Collaborative Learning B.ed notes in English | Benefits of Collaborative learning

What is Collaborative Learning? 

Collaborative learning consists of groups of students and teachers who collaborate in the combined intellectual endeavors. Most of the time, students work in groups of two or more people, trying to understand, find solutions, or create something together.

Collaborative learning is an educational approach to teaching and learning wherein groups of students participate in solving issues, completing tasks or creating products together. Collaborative learning thrives in a social environment where learners can interact.

Collaborative learning process is a new educational approach in which students study in groups to enhance their learning outcomes. They come together to work, to work on projects and to understand new concepts.

The concept of collaborative learning helps students to be actively involved in processing new information by group effort, rather than using memorizing techniques for learning.

Thus, students can protect their positions, redefine new ideas, understand other people's perspectives, and get better understanding of a subject rather than working as individuals.

Meaning of Collaborative Learning 

• Collaborative Leaning means everyone is involved in the learning.
• In collaborative learning students work together in small groups on a structural activity.
• A group of students discussing a lecture or students from different schools working together over the internet on a shared assignment are both examples of Collaboratire learning.
• Collaborative learning is an educational approach to teaching and learning that involves a group of students working together to solve a problem, complete a task, finding solutions to problems, or create a product. 
• Collaborative learning develops higher level of thinking; oral commutation, self management and leadership skills.
• Collaborative learning is an instructional method that emphasis students working together in small groups to complete a task or reach a common goal.
• Collaborative learning is very important in achieving critical thinking. It is an informal method of teaching and learning which allows freedom and creativity.

Collaborative learning b.ed notes 

DEFINITIONS of Collaborative Learning 

According to Findley (1981), Collaborative learning is a situation in which two or more people learn or attempt to learn something together.

According to Gokhale, individuals are able to achieve higher levels of learning and retain more information when they work in a group rather than individually this applies to both the faciliators of knowledge, the instructor; and receivers of knowledge, the students.

Examples of collaborative learning include :

 1.  Working on development of projects

 The team can work together to identify and identify new locations, work on blueprints, find best possible solutions and optimize resource use. The development of the project may require different skills from each member that can be devised by the students based on their tastes and expertise.

 2.  Sharing of ideas and concepts

 Students can work in teams and share their knowledge and ideas with other teams and vice versa. This will help everyone learn new topics and enhance their knowledge. In addition, students are required to specialise in specific areas.

Benefits of collaborative learning: 

• Develops higher level thinking skills
• Promotes student-faculty interaction and familliarity 
• Increases student retention
• Builds self esteem in students
• Enhances student satisfaction with the learning experiences 
• Promotes a positive attitude toward the subject matter 
• Develops oral communication skills
• Develops social interaction skills 
• Promotes positive race relations
• Creates an environment of active, involved, exploratory learning 
• Uses a team approach to problem solving while maintaining individual accountability
• Encourages diversity understanding 
• Encourages student responsibility for learning 
• Students explore alternate problem solutions in a safe environment 
• Stimulates critical thinking and helps students clarify ideas through discussion and debate
• Enhances self management skills
• Fits in well with the constructivist approach
• Establish an atmosphere of cooperation and helping in school.
• Students develop responsibility for each other
• Encourages alternate student assessment techniques
• Fosters and develops interpersonal relationships
• Students are taught how to criticize ideas, not people
• Sets high expectations for students and teachers
• Promotes higher achievement and class attendance
• Students stay on task more and are less disruptive.
• Greater ability of students to view situations from others' perspectives development of empathy
• Creates a stronger social support system
• Creates a more positive attitude toward teachers, principals and other school bersonnel by students
• Addresses learning style differences among students.
• Promotes innovation in teaching and classroom techniques
• Classroom anxiety is significantly reduced
• Test anxiety is significantly reduced
• Classroom resembles real life social and employment situations
• Students practice modeling societal and work related roles
• Skill building and practice can be enhanced and made less tedious through CL activities in and out of class.
• collaborative learning activities promote social and academic relationships well beyond the classroom and individual course
• Collaborative learning processes create environments where students can practice building leadership skills.
• It creates a community environment within the classroom.
• Engage in subject specific discussion with peer.
• Assimilate multiple views to deepen knowledge.
• Foster individual accountability to the team.
• Develop independent learning strategies It helps to retain information longer.
• It encourages the development of autonomous learning skills.
• Enhance self management skills.
• Mitigates learner isolation.

Characteristics of collaborative learning:

1. Active learning: In collaborative learning, students assimilate the information and relate this new knowledge to a framework of prior knowledge.

2. Synthesize information: It is challenging and opens the doors for the learner to actively engage and to synthesize information rather than memorizing.

3. Diverse viewpoints: Learner of varied background come together hence leads to diverse viewpoint of different learners.

4. Learning flourishes: Collaborative learning gives an opportunity for intellectual discussion with which learner creates framework and meaning leading to earning.

5. Social and emotional wellbeing: In collaborative learning learners are challenged socially and emotionally and are needed to articulate and defend their ideas leading to development of new view pints regarding social construct.

Best practices for collaborative learning

Establish group goals: Goal and objectives should be defined at the beginning of a task.

Form middle size group: group of 4-5 members is optimum, if number is high then some might escape participation and if number is low, lacks diversity.

Establish flexible group norms: Interactivity and group learning are important in group learning and for this the group norms should be flexible

Build trust and promote open communication: Successful interpersonal communication should exist in group. Immediate measures should be taken for any interpersonal and emotional issues

Create different roles for larger task: If task is difficult, create different roles for students like, group leader, recorder, reported.

Administer a pre-test and post-test: For learning by all members of group, pretest and post-test should be administered.

Learning process as assessment: Grade students on basis of quality of discussion, engagement and adherence to group norms.

Reduce anxiety: Allow some humor and create relaxing learning atmosphere that allows positive learning environment.

Establish group interactions: Quality of discussion indicates success in a group.

Teacher should start initial discussion, clarify doubts, summarize the project, give challenging questions, provide information , help in maintaining harmony and emotional wellbeing of the learner.

Importance of developing collaborative learning among students 

 Collaborative education enables development of communication and social skills among students

 It enables students to learn and develop good habits and acquire knowledge from their peers

 Students are required to distribute responsibilities, work together and trust one another

 Students become comfortable in sharing their ideas, discussing strategies and expressing themselves in a group

 Moreover, it helps them to form a network of people in different regions

 It helps students to gain confidence and develop key skills for the future.

Role of teacher in collaborative education 

 Grouping, and helping students in good environment and activities

 Give opportunities and functions to promote collaborative learning

 Make the structure of the groups in such a way that they include diversity

 Provide the resource and study material to the students

 Evaluate the students in groups

Benefits of collaborative education 

 1.  Promotes peer learning

 Students learn from their fellow learners. They communicate new ideas and concepts to each other better than the teacher.

 2.  Enables critical thinking

 Students discuss ideas in groups and react one another. Understanding and evaluating others' opinions improves critical thinking among students.

 3.  Enables problem solution

 If the same problem is to be solved by some in collaboration, each one of them will need to solve a part to get the job done, improving the problem solving capacity.

 4.  Improves communication skills

 Working together improves communication skills because students discuss ideas and ideas, argue and speak their mind.

 5.  Improves cultural awareness

 Students from different cultures are studying in the school. They may have different ideas, beliefs, and ways of doing things. This will increase awareness of the students.

Examples of collaborative learning 

 1.  Working on projects

 Projects involve people working together in groups carrying out various activities, discussing ideas, formulating opinions, correcting opinions and other aspects of communication. It also improves student listening skills because they understand and respond to other people 's perspectives on the same subject.

 2.  Organizing drama

 Understanding the depth of the various responsibilities for performing plays, playing the characters, understanding the different parts and roles and making the play successful helps students to work in teams, share responsibilities and make the necessary decisions. It makes them responsible adults for future.

 3.  Games and contests

 Sports and competitions organised by different groups or individuals have increased team spirit and competitiveness among the students. In addition, team building and playing together can give them confidence in other students, build compatibility, and ensure good group ethics in teams.

 4.  Group discussions

 Group discussion on any topic helps students to improve their communication skills. It enables them to express their thoughts and put those thoughts in proper words and make them understandable for others. Also, it helps them to be a better listener.