CLTV: Collaborative learning television

There is evidence that, contrary to popular assumption, television viewing and learning involve a high degree of social interaction. If so, then performance-motivated programing in educational television militates against learning. Collaborative learning television would promote learning by taking advantage of the social nature of watching television and the social nature of learning. Viewers would be organized into semiautonomous learning groups so that learning would occur through the focused conversation of a community of peers.     

Collaborative learning online

The decision to offer a course by online delivery involves a range of issues relating to teaching/learning methodology, instructional design, and delivery software. This article describes the development of a Masters course that uses collaborative learning as the teaching/ learning method. The theoretical basis for collaborative learning is explained and related to instructional design for online delivery. Evaluation data from the first three subjects are included. These are based on questionnaires and content analysis of computer conferences. Evaluation data reveal issues that are important to successful outcomes using this way of teaching.     

Collaborative learning through teletutorials

Audio-graphic teleconferencing has been fully used in the delivery of teletutorials of all the courses offered via distance education at the Universiti Sains Malaysia. The teleconferencing sessions are delivered as part of an educational strategy of collaborative learning to provide quality educational interaction and an effective teaching-learning experience—thus enhancing the distanced communication. The elements of collaborative learning appeals to the adult learners and greatly assist in their intellectual growth and development, which in turn will benefit a developing country such as Malaysia.     

Collaborative learning: More is not necessarily better

Abstract

What are the effects of distance on collaboration and learner interaction as it relates to women learners in feminist courses? Through personal interviews with nine women from a variety of backgrounds and personal circumstances, I discovered that interaction as an educational issue, strategy, and process is not of primary concern to women distance learners. Significantly less interaction occurred among students and tutors than was anticipated, and the majority of students endorsed the relatively solitary nature of distance study as appropriate and useful for them. Because of the importance of the principle of collaboration to feminist pedagogy, distance educators should clarify, broaden, and adapt their understanding of the concept of learner interaction. We should question our assumptions about the nature, prevalence, and utility of learner interactions, resist applying traditional classroom models to distance contexts, and creatively structure and moderate interactions between learners, tutors, and technology.     

Collaborative learning with multi-touch technology: Developing adaptive expertise

Developing fluency and flexibility in mathematics is a key goal of upper primary schooling, however, while fluency can be developed with practice, designing activities that support the development of flexibility is more difficult. Drawing on concepts of adaptive expertise, we developed a task for a multi-touch classroom, NumberNet, that aimed to support both fluency and flexibility. Results from a quasi-experimental study of 86 students (44 using NumberNet, 42 using a paper-based comparison activity) indicated that all students increased in fluency after completing these activities, while students who used NumberNet also increased in flexibility. Video analysis of the NumberNet groups indicate that the opportunity to collaborate, and learn from other groups' expressions, may have supported this increase in flexibility. The final phase of the task suggests future possibilities for engaging students in mathematical discourse to further support the development of mathematical adaptive expertise.     

Collaborative learning in university grammar courses

An innovative collaborative learning model, used for the teaching of modern English grammar classes, combined elements from peer teaching and cooperative learning. This model is innovative for higher education since it involved students and instructor co-laboring to master knowledge as a socially held phenomenon without any authoritarian leveling. It involved: 1) Student lectures explaining assigned readings from the text(s); 2) Daily quizzes of the material from the assigned reading; and 3) Student grading of the daily quizzes and exams with the instructor checking for accuracy. Student attitudinal surveys revealed positive perceptions of students on the whole toward the conduct of the class. An even greater positive aspect of the collaborative learning model used here is the attainment of a high level of mastery of the subject matter and almost perfect classroom attendance.He obtained his Ed.D. at the University of Michigan in 1963. His major areas of interest include the teaching of written composition and TESL.     

Collaborative learning activities in graduate courses

Structured collaborative learning activities undertaken in two graduate level classes are described. Student and instructor perspectives on these activities are explored based on data collected through interviews, open-ended evaluation instruments, and journals. Four perspectives on collaborative learning emerged from the data: (1) student expectations; (2) instructor tolerance for ambiguity and flexibility; (3) student reliance on authority; and, (4) evaluation of student learning. Suggestions for implementing collaborative groups in graduate courses are presented.Julie A. Hughes Caplow is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in Higher Education Administration. Her areas of interest include postsecondary instructional strategies, faculty beliefs about teaching and knowledge, and postsecondary curricula. CarolAnne M. Kardash is an Associate Professor of Educational and Counseling Psychology at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She received her Ph.D. from Arizona State University in Educational Psychology. Her areas of interest include text processing, reading comprehension, and instructional and learning strategies.     

Collaborative research for assessment for learning

This paper reports on a collaborative research study between three secondary teachers and two university researchers, initiated by the teachers, into the practice and impacts of assessment for learning in science, geography and history classes. The research provides insights into how teachers and researchers can collaborate to develop a research and practice agenda. The study illustrates the need for a dynamic interconnection between the personal, micro or school-related level and the macro or policy level factors. The findings highlight the importance of external support, shared teacher knowledge and beliefs, professional experimentation, and shared reflection on student responses to classroom innovations.     

Collaborative writing assessment: Sowing seeds for transformational adult learning

The authors report on an interpretive case study that investigated how three elementary teachers summatively assessed their own students’ written work over a three and one-half month period. Their collaborative assessment sessions reflected their ongoing routines that created productive social spaces that sowed the seeds for transformational adult learning (Mezirow, 2000). The authors describe four conversational routines or structures of the observed sessions: group gossiping or spectating, reading/rereading, deliberating/reframing, and collaboratively creating. We argue that these dialogical structures promoted thoughtful grading practices and encouraged instances of objective reframing of beliefs and assumptions about writing pedagogy and assessment; these collaborative sessions became fertile ground for the teachers’ professional growth. Instances of such reframing suggest the potentially powerful nature of collaborative grading practices. We conclude that a sociocultural and social constructivist theoretical framework for assessment involving social protocols for assessment of written work can be beneficial for teachers’ professional development and confidence in assessment.     

Collaborative teacher learning: Findings from two professional development projects

This article discusses two projects that were aimed at enhancing the opportunities for professional development of the participants through collaboration between classroom teachers and teacher educators. The two projects, the Australian Project for Enhancing Effective Learning (PEEL) and the Canadian Learning Strategies Group (LSG), focused on the teaching and learning practices in secondary school classrooms. We examine those features that we contend have resulted in long-term sustainability and the success of these partnerships. An analysis of our own experiences and other empirical data from both projects illustrate our claims that these small-scale projects have: improved the learning environment in classrooms for students and teachers; created models of professional development for school and teacher educators; and provided valid knowledge about learning and teaching issues in classroom settings. The potential of such projects to achieve these aims depends upon: (a) a mutually held understanding of what types of classroom practices nurture good teaching and learning, (b) a setting where teachers have a strong commitment and control over the project and decide on its direction, and (c) a structure that allows teachers and teacher educators to meet regularly in an atmosphere of trust and mutual understanding.     

Collaborative knowledge and intellectual property: an action learning conundrum

If everyone is contributing, if action learning involves collective learning, then new knowledge is created through a collaborative process. This is not expert knowledge and no ‘one truth’ is produced, this is a collective knowledge arising from a common purpose and a shared quest. Such knowledge continues to evolve without the intention to fix or commodify. Collaborative knowledge can be a source of innovation and sustainability, and as such a key process in the knowledge economy and the learning society. However, whilst knowledge economies require constant innovation to promote economic development and trade, this often takes the form of intellectual property production (IP), with the consequent establishment and policing of IP rights, notions that are antithetical to collaborative knowledge creation.     

Collaborative learning and teaching: Reflections on a facilitated journey

Abstract

This report summarises the first year of an innovative and multilayered teaching and learning collaborative experience within the context of an undergraduate unit in early childhood. The facilitative influence is two‐fold: (a) generic information skills training (GIST) project which is a joint initiative between the Institute of Early Childhood (IEC), the Library and the Centre for Flexible Learning to teach information literacy skills which are contextualised within the unit presentation mode, its requirements and assessment tasks, and (b) redesign of the unit from a former third‐year level to a first‐year level to incorporate the notion of problem‐based, collaborative teaching and learning. Many challenges were faced by those involved in the unit in its first year, mainly class size and heterogeneity of student levels, incorporation of technology into learning and teaching, and flow of information for smooth operations for students, the teaching team and Library staff. Multilevel collaborations were central to this experience, and examples of student‐student, student‐teacher, and teacher‐staff collaborations are provided. The first of the 2‐year cycle of the GIST project has generated substantive data, as has the implementation of the unit in an innovative format. The complexity and challenges presented in the unit seemed to account for student withdrawal of about 25% in the first month; final evaluations are obtained from 292 students. Survey results presented here are both from the withdrawn students, as well as those who completed the unit. Modifications to the delivery of the unit in its second year and ways of strengthening the communities of learners and teachers towards a common goal are briefly reviewed.     

Collaborative learning with scientific approach and multiple intelligence: Its impact toward math learning achievement

Abstract

This study examined the effect of collaborative learning with a scientific approach (SA) on the learning achievement in mathematics viewed from the students’ multiple intelligences. This study compared two types of collaborative learning models, Three Steps Interview (TSI), and Think Pair Share (TPS). The participants of this study were grade 8 students of Secondary Schools in Sukoharjo, Central Java, Indonesia (N?=?262). This study was a quasi-experimental study with a 3?×?3 factorial design. The results of the study can be concluded as follows. (1) TSI with a scientific approach got better math learning achievement than TPS with a scientific approach and classical with a scientific approach. Besides, TPS with a scientific approach got better learning achievement than classical with a scientific approach. (2) Students with logical-mathematical intelligence got better math learning achievement than students with linguistic intelligence and students with interpersonal intelligence, students with linguistic intelligence got better math learning achievement than students with interpersonal intelligence.     

Collaborative project-based learning: an integrative science and technological education project

Background: Blending collaborative learning and project-based learning (PBL) based on Wolff (2003) design categories, students interacted in a learning environment where they developed their technology integration practices as well as their technological and collaborative skills.

Purpose: The study aims to understand how seventh grade students perceive a collaborative web-based science project in light of Wolff’s design categories. The goal of the project is to develop their technological and collaborative skills, to educate them about technology integration practices, and to provide an optimum collaborative, PBL experience.

Sample: Seventh grade students aged 12–14 (n = 15) were selected from a rural K–12 school in Turkey through purposeful sampling.

Design and methods: The current study applied proactive action research since it focused on utilizing a new way to enhance students’ technological and collaborative skills and to demonstrate technology integration into science coursework. Data were collected qualitatively through interviews, observation forms, forum archives, and website evaluation rubrics.

Results: The results found virtual spaces such as online tutorials, forums, and collaborative and communicative tools to be beneficial for collaborative PBL. The study supported Wolff’s design features for a collaborative PBL environment, applying features appropriate for a rural K–12 school setting and creating a digitally-enriched environment. As the forum could not be used as effectively as expected because of school limitations, more flexible spaces independent of time and space were needed.

Conclusions: This study’s interdisciplinary, collaborative PBL was efficient in enhancing students’ advanced technological and collaborative skills, as well as exposing them to practices for integrating technology into science. The study applied design features for a collaborative PBL environment with certain revisions.