# data[].attributes.body
Dear colleagues,
teaching English and philosophy at a German grammar school to pupils aged 10 - 18, interaction between pupils has always been on my teaching agenda. Collaborative teaching is vital to support communication, problem-solving skills and critical thinking.

# data[].attributes.headline
Module 1: What is collaborative learning?

# data[].attributes.subject
Module 1: What is collaborative learning?

# data[].attributes.body
The learning objectives for this module are:
Understanding the full meaning of collaborative learning, and that it requires more than simply putting students in groups
Appreciating the key benefits collaborative learning can bring to students and the specific skills it helps develop
Appreciating how collaborative learning can be facilitated by a flexible, interactive classroom, and also through project-based learning
Creating a personal Learning Diary to log learning activities, reflections and resources from the course
Reflecting in your Learning Diary on two learning activities and whether they require a low or high level of collaboration from students

# data[].attributes.body
Collaborative learning  definitely enhances academic achievement, since it is a more holistic approach to learning. When my pupils interact for example with their eTwinning partners to create an ebook together on a topic of their choice, they need to apply their entrepreneurial skills and problem-solving strategies to coordinate their effort. Creating interdependence between pupils is also more motivating for each member. Self-evaluation reveals how realistic pupils manage to assess their performance when considering theirs in confrontation with the others. Formative self-assessment can be very rewarding for the dynamics of group work during the process.

# data[].attributes.body
1.2 Collaborative learning in a flexible classroom
Our classrooms provide some flexibility to reorder the seating arrangement and a few are also equipped with a whiteboard.  Access to computer rooms is limited and then the seating arrangement cannot be altered. Yet collaboration is always possible, basically in every lesson, if we as teachers find the right method of formulating tasks. Effective online tools I have used are canva, tricider, mindmeister and meetingwords.

# data[].attributes.body
1.3 Collaborative learning through Project-based learning
'Circle time' is a form of formative assessment that can help pupils to engage in a meta-reflection about their work in process. It is vital feedback for the teacher, so that he knows how to support pupils, how to scaffold the tasks. Pupils of a class can give group feedback, too, and thus solutions to problems may be found together. Technology can be useful, but it depends on the task and should not be treated as an end in itself. The film also revealed that for kids a tangible self-made product is precious to them and they presented it to their partners in the video meeting.

# data[].attributes.body
1.4 Italian example of collaborative learning
Collaborative learning is very challenging also for teachers, since it is not always easy to monitor all the groups adequately. You will have to focus on 2 - 3 groups per lesson and this may mean that in the meantime the others are not really working efficiently. As Mrs. Laghigna points out, there is a need to implement different forms of assessment with the help of rubrics, short check lists to avoid unwelcome surprises. I also share Georgia's comment that often teachers are constrained to resort to some alternative plan in case technology yet again lets you down.
Assessing collaborative learning is not so difficult when you only consider the final product and which of the pupils is responsible for which contribution, presentation skills, but it is more difficult to assess negotiation skills, interpersonal skills, transversal skills. These may be assessed more adequately by pupils themselves. Let's say by means of a rubric at the start and the end of each project. Pupils may consider in which way they have managed to improve by degree.
Giving discrete guidance to every group via titanpad or edmodo seems quite a tiresome task. The advantage is that then this guidance is documented and pupils must also heed this advice. Peer-assessment in between the working process may prove fruitful advice and motivation, too.

# data[].attributes.headline
1.5. History and Geography example of collaborative teaching

# data[].attributes.subject
1.5. History and Geography example of collaborative teaching

# data[].attributes.body
Mrs. Giansanti points out two major obstacles for teacher collaboration: different teaching methods and digital competence. There seems to be some reluctance to experiment with new ways of teaching. Ideally 'newcomers' could whet their appetite by participating in e. g. an eTwinning project run by more experienced colleagues and gradually acquaint themselves with the principles of collaborative teaching and PBL.
In order to guarantee the quality of pupils' work, there needs to be some regular formative assessment. The integration of pupils in the planning phase of the learning activity is vital to motivate pupils,, as Mrs. Giansanti does with her driving question. The goal should be clearly defined, some product, some solution to a problem. Then they should design their work plan and the teacher can scaffold their work process with them and can control the process also by encouraging peer-assessment.
To make pupils work efficiently individually can be achieved by short, uncomplicated check lists. There may be a need as well to consider the role allocation within one group and to re-address responsibilities. Pupils' individual contribution must be traceable. Every pupil is individually accountable.

# data[].attributes.body
Low collaboration activity:
When the teacher has defined the driving question for the pupils, then pupils are only limited protagonists of their learning process.
Example:
Design a poster that presents the differences between man and animal.
Some negotiation skills are needed to agree on a design, critical thinking is stimulated by everyone, all members need to tackle the Task in a coordinated effort, presentation skills are required, but there is little individual accountability, individual student Engagement may vary.
High collaboration activity:
What will the job of a .... look like in the future?
Present a job of your choice in its development from the past to the present and its potential change in the future by creating an ebook with your eTwinning partners.
Positive interdependence is being fostered, the goal is clearly defined, yet the way pupils create the ebook is fully open, the resources are not given, real-world problems are addressed, a  high degree of student engagement is required, coordination with international partners is asked for. The product is defined solely on the grounds of the format, yet the way it is 'filled' with the use of various other ICT tools is still open. A project diary is obligatory for every international team (meetingwords), so that the teacher can monitor work in progress.
An example:
https://etwinning2017.atavist.com/film-maker

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

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

# data[].attributes.body
The learning objectives
Understanding how to embed collaborative learning into lesson design
Appreciating the four dimensions of collaborative learning concerning group work, shared responsibility, making substantive decisions, and interdependent work
Understanding how the 21st Century Learning Design Collaboration Rubric and Learning Scenarios can help you reflect and design collaborative learning activities
Assessing the two collaborative learning activities you described in Module 1 using the 21 CLD Rubric, and reporting in your Learning Diary.
2.1. Embedding collaborative learning into your lesson design
The video demonstrated the need to consider carefully the use of technology for which purpose? The guiding question should always be: In how far can the use of technology support the development of 21st century skills. Learning activities - if they claim to be innovative - need to be focussed on 21st century learning outcomes. To define these, a meta-language is required to harmonize diverse definitions of skills.
Every individual has to be a critical thinker and a complex communicator, develop and voice his beliefs and values in order to face the world constructively. Important collaborative skills that can help to prepare for life are:
negotiation
conflict resolution
agreement on what must be done
distribution of tasks
listening to the ideas of others
integration of ideas into a coherent whole
These objectives cannot be reached without consistent planning.

# data[].attributes.body
Agreement on the significance of the use of pedagogical terms as regards collaborative learning is vital, because only on the grounds of clear definitions can there be designed learning activities that help to promote 21st century skills.
Teachers can definitely promote the fostering of collaborative skills and inquiry-based learning. If you consider how entrepreneurial teaching tries to stimulate the problem-solving competence of pupils by starting off with a driving question and by making pupils find innovative solutions to the problem that can eventually be turned into practice.

# data[].attributes.body
None of the  4 collaboration questions can be ignored if co-operation is to be transformed into collaboration. The key aspects are definitely: constructive work in pairs or groups, collective ownership/ mutual responsibility, a focus on resolving an issue (content/process/product), interdependencies between group members.
When working in international groups my
pupils are asked to formulate their question of interest that guides their research, to define their objectives, to design their work plan and turn it into practice while also documenting every step. As Prof. D. Butler points out , teachers must be careful to differentiate clearly between the various objectives and help their pupils to stay focussed on one issue only: content or process or product.

# data[].attributes.body
The collaboration rubric is a useful guideline to control the quality of one's collaboration activities. The more complex they are, the more demanding for each individual pupil as regards his responsibility within the group, the more rewarding will be the final learning outcome for pupils.
My experience with rubrics: learning designer is a rubric I used for former MOOC activities (ironically not for real-world lessons, since it seems time-consuming to create one). It is a way to structure your lesson and to control the ratio between different components of a learning process.
An advantage of designing lessons with the help of rubrics is that you really reflect more critically your teaching practice and the visual help (e. g. pie-chart) is a helpful guide to improve things.
In an ideal world the 4 collaboration questions should all be respected with equal seriousness, yet the demand to always meet all criteria is high and maybe teachers easily resign when they at the beginning are not too familiar with planning tasks that fulfil all criteria.
Perhaps the rubric motivates teachers to improve their collaborative teaching skills from code 1 to 5.
Since learning activities cannot be reduced to collaborative activities alone, in an ideal world, there would have to be more rubrics for all the components of teaching. Yet applying ever more rubrics before we actually start teaching could almost prevent us from trying it out in practice at all.

# data[].attributes.body
My experience of assessment for collaborative work has proved that ideally all three types of assessment are integrated into the learning activity. I work with rubrics. For self-assessment I used the same rubric at the start and the end of a project to make pupils reflect on their individual contribution to group work. The diagnostic effect is helpful to pupils to improve their work. Peer-assessment is helpful also to stimulate group dynamics: smaller groups present their work so far to all classmates to get some feedback. In this case they definitely use the same language and often observers give some constructive input. The competitive edge between groups is certainly also there, but it may also be a motivational factor. You can avoid an elbowing mentality by encouraging pupils to give constructive feedback to the other groups and by creating some type of osmosis between groups: each team sends one of its members to the other team for 'job-shadowing'. This could result in a positive learning experience whereby mutual help gives way to competition.
My summative assessment includes the learning outcome, its design, the use of ICT and entrepreneurial skills which are first made transparent.

# data[].attributes.body
Low collaboration: "Design a poster that presents the differences between man and animal." When you apply the rubric you will see that it may come to Code 2 only, since there is no high degree of interdependent work, substantive decisions are missing. Yet the activity is only on a small scale, the learning process will continue and the example given cannot really be applied to the rubric in total. This also means that the collaboration envisaged by the rubric is much more complex, requires a long-term scenario.
Present a job of your choice in its development from the past to the present and its potential change in the future by creating an ebook with your eTwinning partners.
This collaboration amounts to maybe code 4, since pupils became autonomous shapers of their learning process and resolved an important issue, they traced the changes in the labour market with interdependent work in an international team. They mirrored in their activity the real working world. Individual accountability as well as group accountability was provided for.
https://padlet.com/v1b1/d11vj3lr898q

# data[].attributes.headline
Module 3: How to assess collaborative learning

# data[].attributes.subject
Module 3: How to assess collaborative learning

# data[].attributes.body
Learning objectives
Understanding the principles of assessing collaborative learning
Identifying the various challenges teachers face in assessing collaborative learning and the tips, tools and solutions available to them
Understanding the value of using rubrics and checklists for assessing collaborative learning, and how to construct them
Appreciating the importance of involving students in the definition of assessment tools used for collaborative learning
Beginning work on one or more lesson plans integrating collaborative learning and assessment using the Learning Designer

# data[].attributes.body
My experience of assessment for collaborative work has proved that ideally all three types of assessment are integrated into the learning activity. I work with rubrics. For self-assessment I used the same rubric at the start and the end of a project to make pupils reflect on their individual contribution to group work. The diagnostic effect is helpful to pupils to improve their work. Peer-assessment is helpful also to stimulate group dynamics: smaller groups present their work so far to all classmates to get some feedback. In this case they definitely use the same language and often observers give some constructive input. The competitive edge between groups is certainly also there, but it may also be a motivational factor. You can avoid an elbowing mentality by encouraging pupils to give constructive feedback to the other groups and by creating some type of osmosis between groups: each team sends one of its members to the other team for 'job-shadowing'. This could result in a positive learning experience whereby mutual help gives way to competition.
My summative assessment includes the learning outcome, its design, the use of ICT and entrepreneurial skills which are first made transparent.
3.2. A sports teacher's experience
The example shows that the sports teacher orchestrated her assessment in such a way to include peer-assessment, individual assessment and the teacher's group assessment. With small children the metacognitive analysis of one's own performance must be triggered with very simple questions, e. g. the group presentations helped to let children find out the differences to their presentation. They considered their plan, their difficulties and what they would change if they had to do a rerun. These are constructive incentives to make pupils reflect on their performance. They then can cope with criticism since they regard it as a help for improvement
3.3. A Portuguese teacher's experience
I agree with Sean from Ireland when he says that digital tools need to be applied for a specific educational purpose, not for their own sake. To assess group collaboration, particularly if the group consists of an international team, I made my pupils use meetingwords as their 'learning diary' or communication platform, where they coordinate their ideas and plans. This helped me to assess their social competence and their perseverance. If pupils Devise their own assessment sheet, of course it is time-consuming, but it helps them reflect on what is important for collaboration. The first rubric presented by the Portuguese teacher was easy to use, but lacked specific definitions on what e. g.  a 'very good presentation' or 'creativity' really mean. Pupils need some help to learn to distinguish between a poor, average and excellent performance. A rubric spelling out the differences can also sharpen pupils' perception.
Teacher collaboration is vital yet not always easy to implement, since not all teachers like experimenting with new didactic approaches.

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

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

# data[].attributes.body
The way Mrs. Anna Laghigna proceeds is amazing because she applies so many tools throughout the learning process, not only for assessment. There is no contradiction in letting students choose their team and then randomly pick peer reviewers. In fact it is a clever procedure, since it involves all participants and makes everybody show an interest in the work of the other classmates. Usually teams are formed on the grounds of friendship, so the peer review within this group may be biased right from the start. It is more rewarding to involve the whole class for the peer review and it will yield better results in assessment, because pupils can also give new, constructive input to the other teams. My experience with the mentioned tools is less elaborate: Padlet is definitely favoured by pupils since it can be used so easily and the comments of others is easily accessible. Canva.com is also very useful to stimulate entrepreneurial skills in pupils. Meetingwords I have used to let the children write a diary of their project activities. The more tools you make pupils use, the more complicated it gets to control their regular use by all pupils. Often parents do not like it, if pupils use tools outside the twinspace for which they themselves need to register first. In Germany many parents are still very cautious and sceptical as regards the use of tools, they are more eager to guard their children's privacy.

# data[].attributes.body
For long-term project work rubrics in combination with checklists are very helpful tools. I usually combine them. A self-assessment rubric is helpful for formative assessment in between the working process and then at the end of the learning activity to make the pupil reflect on whether he has made some progress. Involving students in the construction of rubrics is more rewarding, since they then also sharpen their metacognitive skills and they accept the criteria as significant. They become more articulate in assessing their classmates work if they themselves have defined the degrees of accomplishment per criterion.
The tips in the video are helpful because they point out which mistake to avoid, to concentrate on learning outcome characteristics. The CO-LAB Assessment Guidelines are useful since they give an example of how to phrase the criteria for pupils.

# data[].attributes.headline
3.6. Questions and answers as regards the assessment of collaborative learning

# data[].attributes.subject
3.6. Questions and answers as regards the assessment of collaborative learning

# data[].attributes.body
Involving students in the reflection of their work prepares them for real world scenarios in their later professional life. The combination of self- and peer assessment is a good method to eradicate bias. Assigning a percentage weight to individual assessment indicates to pupils that their assessment is an important skill of diagnostics that needs to be considered carefully and seriously. The pupil develops more responsibility for his own learning progress.
Is there a need for discrete assessment at all? As a teacher I prefer to outspokenly announce which criteria will be considered for assessment, or in some cases pupils are asked to develop rubrics themselves. The more transparent the teacher makes his assessment criteria and methods, the more they will be accepted by pupils and regarded as a means for improvement.

# data[].attributes.body
Just finished writing my learning designer about man's wish to create babies by design. A philosophical case study.
https://v.gd/r6tXrY

# data[].attributes.body
When you try to adhere to all the advice given in the learning event here, then you certainly realize very soon that orchestrating real collaborative learning scenarios is a challenge not really applicable to everyday school realities. There is always too little time to really put into practice the theoretical ideas proposed and discussed in this mooc. I am afraid that the effect of realizing this is somehow disillusioning. School is not yet ready for this format of learning and we as teachers can try to implement at best a 'toned-down' version of real collaborative learning.

# data[].attributes.body
Appreciating the benefits of teacher collaboration and how best to take advantage of them, as well as the challenges involved, and tips and tools for overcoming them
Understanding the skills needed by teachers for effective collaboration, as well as the conditions needed at the school level for teacher collaboration to flourish
Understanding how technology can facilitate teacher collaboration
Using the Learning Designer to finalise the development of one or more lesson plans integrating collaborative learning and assessment, along with elements of teacher collaboration
Peer-reviewing the collaborative learning lesson plans of two other course participants

4.1. Bulgarian example
Valentina's 'co-teaching rotation' model seems very effective for pupils, particularly so since teachers have divided their tasks in simultaneous and supplemental teaching. At our school team teaching is not a practice, for supplemental teaching we have outside experts, but only for kids with special needs. My experience of collaboration with colleagues is also positive as regards project work, yet hardly ever do we collaborate in class together or prepare something together. Constuctive criticism of colleagues can only be beneficial both, for one's professional growth, but also - and more importantly - for pupils.

4.2. Teacher collaboration - Reyhan's example
Reyhan's experience with the use of tools , her idea to set up a digital professional learning network, are very impressive. I am mostly familiar with eTwinning and learning events for teachers. These often require the use of new tools and some form of team work. For reasons of data protection I would not really use either Facebook or Twitter and would not encourage my pupils to do so. There are other options available for teachers to learn from one another like these moocs. Collaboration with my eTwinning colleagues seems more inspirational than at my school.  On the twinspace we share material, coordinate the next project steps, use the teacher Bulletin. This is very effective indeed. There is still a reluctance on the part of some teachers to use digital technologies for educational purposes. Even teacher training does not prepare young teachers for the integration of digital tools into their teaching practice, including team work among colleagues.

4.3. Peer-to-peer learning
Peer-to-peer learning among colleagues requires an environment of trust and the willingness to reflect one's teaching practice.  It cannot be imposed on teachers by authorities. In Germany we are almost confined to start the procedure of 'job-shadowing' by school authorities, but this is not the right approach to my mind. It will not yield the expected results and prompt teachers to build an effective community of practice. As long as schools do not provide an allocated extra time for collaboration, it will be hard for individual teachers to find stimulating collaborators. Resorting to digital tools may be one option, but still it means that teachers must be prepared to invest this time. Mrs. Butler emphasizes the need for a supportive school culture. Teachers should demand the opportunities to collaborate and have some time reserved for it regularly.

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

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

# data[].attributes.body
Teacher collaboration requires those skills and conditions we also would like to develop in our  students by means of collaboration. If we teachers want to learn from each other's experience, why should there necessarily be the need to foster leadership skills? The example given in the video illustrated that colleagues shared responsibility and were expected to invest their expertise for the common goal, so the technology expert was responsible for the technological aspect of work. Ideally the initially allocated roles would sooner or later become interchangeable because collaboration should create synergy effects between team members. Teachers need entrepreneurial skills for teacher collaboration, they need to step out of the comfort zone of their didactic routine, be eager to challenge their teaching practice and demonstrate a willingness to grow professionally.
At our school we have certain interdisciplinary experts groups which deal with certain topics as regards school development, but little institutionalized space for curriculum planning.
Currently I am involved in creating an eTwinning team at our school and learn how much it is a sensitive issue to raise curiosity in some teachers, ill-equipped with technology and project work, to inspire them to become changemakers.

# data[].attributes.headline
4.5. Technology as facilitator of teacher collaboration

# data[].attributes.subject
4.5. Technology as facilitator of teacher collaboration

# data[].attributes.body
My digital collaboration amounts to the participation in learning events, joining eTwinning groups, doing moocs, running eTwinning projects. We also construct evaluation criteria together, so the focus is more on sharing and analysing. We also exchange interesting material that can help our teaching practice. For me the etwinning platform is quite adequate for exchanges, yet padlet is also helpful. Personally I also like canva.com, but haven't used it yet for teacher collaboration. It is convenient to use this template for entrepreneurial activities, it is like setting up a business plan for an idea.

# data[].attributes.body
Revising the lesson plan and constructing rubrics.

# data[].attributes.body
Assessment criteria need to reflect the learning outcomes, but in every learning activity there are many objectives to be considered - when using the taxonomy. There are cognitive and collaborative criteria as well as affective learning outcomes. It seems complicated to really decide where to put the focus. If you design your assessment rubric focussing on collaboration only, the content is not sufficiently honoured, yet the activity is also said to train critical thinking and activating and applying knowledge acquired so far.

# data[].attributes.headline
4.6. Irish teachers' reflection on collaborative teaching

# data[].attributes.subject
4.6. Irish teachers' reflection on collaborative teaching

# data[].attributes.body
Finding time within the school day for teacher collaboration is a real challenge and practically almost impossible. Resorting to digital tools for collaboration overcomes to some extent the real time constraints due to time tables, but does not necessarily mean that colleagues are eager to spend their time on teacher collaboration, even if the tools allow some flexibility.
We attempt to coordinate the curriculum in such a way that we are aware of potential interfaces between subjects but so far interdisciplinary teaching works mainly in spedific project courses.
In project work I very much welcome collaborating with teachers from different subjects, since they add a new dimension to the topic and often also introduce a methodological approach that is different due to their subject matter.  The conditions needed for an interdisciplinary exchange of one's teaching practice are open-mindedness, flexibility, curiosity and the willingness to question and improve one's teaching practice.

# data[].attributes.body
https://v.gd/r6tXrY
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&rubric_id=2717435&

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Assessment of individual pupil in group work