Cooperative learning is being increasingly used in colleges and universities. I remembered in my undergraduate studies, I had so many group works especially in the third year, actually in 2009, I only have one final exam, other courses are all group project. So what is group work, or in other term, collaborative learning?
Johnson, Johnson, and Holubec (1994), define collaborative learning as, "The instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other's learning"
And what is the effect of collaborative learning?
Felder and Brent (1996) state that when using cooperative (team-based) learning properly with college students, "This approach enhances motivation to learn, retention of knowledge, depth of understanding, and appreciation of the subject being taught" (p. 43).
It is true for me, take one of my group work in college as an example. The course is Consumer Psychology, and we are required to work as a team to create a program for a company (this company can be existed or not) to reflect what we have learned. Usually our group only has 4-5 people, but that class was a huge class, almost have 150 people in total. So my group ended with 8 people and I was the group leader. At first I am so worried how we can work and what project should we work on. But later when we had our first meeting, I am not that worried. One of our group member is an “idea machine”, she would have an idea every 10 minutes, and at last we have to stop her to be so active! She motivated us a lot! After we decided what project we need to work on, then I assigned each person with the article she(BTW, no boys in our group) has to read come up with a better idea next time! Finally we finished our work only within a week! So our group work is really efficient and effective.
That group work I mentioned above happened when I was a junior, back at I was a freshman, group work is really killing me! Why? There is a essay really speaks of my voice from my heart!
Felder and Brent (1996), commenting on the issue of students disliking group work, state, "It is much harder work, trying to figure out answers in a collective context. Students need to understand that solid research evidence supports the efficacy of this approach to learning. Moreover, good group skills are a requirement for success in more and more professional contexts" (p. 45). These group skills have to be learned, however, and the classroom is a good place to begin this type of training.
So I did learn all the collaborative skill in classroom!
But when I came to USA, I found that another journey began, without the same learning experience and with different cultural background, collaborative learning is not what I experienced before, I still got a long way to go!
1.Felder, M., & Brent, R. (1996). Navigating the bumpy road to student-centered instruction. College Teaching 44(2), 43-47.
2.Johnson, W., Johnson, R. T., & Holubec, E. H. (1994). The nuts and bolts of cooperative learning. Edina, MN: Interaction Book.