Collaborative learning

1
Collaborative learning

• Why is everybody talking about collaborative
  learning?
• Examples of collaborative learning
• Tasks/assignments
• Student reactions
• Reflections on collaborative learning
• Teachers role
• Learning strategies

2
Background

• Developmental psychology
• Pedagogical discussion
• General pedagogical discussion
• Specific pedagogical discussion process writing
• IT and communication facilities on the web

3
Developmental psychologists

• Piaget and constructivism
• New information interacts with prior knowledge
  through a process of assimilation and
  accomodation
• A cognitive process within the individual where
  learning occurs most favourably under
  circumstances of personal inquiry and discovery.
  (Later more socially oriented, importance of
  peer-interaction)

4
Lev Vygotskys concepts on learning

• Learning first occurs on the inter-personal
  plane, then on the intra-personal plane. This
  means that higher mental functions as thinking,
  reflecting, reasoning and problem solving occur
  in cooperation and interaction with other people
  within a social and cultural framework.

5
Vygotskys famous words

• the zone of proximal development// is the
  distance between the actual development level as
  determined by independent problem solving and the
  level of potential development as determined
  through problem solving under adult guidance or
  collabaration with more capable peers.

6
The importance of language and dialogue

• Vygotsky focused on the role of language in
  intellectual development. (You have to say what
  you are thinking to know what you think)
• Bakhtin, on the role of dialogue Truth is not
  born nor is it to be found inside the head of an
  individual person, it is born between people
  collectively searching for truth, in the process
  of their dialogic interactions.

7
From teaching to learning

• How you learn affects what you learn
• Away from concealed curriculum of the classroom
• Selfdirected learning, problem solving etc which
  also effects the evaluation and examination forms
• Teaching is a good way of learning - for the one
  who is teaching

8
Process writing

• The writing process
• Response
• A positive attitude
• Asking questions (what, how, when, who, which -
  and sometimes why)
• Be specific

9
IT - from wordprocessing to WebCT - personal
history

• Me and the computer
• E-mail
• WWW
• Video conferencing
• Courseware tools, like WebCT

10
Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, CSCL

• The acquisition by individuals of knowledge,
  skills, or attitudes occurring as the result of
  group process. (Kaye 1992)
• But not just communication, a common goal

11
The procedure of my writing course

• Computer science students
• Computing knowledge, very little technical
  writing
• Internet at home (19 out of 22)
• Working procedure
• Insert Comments, attachments
• Reactions

12
Tasks to support collaboration

• Stimulate both social and task-oriented
  activities.
• Introductory task
• Group presentation
• Specific subject opening the theme of the course

13
Cont. Tasks to support collaboration

• Seminar-style presentations and discussions work
  well in the Virtual classroom (R. Hiltz)
• Selection activity. A group summarizes a topic
  and leads a discussion on it.
• Debates, group project, case study discussions,
  role-play, sharing of solutions to homework
  problems etc.

14
Suggestion for technical courses (R.Hiltz)

• Students responsible for making up one or two
  questions that tests mastery of course content
• Homework students answer at least one question
  suggested by other students making up their own
  questions

• If appropriate students might grade, correct
  and comment on answers to their questions.
• Students gain grades from the quality of their
  questions and responses.
• The final exam includes some items created by the
  students.

15
Course statistics - extremes

• Highest number of accesses by a single student
  686
• Lowest number of accesses by a single student 52
• Highest number of articles sent in by a single
  student 54 (about 5 articles/week)
• Lowest number of articles sent in by a single
  student 10 (the limit!)

16
A good learner and a badone!

• Good learner
• 554 accesses
• 386 articles read
• 32 sent in articles.
• Passed with distinction

• Bad learner
• 54 accesses
• 35 articles read
• 12 sent in articles
• Failed

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What did the good learner do?

• Motivated himself
• Took an active part in the group work, peer
  responsing, and in seminar discussions.
• Used the material provided books, articles
• Enjoyed the courseware tool in spite of problems
  with Privat post.
• Was aware of his learning process as reflected in
  his study journal

18
What skills are needed for tutoring collaborative
learning?

• Apart from the technical part of the course
  management, they are the skills needed by any
  tutor involved in a peer learning situation
  making the group members aware of the fact that
• their own experiences are important and worth
  contributing
• other peers can be as valuable a source of
  knowledge as the course material - or the tutor.
• Success breeds success

19
New implications for the teacher

• Design the whole course in advance
• Getting used to working in public
• Getting used to losing control and keeping
  quiet!
• Collaborating with other teachers, e.g. at other
  campuses

20
Student voices

• More socialising than distancing I got closer
  to the people in this course than the people in
  my own programme.
• My studies in Computer science are based on self
  studies. I have had no one to share my thoughts
  with. I have accepted the situation up till
  now.// I have tasted the benefits of
  co-operation and I learn more that way.

21
References

• Bakhtin, M.M, 1981 The dialogic imagination.
• Hiltz, Roxanne www.njit.edu./CCCC/VC/Papers/Teach
  ing.html
• Kaye, Anthony, 1992 Learning together apart.
  In Collaborative Learning Through Computer
  Conferencing
• Kiesler, Sara, Talking, 1992 Teaching, and
  Learning in Network Groups Lessons from
  Research. In Collaborative Learning Through
  Computer Conferencing
• Warner, Tony,1996 Communication skills for
  information systems.
• Vygotsky, L,1986 Mind in society.