Collaborative Learning
In Successful Futures, Donaldson focuses on the key areas of collaboration and explains this idea."Donaldson's expectations related to collaboration:
Good teaching and learning links to and encourages collaboration:
"The ability to function effectively as a member of a team is one of the key skills regularly cited by employers as essential in the modern workplace and is an important feature of the Reviews proposals.
Co-operative learning is also important in its own right.
Hattie's research is unequivocal in concluding that 'co-operative learning is effective'. He cites a range of research evidence that highlights the positive effects of peer learning on motivation, problem solving and achievement. In this context, feedback from peers is particularly powerful, and good planning and teaching will create structured contexts for that to take place constructively."
Teamwork is considered as being essential to the modern work place, as well as the fact that good planning is key; teachers will need to foster an environment for collaboration to take place.
Collaboration = this refers to the active engagement and interaction among a group of members, with its main focus being an overall common goal.
The definition as a whole shares several core features with previous formulations, for example interactions and common goals. (Dillenbourg et al. 1996; Kirschner et al. 2009)
How in which collaboration enhances children's learning:
- the role language plays
- it is considered as a tool we use to interpret and communicate
- (Lloyd and Beard, 1995)
- learning to communicate is at the heart of education
- (Barnes, 1976, p.73)
Co-operative Learning vs Collaborative Learning
Co-operative learning is a structured approach to learning with the task and structure being determined by the teacher.Whereas, collaborative learning tends to be more focused on a joint activity, typically with the objective of creating a shared understanding along with achieving a final goal- this idea is constantly kept as the main focus.
Collaboration is an "act that involves groups working together to solve a problem or reach an overall goal" (Smith and MacGregor, 1992; MacGregor, 1996).
Collaborative learning is not just about students talking to other students and teachers (Klemperer, 1994), it should be reciprocated and co-ordinated interaction whereby perspectives and ideas are explored and exchanged (Goos, Galbriath and Renshaw, 2002).
The need in society to think and work collaboratively has increased and is considered as being more of a trend in the 21st Century (Austin, 2000; Welch, 1998). The emphasis has shifted from individual efforts, to group work and independence (Leonard and Leonard, 2001), as the learning is "constructed as the act of bringing divergent meanings into contact" (Hicks, 1996).
For example, while studying this course, last year one of our modules focused on the past, presence and future of education. With regards to this topic, it is interesting to think about the layout of the classroom now, compared to the layout of the classroom in the 1900's. Traditional classrooms promote teacher-led classrooms, whereas nowadays, the increasing use of having a collaborative learning approach allows for knowledge development, discussions are more child-led (Blanchford et al., 2006). 
Classrooms in the 1900's as shown were very much teachers dictated; there is no way in which children can have group/ shared conversations when they have only one other pupil sat next to them. Whereas alternatively, in the society we live in today, although the teacher is still considered as being the main source of information and still continues to take overall control within the classroom, a classrooms main role is to ensure that pupil led discussions can take place. By viewing the more updated picture of the layout of a classroom, it is clear that more discussion in the classroom now takes place as there are more than 2 pupils surrounded around one desk and so therefore this encouraged children to chat and socialise throughout their sessions. In addition to this, the collaborative learning trend is echoed in modern theories of education, as it fits with the changing views on learning and knowledge acquisition (Dillenbourg, 2001). However, having said this, this knowledge acquisition is no longer looked upon as an individual affair, but is rather considered as being a process of negotiation and the social and physical interactions with others (Dillenbourg, 2001). For example, throughout Piaget's theories, he emphasised peer interaction and the role in which it played in the development of logical reasoning, while Vygotsky (1978) took this further, by noting that social interaction was at the core of the development process.
Collaboration is a key skill, when regarding communication being changed in the classroom. Barnes and Todd (1977, p.127) argue that "by setting aside the traditional teaching model, learning becomes a social experience, putting pupils into situations where they will be confronted with opposing views requiring negotiating and learning that perhaps others' viewpoints may be just as valid as their own". Teachers have always been seen as the only source of knowledge, however nowadays, technology is having more of an impact in the learning. However, having said this, technology has not ultimately replaced the teacher, it is just being used as a supplement.
Collaborative learning "aids teachers not only with teaching subject matter but also with teaching certain social skills and dispositions that provide the social curriculum" (Schul, 2011).
For over four decades, studies have shown that students can make strong progress in their learning, through achieving a deeper and more of a flexible understanding of concepts within a range of subjects when they learn as part of a small group, as opposed to the level of understanding they get when they work on their own (Johnson and Johnson, 1981; Schwartz, 1995). Research also shows that when it comes to assessing children, those children who partake in groups rather then individually, seem to perform better and have higher attainment levels than those who interact individually (Baron, 2000). In support of this point, Kutnick and Thomas (1990) suggested the idea that pupils who work in pairs perform better then those pupils who work independently. It is interesting that more than one form of research portrays this point, as it seems to be a common idea in the world of education.
Hattie's Research
In 2009, Hattie looked at over 50000 pupils within school and founded the ideas that collaborative learning is more effective then individual learning and it is a prime effect on enhancing interest and problem solving provided. Along with this idea, it also shares the idea that collaborative learning is set up with high levels of peer involvement; pupils are able to collectively make mistakes and errors and then learn from them together. In addition to this, pupils are also encouraged to influence each other and feedback is given by other peers, not just by teachers and practitioners.
The reason for working groups
- motivational
- people learn more when they are involved and enjoying themselves- this makes it more of an engaging activity
- using games etc.- makes it more memorable because of the engagement
- for example, every learns in different way. I personally a, more of a physical and practical learner, so for example, I learn more when the children come into our lectures, rather then me sitting and listening to a lecturer.
- educational
- the belief that people ca learn from each other as well as from teachers and this knowledge is constructed and reconstructed as a form of a social process.
- ideological
- this process of collective enquiry prepares people for a society based on democratic principles
- this essentially helps the development in individuals
How to foster Collaborative Learning in the classroom
- establish group agreements
- deciding on group norms or agreements, through collectively making a poster of rules for example- this gives the students a voice - also, this ensures that the children are involved in the process rather than being dictated to by a teacher.
- students must be aware of the whole 'one at a time' system
- teach listening skills
- good listeners are valued
- listeners make eye contact and offer sympathy - children need to be aware of these changes when someone in deep in thought or listening.
- negotiations
- a good negotiator listens well, shows patience and flexibility, points out shared ideas and areas of group agreement, and thinks well under pressure.
- modelling
- teachers need to model good listening, paraphrasing, artful questioning, etc.- because children imitate
- within a student-centred classroom setting, there is very little direct instruction involved
- the ability to effectively facilitate a group- this is a 21st Century skill which is considered as being crucial for success within school, university and then the world of work
The Power of Speech
Vygotsky explained that "speech is the most important mediating device in human behaviour" (Wertsch, 1991, p.32). People always tend to think aloud when making an effort to make sense of something. This is then transferred to the internalisation of thought and then enhanced by the language development of the child (Urquhart, 2000, p.61).
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