Collaborative learning

Case study

Harry gives a collaborative assignment to first-year students during his working lecture. Several groups energetically set to work. A few prefer to do it alone, but Harry advises against it. Two groups get stuck with the assignment. They call Harry while he is still talking to a student. In one group, meanwhile, a loud discussion ensues about a ‘bossy chairman’. In another group, Harry sees that two students are hard at work, but the rest are discussing Utrecht’s nightlife. Harry gets a little nervous: ‘Was collaborative learning not such a good idea after all? How could he have handled this differently?’

What do we mean by collaborative learning?

Collaborative learning is the educational situation where students are jointly responsible for a final product, or another common goal. To achieve this goal, they perform tasks in interaction with each other.

Extra information

Collaborative, or cooperative learning, finds its basis in Wenger’s (1998) theory. Humans are social beings who give meaning to learning in a shared context. Cooperative learning is socially constructed: students thus achieve greater collective outcomes than individually.

Ebbens and Ettekoven (2016) speak of ‘collaborative learning’ at the following five characteristics:

mutual dependence
individual approachability
direct interaction
development of social skills
attention to group process

Mutual dependence and individual accountability are the key concepts of collaborative learning. If these concepts are not clear in a learning task – or not felt by the student – not everyone learns.

Work situation

Collaborative learning often resembles a real work situation. In practice, employees do not take individual tests either, but often work together with colleagues on projects. Social skills are developed here, such as listening to each other, discussing, giving and receiving feedback. As are indicating boundaries and dealing with conflicts.

The group process is closely monitored: there is regular evaluation of the content and reflection on cooperation. This gives students insight into the group process and their own role.

How do you, as a supervisor, apply collaborative learning in your lessons?

DOs

*Give a complex assignment
Everything starts with good preparation. Provide a sufficiently complex group assignment so that students really need each other for the task.

*Set a goal
You do this by making the group dependent on the goal and/or the task. The goal involves a joint final product. Think of a joint presentation or report. The task can be divided into several sub-tasks in which students depend on each other. You can use the jigsaw method for this, for example.

Give a reward
Make the group dependent on a reward by giving a group grade, for example. Research shows that a combination of at least two of the three dependencies is advisable.
Determine the group size
Think about the group size in advance. Depending on the task and time, a group of four students is workable. Do you have a longer project for your students? Then the group can become larger. The consultation time will then be longer, but the task is also more complex.
Determine the group composition: homogeneous/heterogeneous
Group composition is also task- and goal-dependent. Do you want existing groups to work better together? Then choose a homogeneous group. Or do you aim for students to learn more from each other, with some weaker or passive students taking on a different role? If so, choose heterogeneous groups.
Prepare the collaboration
Prepare students to work together. Discuss (or have them discuss) communication, agreements and giving each other feedback. Also have students express expectations to each other. How extensively you let them do this depends on the timeframe of the assignment.
Stay present on call

As a supervisor, you are present on call during the assignment. Employ guidance strategies, such as asking open-ended questions, giving feedback and possibly giving directions on content, cooperation and the atmosphere within the group.

Afterwards

, you will
Discuss the quality of the group assignment and cooperation. By only giving a group grade, you ignore the student’s individual participation. Have students also reflect on their own learning and participation. Also let students peer feedback on each other.

Follow-up case study

Despite the difficult start, Harry was still satisfied with his collaborative assignment. But with the above knowledge, he took a different approach in class. In the tutorial, Harry is going to cover a number of models. He wants the students to process these models using the jigsaw method. He would like heterogeneous groups so that the students get to know each other and each other’s qualities better.

Harry’s approach

Harry creates groups of four in class. He does this by giving students a coloured piece of paper (red, yellow, blue or green). He could also have counted from 1 to 4. This is the expert group.
The groups sit together and are instructed to look into a model and make a presentation on it. There is an hour for this in which they can also take a break themselves.

-Then new groups are formed with at least one red, blue, yellow and green group member. The new groups will educate/teach each other about the model with the presentations made.

After the presentations, the original groups meet. They discuss the models and the group process. Harry provides some questions to start this conversation.

At the end of the lesson, Harry is satisfied. Students have worked hard, collaborated and they have mastered the material in a different way. He resolves to give collaborative assignments more often.