the following four dimensions:
- factual (facts, events),
- conceptual (concepts, ideas),
- procedural (how to do),
- meta-cognitive (explanations).»

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3.6 Answers to teachers’ questions on assessing collaborative learning

Peer assessment
«Asking students to give a public opinion about the work of their peers involves being responsible, and complying with the clearly specified criteria and use of qualitative scales or equivalent levels of proficiency. »
«...self-assessment and peer-assessment could be considered as more authentic than other assessment methods ...»
«... in peer-assessment, each learner assumes the role of assessee as well assessor...»
«...self-assessment combined with peer assessment reduces [...](friendship dependency), blurs the tendency to[...] (benefit of the dominators) and also reduces the [...](benefit of "parasitism")»

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3.6 Answers to teachers’ questions on assessing collaborative learning

Differentiating individual participation: Group assessment versus individual assessment and self assessment
«It is important to differentiate the individual participation of each group member. A student’s individual participation ([...]their added value, respect for others and negotiation skills) can be integrated into the student’s individual summative assessment by establishing its relative weight from the beginning of the assessment process.»
«For example, we want to pay attention to the assertiveness of their interventions, as well as the quality and relevance of their questions and answers. So, we can consider:
- their ability to negotiate,
- their ability to persuade others,
- their ability to integrate ideas from others, including different or contrary ideas.
We can give value to:
- their respect of unusual viewpoints or inventive ideas
- their originality
- their individual handicaps
«By assigning a percentage weight to individual assessment as part of the summative assessment related to group work, we can achieve differentiation...»

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3.6 Answers to teachers’ questions on assessing collaborative learning

Discreet assessment

«Discreet assessment can be used as an approach to assess individual participation and performance within collaborative practice when students are not aware that they are being assessed.»
«But we can also use discreet assessment criteria if we include some skills related to "how to ask" and "how to give feedback", the fairness of students when they self and peer assess, the secondary skills they demonstrate when moderating working groups or debates, the proactive attitudes they have integrating peers with difficulties including cognitive, cultural or physical limitations.»

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3.6 Answers to teachers’ questions on assessing collaborative learning

The use of Mind Maps, Concept Maps and Infographics

«...teachers can include in the assessment criteria the depth of the concept maps produced by students, the number of branches featured in the mind maps, the clarity of the infographics, the aesthetics and creativity, and the synthesis and wealth of language used in these kind of artefacts.
Involving students in the definition of the parameters to be considered in the assessment, the teacher engages them in the process of creation and assessment.»

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

My ideas...
I agree with the teacher Luís Valente's statement. From my experience, this type of assessment allows students to become aware of their difficulties and, once evaluated by their peers, they really want to improve. I believe that self-assessment and peer assessment combined reduce the tendency of group work to benefit friends, dominators and parasites since they are all evaluated by everyone and, as a rule, students are very fair in these matters. The idea shared by teacher Luis Valente of assigning part of the percentage of the assessment of group work to individual work seems to me extraordinary. I believe that this strategy will reduce the injustice that may exist in the assessment of only the work carried out by the group.

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3.7 Module 3 Learning Activity

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3.8 Module 3 Resource Section

CO-LAB Guidelines for Assessing Collaborative Learning in the Classroom, by Luís Valente
« Once the purpose has been established, assessment will be closely related to skills and knowledge (what to assess) and to the type and complexity of instruments to be used (how to assess). Considering the purpose, we can adopt a flexible assessment model to provide useful data for formative teacher intervention and to induce the adoption of self-regulatory actions of the student and the group. »
A2 - What to assess
« When assessing knowledge it is useful to consider the four categories»:
- factual  (low level knowledge, relating to the recognition of facts and enumerations)-  includes the core elements of curriculum content (what students should know about each topic (details, specific data, facts, dates, etc). It requires memorization, it is verifiable by direct comparison, can be easily assessed by students themselves or by their peers.
- conceptual (low level knowledge, relating to the recognition of facts and enumerations)- «refers to the understanding of interrelationships between pieces of knowledge»« enables us to understand the organization of items into categories, to identify hierarchies and structures, to recognize elements by observing specific characteristics, to recognize models, to understand generalizations ».
-procedural («...high level knowledge, relating to skills needed to solve new problems or to make use of existing knowledge in new situations....»;«... are related to creativity, entrepreneurship, and the planning and design of projects...»)- «... being able to do something by applying criteria, algorithms, appropriate techniques and methodologies, and using different skills and knowledge or combining them in different and innovative ways.» «... is required to run research projects, to establish relationships between different data and to understand cause-effect relationships. »
- meta-cognitive(«...high level knowledge, relating to skills needed to solve new problems or to make use of existing knowledge in new situations....»;«... are related to creativity, entrepreneurship, and the planning and design of projects...»)  «...includes the evaluation of knowledge itself, its nature, the construction process, its importance and its effects or consequences...»«... is the sum of what a student has discovered, perceived or apprehended about a particular subject ...» «... is invoked to explain phenomena or events studied before (explanatory theories and creative expression p.e.)»

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CO-LAB Guidelines for Assessing Collaboration

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3.8 Module 3 Resource Section

CO-LAB Guidelines for Assessing Collaborative Learning in the Classroom, by Luís Valente

A.3.1.3 Why use rubrics?
«Firstly, the use of rubrics is important because they are very clear instruments for assessment. They are flexible and effective for self- and peer-assessment. Rubrics are also important because they allow students to be engaged in their design...»
A.3.1.4 How to build a rubric
1.  Pose the questions: What features of students’ work provides us with evidence that they have acquired certain skills or knowledge?
Decompose the question into different characteristics:
- Appropriate
- Definable
- Observable
- Distinct from one another
- Complete
- Able to support descriptions along a continuum of quality
2. «...we need to ask ourselves about the quality of student work to be demonstrated at every level, ranging from the highest to the lowest. This question should have four answers to match as many quality levels.»
- Descriptive
-  Clear
- Cover the whole range of performance Performance is described from one extreme of the continuum of quality to another for each criterion.
- Distinguish among levels
-  Center the target performance (acceptable, mastery, passing) at the appropriate level
- Feature parallel descriptions from level to level

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3.8 Module 3 Resource Section

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Collaboration and Assessment Minho University

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Module 4: How can teacher collaboration facilitate collaborative learning?

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Module 4: How can teacher collaboration facilitate collaborative learning?

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Module 4: How can teacher collaboration facilitate collaborative learning?

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4.1 A primary school teacher’s experience of teacher collaboration
Valentina Marinova
Teacher collaboration - advantages
««Collaboration is a wonderful teaching tool. Teachers have the opportunity to assess and differentiate their teaching for students more readily and they can learn new pedagogical techniques from one another to expand their teaching repertoire. Cooperative teaching experiences also provide mutual support and assistance for planning and implementing lessons, assessing students’ progress, sharing professional concerns, and addressing students’ learning needs. Most importantly, working in teams allows more opportunities for students to understand and connect with content thereby maximizing individual learning potential.»

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4.1 A primary school teacher’s experience of teacher collaboration
Valentina Marinova
«To be effective[...]
Collaborative teachers have to spend time before and after school to coordinate their efforts; they need to bring their best skills and practices to the team while remaining flexible to adapt to new methodologies that can benefit student learning.»
« successful teacher collaboration begins with finding time to connect with colleagues, remaining open, sharing thoughts, and being ready to provide support. »

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

The idea of ​​the colleague is quite interesting. In order for the system that the colleague uses to function, two teachers are needed. Did I get it? I've worked in partnership with another teacher in a very complicated class. Our partnership went well and we learned many things together. Of course, when we work collaboratively there is a strong likelihood that everyone will improve their performance. However, I can not fail to express my concern in this matter, since, at least in my country, teachers do not feel that their work is recognized and sometimes it is difficult to find anyone who wants to work, as portuguese saying goes, "Por amor à camisola", meaning without being pad.

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4.2 A secondary teacher’s experience of teacher collaboration
Reyhan Gunes
«According to ISTE standards,   teachers should:
- Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation.
- Participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning
- Develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital age communication and collaboration tools.

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4.2 A secondary teacher’s experience of teacher collaboration
Reyhan Gunes
Have you heard of all the platforms and digital tools mentioned by Reyhan in the video, and have you ever used them for teacher collaboration? Do you agree that not all teachers have the required skills to take advantage of digital technologies? Reyhan mentions social media networks, such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, as particularly useful spaces for teacher collaboration and professional learning. What is your experience with social media networks as they relate to teacher collaboration and professional learning? What emerging digital technologies are you aware of that can help teachers collaborate more efficiently?

My ideas...

I admit I had not heard of some of the tools mentioned by my colleagues. However, I've heard of the eTwinning platform but have not created a project yet. With my co-workers, sometimes we post messages on Facebook to share ideas or distribute work. I would like to work more collaboratively and preferably with the new technologies that save a lot of time, but I have to agree with teacher Reyhan when she says that not all teachers dominate these skills and even risk adding that they also have no great interest in learning .

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4.3 The benefits and challenges of teacher collaboration

Prof. Deirdre Butler
What are the benefits of teacher collaboration?
«You have peer-to-peer learning[...] you can collaborate in a safe environment, where you can get critical feedback from others in a trusted environment. You can actually challenge one another – challenge your beliefs, your assumptions.[...]you can encourage risk-taking; it’s in a safe environment, so I can show you my learning tasks, I can get feedback from you. I know that I can then incorporate that feedback, and then I can show you my revised lesson.»
«[...] it means that you can design really deep meaningful, authentic learning environments that move beyond the classroom. And that you yourself then become an effective modeller of collaboration. Because your students see you, not only working in isolation, but actually working with teachers in a department in school, across the school, across nations, across boundaries… So you really become a real, true collaborator.»

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4.3 The benefits and challenges of teacher collaboration

Prof. Deirdre Butler
What are the challenges of teacher collaboration?
«...sometimes it is difficult to find time to collaborate with one another.  Difficult to align your timetables; sometimes schools can’t build in time for teachers to collaborate within the school environment.»
«But perhaps it would be useful if people looked at the technology and tools that are available, that you could collaborate outside of the school environment. So, there are numerous tools and platforms you could use. That’s one thing that you could do; the next thing that you could look at is looking at different opportunities: how could you actually build-in the opportunity maybe across the school day. To maybe link up with a student, or link up with a teacher and say: we will look at this together, and work collaboratively together.»
« The focus is on trying yourself, as a professional, to look at where you can find opportunities to collaborate with one another»

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4.3 The benefits and challenges of teacher collaboration

Prof. Deirdre Butler
What are the challenges of teacher collaboration?

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

My ideas...

I agree with all the benefits and difficulties listed by teacher Butler. Opportunities to work in partnership at my school have been increasing, although many times I feel frustrated because I do not feel the same commitment from some colleagues. However, I think we have been improving. In the case of my subject, ICT, I do not currently work with any colleague but I am involved in several projects carried out at my school, such as the Eco-Schools project, the Christmas party, our 20th anniversary celebration , all of them involving collaborative work.

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4.4 Skills and conditions needed for teacher collaboration
Majella Dempsey
« The skills needed by teachers to effectively collaborate with other teachers
They need knowledge, they need attitudes around wanting to collaborate, they need to have the skills for communication, for working with others, dealing with conflict – they need to have a motivation, so there has to be something there that motivates them to want to work together. »

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

I absolutely agree with the teacher Majella when she says that communication skills, ability to resolve conflicts, motivation and willingness to collaborate are determining factors for achieving the desired success when working in a group. In my school, teamwork is encouraged but not all elements have the skills required for the group to function, namely motivation.

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4.5 How technology can facilitate teacher collaboration
Prof. Deirdre Butler
«... the cloud itself has brought opportunities for us to share documents, share video – share anything we want, using things like OneNote, VoiceThread, Padlet… »
« we have the communications platforms like Skype and Adobe Connect, and we have these opportunities of MOOCs, where people can come together like we never could do before, and share wonderful experiences across learning, designing deep learning environments »
« ...technology can have this interactive environment. So you could have a real-time webinar between everybody in the science department ...»
« In science and maths, for example, I am trying to encourage teachers to use preassessment tasks to look at what misconceptions might be there with their students ahead of teaching a topic. And sometimes our understanding of the misconceptions is not as deep as it could be »

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

I think teachers should use whatever tools they feel comfortable with and that allows collaborative work. Recently, I've been working with a colleague and I used the email. We were downloading the document as often as needed to read the work and give feedback to each other. In the end, the work was done with the contribution of both. Personally, I think Google Drive or Dropbox would have been more practical since we would not have to "waste time" downloading the document to the computer. But it was a good start.

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Module 4: How can teacher collaboration facilitate collaborative learning?

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Module 4: How can teacher collaboration facilitate collaborative learning?

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4.6 Irish teachers’ reflections on teacher collaboration
Sarah-Jayne Carey
«You might start initially with children working in pairs, so that they learn to work in a pair and have shared responsibility before you move to a group situation. They are going to design their learning activities, they are going to look at them and compare and exchange ideas between groups and get feedback from different groups.»

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Module 4: How can teacher collaboration facilitate collaborative learning?

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Module 4: How can teacher collaboration facilitate collaborative learning?

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4.6 Irish teachers’ reflections on teacher collaboration
Sarah-Jayne Carey
Do you agree that it is challenging to find time for teacher collaboration within a school day? What is your experience with this, and what solutions have you tried to overcome this challenge? Do you agree that working with teachers from different disciplines can be very useful, and what are your relevant experiences? What are the conditions needed for this to work, in your opinion?
My ideas...

In fact, working in groups takes time. That is why politicians responsible for educational policy in my region have chosen to create time for teachers to find and develop common projects. That's why I work in partnership with the music teacher, the library teacher, with educators with the goal of carrying out projects involving all stakeholders. Everyone gets to gain from what each one knows best.

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Collaborative classrooms are the learning environments of the future. Schools around the world are saying goodbye to the conventional lecture-based learning space where the students remain inert in their respective seats and the teacher remains at the head of the class. In these new collaborative environments, teachers transition from doing all the talking to purposely creating opportunities for students to learn. At the same time, they are facilitating their learners' thoughts and discussions about what they learn. In this post, we'll discuss collaborative classrooms further and discover resources to help you build your own.

What are Collaborative Classrooms?

Teachers, school administrators, parents, students, and societies can benefit from the collaborative learning model. That's because this model is advantageous in comparison to a traditional classroom in every respect.

Here are some of the most beneficial characteristics of collaborative classrooms:

They allow respect to be given to all participants-students and teachers.

They build community and value all contributions to deepening understanding and knowledge.

They promote the social and emotional development of students in addition to academic development.

They involve the active participation of learners.

They demonstrate listening, paraphrasing, compromise, and open-ended thoughtful questions on behalf of the teacher.

They provide access to a wide range of research tools.

They engage and motivates students to achieve.

They promote having clearly-defined goals to measure progress.

They allow the teacher to readily move throughout the space and engage with different groups.

Collaborative classrooms, from conception to fruition, involve parents and students so that the greater community becomes invested in the project and excited about its outcome. If you are looking at developing your collaborative learning environment and need inspiration, there are a variety of free resources to assist you. Below are 7 trusty resources you can use to get started.

Collaborative Learning Resources

1. Edutopia - Remake Your Class. This site provides instructional videos and blogs that guide you through the process of building a collaborative learning environment.

2. Wridea. This online ideas tool allows students to document and organize ideas that can be shared with friends for better participation and coordination of group projects.

3. WeVideo. From K through 12 to higher education, there are a wide range of uses for this video storytelling tool.

4. Inside the Collaborative Classroom. This resource features a host of videos, articles, and PDFs to explain and demonstrate the core principles of collaborative classrooms.

5. PodBean. It is said that teaching cements knowledge. Turn learners into educators and give students the chance to create educational podcasts by using this audio blogging tool.

6. Padlet. Padlet is a visual board-based brainstorming and creativity tool that lets learners share ideas easily.

7. Buncee. This is a collaborative presentation tool that brings learning to life. Let your learners use it to develop skills in creativity, storytelling, and digital citizenship.

Get started building your collaborative learning environment today by using these innovative tools to make the learning experience fun and engaging for students.

Additional Reading

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7 Helpful Websites That Assist With Building Collaborative Classrooms

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Collaborative classrooms are the learning environments of the future. Schools around the world are saying goodbye to the conventional lecture-based learning space where the students remain inert in their respective seats and the teacher remains at the head of the class.