COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

- Is an educational approach to teaching and learning that involves

groups of learners working together to solve a problem, complete a task, or
create a product. Collaborative learning is based on the idea that learning is
a naturally social act in which the participants talk among themselves. It is
through the talk that learning occurs.

More About CL
Collaborative learning (CL) is instruction that involves students working in
teams to accomplish a common goal, under conditions that include the
following elements (Johnson, Johnson, and Smith, 1991):

1. Positive interdependence. Team members are obliged to rely on

one another to achieve the goal. If any team members fail to do their
part, everyone suffers consequences.

2. Individual accountability. All students in a group are held

accountable for doing their share of the work and for mastery of all of
the material to be learned.
3. Face-to-face promotive interaction. Although some of the group
work may be parcelled out and done individually, some must be done
interactively, with group members providing one another with
feedback, challenging one another's conclusions and reasoning, and
perhaps most importantly, teaching and encouraging one another.
4. Appropriate use of collaborative skills. Students are encouraged
and helped to develop and practice trust-building, leadership, decision-
making, communication, and conflict management skills.
5. Group processing. Team members set group goals, periodically
assess what they are doing well as a team, and identify changes they
will make to function more effectively in the future.

Collaborative learning is not simply a synonym for students working in

groups. A learning exercise only qualifies as CL to the extent that the listed
elements are present.

Terms and Definitions:

Collaborative Learning:
An instruction method in which learners work in groups toward a
common academic goal.
Critical-thinking Items:
Items that involve analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of the concepts.
Drill-and-Practice Items:
Items that pertain to factual knowledge and comprehension of the
concepts.
Formal learning groups
Teams established to complete a specific task, such as perform a lab
experiment, write a report, carry out a project, or prepare a position
paper. These groups may complete their work in a single session or
over several weeks.
Individual Learning:
An instruction method in which learners work individually at their own
level and rate toward an academic goal.
Informal learning groups
Ad hoc temporary clusterings of learners within a single session.
Study teams
Long-term groups with stable membership whose primary responsibility is to
provide members with support, encouragement, and assistance in
completing a learning session's requirements and assignments.

There are many approaches to collaborative learning:

1. Learning is an active process whereby learners assimilate the

information and relate this new knowledge to a framework of prior
knowledge.
2. Learning requires a challenge that opens the door for the learner to
actively engage his/her peers, and to process and synthesize
information rather than simply memorize and regurgitate it.
3. Learners benefit when exposed to diverse viewpoints from people with
varied backgrounds.
4. Learning flourishes in a social environment where conversation
between learners takes place. During this intellectual gymnastics, the
learner creates a framework and meaning to the discourse.
5. In the collaborative learning environment, the learners are challenged
both socially and emotionally as they listen to different perspectives,
and are required to articulate and defend their ideas. In so doing, the
learners begin to create their own unique conceptual frameworks and
not rely solely on an expert's or a text's framework.

Benefits of Collaborative Learning

1. Develops higher level thinking skills
2. Promotes student-faculty interaction and familiarity
3. Increases student retention
4. Builds self esteem in students
5. Enhances student satisfaction with the learning experience
6. Promotes a positive attitude toward the subject matter
7. Develops oral communication skills
8. Develops social interaction skills
9. Promotes positive race relations
10. Creates an environment of active, involved, exploratory learning
11. Uses a team approach to problem solving while maintaining
individual accountability
12. Encourages diversity understanding
13. Encourages student responsibility for learning
14. Involves students in developing curriculum and class procedures
15. Students explore alternate problem solutions in a safe
environment
16. Stimulates critical thinking and helps students clarify ideas
through discussion and debate
17. Enhances self management skills
18. Develops higher level thinking skills
19. Promotes student-faculty interaction and familiarity
20. Increases student retention
21. Builds self esteem in students
22. Enhances student satisfaction with the learning experience
23. Promotes a positive attitude toward the subject matter
24. Develops oral communication skills
25. Develops social interaction skills
26. Promotes positive race relations
27. Creates an environment of active, involved, exploratory learning
28. Uses a team approach to problem solving while maintaining
individual accountability
29. Encourages diversity understanding
30. Encourages student responsibility for learning
31. Involves students in developing curriculum and class procedures
 32. Students explore alternate problem solutions in a safe
environment
33. Stimulates critical thinking and helps students clarify ideas
through discussion and debate
34. Enhances self management skills
35. Fits in well with the constructivist approach
36. Establish an atmosphere of cooperation and helping school wide
37. Students develop responsibility for each other
38. Builds more positive heterogeneous relationships
39. Encourages alternate student assessment techniques
40. Fosters and develops interpersonal relationships
41. Modeling problem solving techniques by students' peers
42. Students are taught how to criticize ideas, not people
43. Sets high expectations for students and teachers
44. Promotes higher achievement and class attendance.

Intended Learning Objectives (ILOs)

and Optimal Learning Methods
Optimal Learning Method
Learning Objective Individual Competitive Collaborative

Acquiring specific, concrete knowledge in a given field

Developing simple skills e.g. spelling, using simple tools

Developing knowledge that requires substantial practice e.g.

species recognition

Quick assessment of a certain amount of resource material

Applying and sharing knowledge, principles

Understanding complex concepts

Problem-solving

Enhancing creativity, thinking differently

Understanding different perspectives

Valuing diversity

Managing prejudice, bias

Developing positive attitude towards learning

Developing positive self-esteem

Four Collaborative Learning Strategies

THINK-PAIR-SHARE: (1) The instructor poses a question, preferable one demanding analysis,
evaluation, or synthesis, and gives students about a minute to think through an appropriate
response. This "think-time" can be spent writing, also. (2) Students then turn to a partner and
share their responses. (3) During the third step, student responses can be shared within a four-
person learning team, within a larger group, or with an entire class during a follow-up discussion.
The caliber of discussion is enhanced by this technique, and all students have an opportunity to
learn by reflection and by verbalization.

THREE-STEP INTERVIEW: Common as an ice-breaker or a team-building exercise, this

structure can also be used also to share information such as hypotheses or reactions to a film or
article. (1) Students form dyads; one student interviews the other. (2) Students switch roles. (3)
The dyad links with a second dyad. This four-member learning team then discusses the
information or insights gleaned from the initial paired interviews.

SIMPLE JIGSAW: The faculty member divides an assignment or topic into four parts with all
students from each LEARNING TEAM volunteering to become "experts" on one of the parts.
EXPERT TEAMS then work together to master their fourth of the material and also to discover
the best way to help others learn it. All experts then reassemble in their home LEARNING
TEAMS where they teach the other group members.

NUMBERED HEADS TOGETHER: Members of learning teams, usually composed of four

individuals, count off: 1, 2, 3, or 4. The instructor poses a question, usually factual in nature, but
requiring some higher order thinking skills. Students discuss the question, making certain that
every group member knows the agreed upon answer. The instructor calls a specific number and
the team members originally designated that number during the count off respond as group
spokespersons. Because no one knows which number the teacher will call, all team members
have a vested interest in understanding the appropriate response.
Again, students benefit from the verbalization, and the peer coaching helps both the high and the
low achievers. Class time is usually better spent because less time is wasted on inappropriate
responses and because all students become actively involved with the material

Collaborative Learning Structures and

Techniques
 Three-step Interview
 Roundtable
 Focused Listing
 Structured Problem-solving
 Paired Annotations
 Structured Learning Team Group Roles
 Send-A-Problem
 Value Line
 Uncommon Commonalities
 Team Expectations
 Double Entry Journal
 Guided Reciprocal Peer Questioning

Three-step Interview

Three-step interviews can be used as an ice breaker for team members to get to know one
another or can be used to get to know concepts in depth, by assigning roles to students.

 Faculty assigns roles or students can "play" themselves. Faculty may also give interview
questions or information that should be "found."
 A interviews B for the specified number of minutes, listening attentively and asking
probing questions.
 At a signal, students reverse roles and B interviews A for the same number of minutes.
At another signal, each pair turns to another pair, forming a group of four. Each member of the
group introduces his or her partner, highlighting the most interesting points.

Roundtable

Roundtable structures can be used to brainstorm ideas and to generate a large number of
responses to a single question or a group of questions.

 Faculty poses question.

 One piece of paper and pen per group.
 First student writes one response, and says it out loud.
 First student passes paper to the left, second student writes response, etc.
 Continues around group until time elapses.
 Students may say "pass" at any time.
 Group stops when time is called.

The key here is the question or the problem you've asked the students to consider. It has to be
one that has the potential for a number of different "right" answers. Relate the question to the
course unit, but keep it simple so every student can have some input.

Once time is called, determine what you want to have the students do with the lists...they may
want to discuss the multitude of answers or solutions or they may want to share the lists with the
entire class.

Focused Listing

Focused listing can be used as a brainstorming technique or as a technique to generate

descriptions and definitions for concepts. Focused listing asks the students to generate words to
define or describe something. Once students have completed this activity, you can use these lists
to facilitate group and class discussion.

Example: Ask students to list 5-7 words or phrases that describe or define what a motivated
student does. From there, you might ask students to get together in small groups to discuss the
lists, or to select the one that they can all agree on. Combine this technique with a number of the
other techniques and you can have a powerful cooperative learning structure.

Structured Problem-solving

Structured problem-solving can be used in conjunction with several other cooperative learning
structures.

 Have the participants brainstorm or select a problem for them to consider.

 Assign numbers to members of each group (or use playing cards). Have each member of
the group be a different number or suit.
 Discuss task as group.
 Each participant should be prepared to respond. Each member of the group needs to
understand the response well enough to give the response with no help from the other
members of the group.
 Ask an individual from each group to respond. Call on the individual by number (or suit).

One Minute Papers

Ask students to comment on the following questions. Give them one minute and time them. This
activity focuses them on the content and can also provide feedback to you as a teacher.

 What was the most important or useful thing you learned today?
 What two important questions do you still have; what remains unclear?
 What would you like to know more about?
You can use these one minute papers to begin the next day's discussion, to facilitate discussion
within a group, or to provide you with feedback on where the student is in his or her
understanding of the material.

Paired Annotations

Students pair up to review/learn same article, chapter or content area and exchange double-entry
journals (see below) for reading and reflection.

Students discuss key points and look for divergent and convergent thinking and ideas.

Together students prepare a composite annotation that summarizes the article, chapter, or
concept.

Structured Learning Team Group Roles

When putting together groups, you may want to consider assigning (or having students select)
their roles for the group. Students may also rotate group roles depending on the activity.

Potential group roles and their functions include:

 Leader - The leader is responsible for keeping the group on the assigned task at hand.
S/he also makes sure that all members of the group have an opportunity to participate,
learn and have the respect of their team members. The leader may also want to check to
make sure that all of the group members have mastered the learning points of a group
exercise.
 Recorder - The recorder picks and maintains the group files and folders on a daily basis
and keeps records of all group activities including the material contributed by each group
member. The recorder writes out the solutions to problems for the group to use as notes or
to submit to the instructor. The recorder may also prepare presentation materials when the
group makes oral presentations to the class.
 Reporter - The reporter gives oral responses to the class about the group's activities or
conclusions.
 Monitor - The monitor is responsible for making sure that the group's work area is left the
way it was found and acts as a timekeeper for timed activities.

Wildcard (in groups of five) - The wildcard acts as an assistant to the group leader and assumes
the role of any member that may be missing.

Send-A-Problem

Send-A-Problem can be used as a way to get groups to discuss and review material, or potential
solutions to problems related to content information.

1. Each member of a group generates a problem and writes it down on a card. Each member
of the group then asks the question to other members.
2. If the question can be answered and all members of the group agree on the answer, then
that answer is written on the back of the card. If there is no consensus on the answer, the
question is revised so that an answer can be agreed upon.
3. The group puts a Q on the side of the card with the question on it, and an A on the side of
the card with an answer on it.
4. Each group sends its question cards to another group.
5. Each group member takes ones question from the stack of questions and reads one
question at a time to the group. After reading the first question, the group discusses it. If
the group agrees on the answer, they turn the card over to see if they agree with the first
group's answer. If there again is consensus, they proceed to the next question. If they do
not agree with the first group's answer, the second group write their answer on the back of
the card as an alternative answer.
 6. The second group reviews and answers each question in the stack of cards, repeating the
procedure outlined above.
7. The question cards can be sent to a third, fourth, or fifth group, if desired.
8. Stacks of cards are then sent back to the originating group. The sending group can then
discuss and clarify any question

Variation: A variation on the send a problem is to use the process to get groups to discuss a real
problem for which there may be no one set answer.

1. Groups decide on one problem they will consider. It is best if each group considers a
different problem.
2. The same process is used, with the first group brainstorming solutions to a single
problem. The problem is written on a piece of paper and attached to the outside of a
folder. The solutions are listed and enclosed inside the folder.
3. The folder is then passed to the next group. Each group brainstorms for 3-5 minutes on
the problems they receive without reading the previous group's work and then place their
solutions inside the folders.
4. This process may continue to one or more groups. The last group reviews all the solutions
posed by all of the previous groups and develops a prioritized list of possible solutions.
This list is then presented to the group.

Value Line

One way to form heterogeneous groups, is to use a value line.

1. Present an issue or topic to the group and ask each member to determine how they feel
about the issue (could use a 1-10 scale; 1 being strong agreement, 10 being strong
disagreement).
2. Form a rank-ordered line and number the participants from 1 up (from strong agreement
to strong disagreement, for example).

Form your groups of four by pulling one person from each end of the value line and two people
from the middle of the group (for example, if you had 20 people, one group might consist of
persons 1, 10, 11, 20).

Uncommon Commonalities

Uncommon Commonalities can be used to foster a more cohesive group.

 Groups get together and first list individual things about themselves that define them as
people).
 Groups then discussed each item, finding things that 1, 2, 3, or 4 of them have in
common.
 When the group finds an item that all of them have in common, they list that item under
4; when they find something that 3 of them have in common, the list that item under 3,
etc.
Team Expectations

Some of the common fears about working with groups include student fears that each member
will not pull their weight as a part of the group. Students are scared that their grade will be lower
as a result of the group learning vs. learning they do individually. One way to address this issue
is to use a group activity to allow the group to outline acceptable group behavior. Put together a
form and ask groups to first list behaviors (expectations) they expect from each individual, each
pair and as a group as a whole.
Groups then can use this as a way to monitor individual contributions to the group and as a way
to evaluate group participation.

Double Entry Journal

The Double Entry Journal can be used as a way for students to take notes on articles and other
resources they read in preparation for class discussion.

 Students read and reflect on the assigned reading(s).

 Students prepare the double entry journal, listing critical points of the readings (as they
see them) and any responses to the readings, in general, or specific critical points.
 Students bring their journal notes to class

Once in class, students may use their double entry journal to begin discussion, to do a paired
annotation, or for other classroom and group activity.

Guided Reciprocal Peer Questioning

The goal of this activity is to generate discussion among student groups about a specific topic or
content area.

 Faculty conducts a brief (10-15 minutes) lecture on a topic or content area. Faculty may
assign a reading or written assignment as well.
 Instructor then gives the students a set of generic question stems.
 Students work individually to write their own questions based on the material being
covered.
 Students do not have to be able to answer the questions they pose. This activity is
designed to force students to think about ideas relevant to the content area.
 Students should use as many question stems as possible.
 Grouped into learning teams, each student offers a question for discussion, using the
different stems.

Sample question stems:

 What is the main idea of...?

 What if...?
 How does...affect...?
 What is a new example of...?
 Explain why...?
 Explain how...?
 How does this relate to what I've learned before?
 What conclusions can I draw about...?
 What is the difference between... and...?
 How are...and...similar?
 How would I use...to...?
 What are the strengths and weaknesses of...?
 What is the best...and why?
 Hints for Better Learning Groups
Below is a checklist adapted from Bowen and Jackson (1985-86) of things groups can do to
function better. If appropriate for your class, distribute to your students.

I. Before the group begins:

 Expect to learn, to enjoy, and to discover.

 Team up with people you don't know.

II. As the group begins:

 Make a good first impression.

 Build the team.
o Do something that requires self-disclosure.
o Take interpersonal risks to build trust.
o Establish team goals as appropriate.
 Start thinking about group processing.

III. While the group is in existence:

 Work at increasing self-disclosure.

 Work at giving good feedback.
 Get silent members involved.
 Confront problems.
o Apply lessons from class work.
o Work on issues in the group even if they appear at first to be just between two
members.
o Don't assume you can't work with someone just because you don't like or respect
them.
o If the group can't solve a problem, consult the instructor as a group.
 Regularly review your data.
 Vary the leadership style as needed.

IV. Wrapping up the group:

 Summarize and review your learning from group experiences.

o Analyze the data to discover why the group was more effective or less so.
o Provide final feedback to members on their contribution.

Celebrate the group's accomplishments.

The Conditions for Effective Collaborative

Learning
There are three key conditions for effective collaborative learning:
 Group composition
 Task features
 Communication media

1. Group composition
 One factor that determines the efficiency of collaborative learning is the composition of
the group. This factor is defined by several variables: the age and levels of participants,
the size of the group, the difference between group members, etc.

Regarding the number of members, small groups seems to function better than large
groups in which some members tend be 'asleep' or excluded from interesting interactions.
Most of the mechanisms described in the previous section, e.g. mutual regulation, social
grounding, shared cognitive load, ..., can only occur between a few participants. This
does not argue in disfavor of large group sessions. It simply means that distance learning
activities should also include 'closed' sessions, in which a restricted number of subjects
collaborate and/or 'monitored' session in which the teacher takes care that no learner is
left out the interaction.

Regarding the participants, some developmental level is necessary to be able to

collaborate, but this is only an issue for children and does hence not directly concern
current distance education activities which mainly concern adult learners.

The most intensively studied variable is the heterogeneity of the group. It refers to the
objective or the subjective differences (how subjects perceive each other) among group
members. These differences can be general (age, intelligence, development, school
performance, ...) or task specific. Results indicate there exists some 'optimal
heterogeneity', i.e. some difference of viewpoints is required to trigger interactions, but
within the boundaries of mutual interest and intelligibility. Heterogeneity can easily be
understood as a condition to trigger conflicts and require social grounding, two important
mechanisms described above. Heterogeneity is also implicit in the socio-cultural theory
and its related mechanisms (internalization and appropriation) which rely on the
observation of adult-child pairs or at least pairs with one member being more
knowledgeable on the task than the other.

Internet-based information and communication tools have a great potential with respect
to heterogeneity: no infrastructure can better cross geographic, cultural and professional
boundaries. Nevertheless, human beings have a natural trend to assemble with those who
are the most similar to them. When participants join the group on their own decision,
there is no control of heterogeneity. If the tutor observes too much homogeneity among
the group members, he may modify some conditions in order to activate anyway the
mechanisms that normally rely on heterogeneity. He may for instance allocate role to
participants which will inevitably create conflict or provide them with contradictory
information.

2. Task features

The effects of collaboration vary according to the task. Some tasks prevent the activation
of the mechanisms described above, while other tasks are appropriated. For instance,
some tasks are inherently distributed and lead group members to work on their own,
independently from each other. Interaction occurs when assembling partial results, but
not during each individual's reasoning process. Without interaction, none of the described
mechanisms can be activated. Some tasks are so straightforward that they do not leave
any opportunity for disagreement or misunderstanding. Some tasks do not involve any
planning and hence create no need for mutual regulation. Some tasks cannot be shared,
because they rely on processes (e.g. perception) which are not open to introspection or on
skills (e.g. motor skills) that leave no time for interaction.

If distance teachers want to take these features into account, a first attitude would be to
use only collaborative learning for tasks for which it will get its optimal efficiency.
Another solution is to modify the task, as explained in the previous paragraph, to make
them more suited for collaboration. For instance, the 'jigsaw' method consists of
providing group members with partial data. This method artificially turns a monolithic
problem into a task which requires collaboration.
 Task features also include the environment in which the task has to be performed. This is
especially important in computer-based tasks. The software features may modify
interactions among learners. For instance, if a computer-based task provides the learner
immediately with a feed-back on their actions, it may prevent them to discuss the
consequences of their action

3. Communication media

Whatever task and group members have been selected, the collaboration may not work
because the medium used for communication is not adequate. It would be beyond the
scope of this paper to describe each available media. Basically, most of current widely
available Internet-based tools use text-based communication, synchronous or
asynchronous, with mostly fixed graphics and images. Voice and video interaction or
voice and video mail are of course available, but the overload of standard networks and
the limits of currently available hardware have postponed their larger use in current
distance education.

Most of the mechanisms described in the previous section can be conveyed via text-based
communication, but with some perturbations. For instance, the cost of interaction being higher
with text, the group members may reduce the number of disambiguating sub-dialogues used in
social-grounding. At the opposite, in asynchronous text messages, they have more time to build
sentences which are less ambiguous. Without video link, members also loose facial expressions
which are useful to monitor the partner's understanding. Even with video images, they may see
their partner but ignore where the partner looks, something which is important for understanding
what she refers to. Some video system support eye contact with appear to be related to
metacognitive aspects.