Collaborative Learning
Collaborative learning is a situation in which learners attempt to learn together. The people involved in collaborative learning capitalize on one another’s skills and resources. Under these circumstances, they share information, monitor each other’s work, and evaluate ideas together. Each participant is accountable to the rest of the learners (Bruffee 636). The learning can be online, chart rooms, or face to face, and may involve group projects, collaborative writing, debates, joint problem solving, and study teams (Bruffee 638). In essence, collaborative learning redefines the traditional learning paradigm in which learning was a teacher-student relationship.
Collaboration can be used in various situations to enhance a student’s ability to learn. One way in which collaborative learning can be used is in group projects. Group projects help learners develop skills that are increasingly important in the professional world. Positive group projects enhance students learning, retention, and success of the entire group and school (Bruffee 640). Working on a project in collaboration fosters the student’s ability to manage time, break complex tasks into smaller parts, challenge assumptions, and develop stronger communication skills. The overall benefits of group projects include; pooling of knowledge and skills, holding all members accountable, developing approaches to problem solving, tackling projects that cannot be tacked by individuals, and finding the
Participating in group activities have never really been my thing, but this project was a great experience. I got the chance to meet individuals with different problem solving solutions than I, and the people I communicate with daily. This project helped me gain communication skills amongst others when trying to make a decision, and the process of coming to an agreement. The knowledge, skills, and abilities I demonstrated throughout the weeks have grown and boosted my confidence when partaking in a group setting. I learned that people are easily offended and it may be hard to steer away from it, but it can be done. Teamwork has always been easy for me because I offer more help than needed to my teammates. The panel discussion taught me that not everyone one wants help, but the opportunity for their opinions to be considered. Each tool I have gained from this experience will make it easier for me to engage with others in the near future in a mannerly way whether it is for a grade or not.
Collaboration: In a community of learners, students work together in teams, partners, or groups. This allows students to gain social skills and increases students’ motivation for the project. Students share ideas and gain a new understanding of the content.
This project was quite expeditious due to the number of alternate subjects studied within the constraints of school. This made it quite difficult to complete because time limits were evident and tested. This could have had a substantial impact on the project itself, however, it did not because of skill and precision. Working individually could be beneficial in certain circumstances if one is smart, advantages might include independence and personal idea. Although, it was not easy coming up with good ideas and multi-tasking in different areas individually. In addition, working in a class group was helpful due to the amount of
People can motivate you to get started or keep you motivated to write. It can be an effective tool when writing because you can get frustrated with yourself or not know where to go with an idea. Not only does it help create ideas, collaborative learning teaches you real world skills. These skills include how to properly communicate with others and teach you how to work with people you don’t necessarily get along with. Most likely your future will involve working with others in some form or another. Ms. Olson agrees, saying, “Yes, every student needs to be able to work well together with others and I think working together in a classroom is the closest experience to the real world job collaboration you will get while in school.” Researchers have looked at the benefits of collaboration and the ways it can help you. In the study the researchers discovered or identified two important benefits of collaborative learning. Xiao Han T. Zeng, the research scientist, shares with us that “Collaboration plays an increasingly important role in promoting research productivity and impact” (Zeng par. 1). These are just two of the identified benefits of collaborative learning.
Communication between group members was essential to complete this project well and in a timely matter. We used the GroupMe phone application to discuss developments to the project and obstacles encountered. When group members could not meet during class, I made sure to get them caught up through the GroupMe app immediately. I feel my leadership and organization was necessary to get certain group members to contribute to the project. Overall, I was satisfied with the group
Collaboration within groups allows individuals to use their own specific ideas and own talents to succeed when they needed it the most. When succeeding in a collaborative environment an individual gains the ability of communication that is growing in the world today. The school system used to be completely individual based with little to no feel of a collaborative environment. However, schools are now beginning to understand the benefits of losing the standard approach to school and is now leading the world to a collaborative environment. While working in a collaborative environment the members of these groups usually gain insight on what they are effective at and what they are no effective at.
Students learn a great deal by explaining their ideas to others and by participating in activities in which they can learn from their peers. They develop skills in organizing and planning activities, working collaboratively with others, giving and receiving feedback and evaluating their own learning. Collaboration is a working practice whereby individuals work together to a common purpose to achieve business benefit. This is important because if teamwork in groups of students sees value in working together as the common goal gives them a meaningful reason to work together. Equal Partaking Collaboration provides every team member with equal opportunities to participate and communicate their ideas. Physical activity improves student’s ability
If you have a very negative environment or intense environment in our classroom kids don't learn as well as they do in a positive environment. Group projects allow students to work together with their peers and talk amongst themselves as one but do it while getting the knowledge and materials they need to learn. This causes the students to be less nervous when working with other and that makes the classroom they are in a more positive setting for them. I can speak from experience and I would rather work on a project with more than one person rather
In Case Study 5.1, Mrs. James not only effectively started her class with sharing her own experiences and building relationship with her students but also emphasized the importance of group work, which is in helping and learning from each other. She illustrated the following strategies and routines that supported cooperative learning: room arrangement, talk and movement procedures and individual accountability by building students’ social, explanation and sharing skills.
A reflective essay on the skills acquired from collaborative learning and how they may be applied in practice.
Students split up and take their own task thinking that each person has a part so the work is divided evenly and the project will get done faster. However when students do this they actually lose sight of major aspects of the project. When students are not collaborative they cannot see the big picture they lose sight of major parts of the project due to their small role. Also, students lose opportunities to improve their work and work with other partners to build team skills. Information systems can be used to make the task easier for student to truly collaborate by the idea of the students communicating more and contributing personal input that can build upon others
2. Cooperative learning directed towards focusing on students’ team work while doing their project assignments.
Collaborative learning stems from the theory of Vygotsky’s conception of Zone of proximal development. The thought is that children learn best with “help and guidance” (Ormrod, 2012). In transitioning this zone to a collaborative learning experience, children work with their peers in broadening their learning experience, allowing small groups of students to work together to share knowledge, exchange ideas, problem solve, and more. These classroom environments help to create durable abilities in students and aid in producing a “smoother integration into adult society when the activities resemble real-world tasks” (Ormrod, 2012). As students work with peers and adults, they adopt some of the learning strategies demonstrated and develop more skills in problem solving. This scaffolding creates a trickle-down effect of knowledge construction. In collaborative learning, students are afforded a myriad of enriching opportunities to explore perspectives that may differ from their own. These activities serve to create a self-awareness in the student of their responsibilities to a group, requiring them to self-monitor their activity (Lee, Tsai, Chai, & Koh, 2014).
“Through collaboration, ideas can be shared, new and better strategies can be developed, problems can be solved, students’ progresses can be better monitored, and their outcomes are evaluated effectively.”¬ (Lee, 1996).
My vision of collaborative learning is a learning strategy that affords the students enormous opportunities and advantages not available through traditional learning processes. I believe that students in a collaborative team tend to attain