Nico Wiersema

How does Collaborative Learning actually work in a classroom and how do students react to it? A Brief Reflection.
Nico Wiersema, Mexico City, 2000

After studying the works of the Johnson brothers it was time to implement their and others' theories on Collaborative Learning in my own classroom. I've never been a theoretical person: I prefer to do, rather than think about what I'm actually doing. I this short text I would like to expand on my ideas on Collaborative Learning and how it has affected my work as a teacher of advanced English at one of Mexico's most prestigious private colleges. The text will be based on experiences with this advanced English course and on practice, rather than theory.Two main, overlapping points will be addressed here:

1. What is Collaborative Learning?
2. How can it be used productively?

Collaborative Learning (CL from now on) is a philosophy of teaching. It's not a series of techniques to have less work as a teacher and to try to make students' lives miserable. I'm saying this because that's the impression many people still have. They feel that nothing beats the traditional teacher controlled classroom. Of course I'm not eliminating traditional teaching as a whole. I just don't feel that that is a way to increase students' learning fully. They may learn a lot, but they may also forget a Iot very quickly.

CL is a philosophy: working together, building together, learning together, changing together, improving together. It's a philosophy that fits today's globalized world. If different people learn to work together in the classroom, then I believe they will become better citizens of the world. It will be easier for them to interact positively with people who think differently, not only on a local scale, but also world-wide.

In the international business field we can see that multinationals have to work together in order to survive, no matter how powerful they are; educational institutes are working together to make their students ready for the future; the European Union will become a strong competitor for the US. Collaboration is everywhere. China has opened its borders, North and South Korea are on speaking terms. Individualism/ Isolationism won't get you anywhere. Not anymore. Collaboraton is the key to becoming a more complete person. Kristin Gerdy of Brigham Young University once wrote:

"Learning is enhanced when it is more like a team effort than a solo race. Good learning, like good work, is collaborative and social, not competitive and isolated Sharing one's ideas and responding to others' improves thinking and deepens understanding" (Gerdy, 1998)

Collaboration is more than co-operation. I would say that co-operation is a technique to finish a certain product together: the faster, the better; the less work for each, the better. Collaboration refers to the whole process of learning, to students teaching each other, students teaching the teacher (why not?) and of course the teacher teaching the students too. Unfortunately, many teachers are not ready to take that position in the classroom yet: students teaching the teacher. Let me give a practical example of that. If you let your students do research on different topics e.g. different countries where English is an official language (in my advanced English class), then you can also learn a lot as a teacher. Imagine 25 students studying different topics. They will surely find some information that the teacher doesn't know. Of course it would be possible to limit the topic to play it safe, but I don't think that that would be very rewarding for both students and teachers. An activity like this promotes your students' learning. They will feel proud if you can tell them: "Oh, I didn't know that!" If you make this a CL activity, then you congratulate the whole group with a comment like that. You promote student involvement (an essential element to keep them focused), you have them work dynamically and you make them feel good about something they have achieved totally by themselves. These three points help make CL a rewarding experience for teachers and students.

A key element in CL is positive interdependence:

"Students need to believe that they are linked with others in a way that ensures that they all succeed together. Each participant may have a different role, but that role must be crucial to the group process. Example roles could include:

a) a reader who reads and interprets the assignment to the group;

b) an encourager who prods all members to participate in information gathering and discussion; c) a summarizer who restates the group's consensus findings;

d) a checker who makes sure that all members can explain how to solve the assigned problem or generate the appropriate report material;

e) an elaborator who relates the current concepts to what the group knows from previous experience; and

f) a recording observer who keeps track of how the group is performing and how each member is fulfilling the assigned role." (Klemm,1994)

I would simply define positive interdependence as a situation in which students make an effort to teach each other and learn from each other. If they take different roles within the group, they will each be able to focus on a certain aspect during the learning process and thus work more efficiently. In addition to Klemm's point (b) I would say that it should also be a requirement to organize information gathering, or at least keep track of what each member has found. If that is not controlled, then different members could find the same information, which wouldn't be effective. To use the same assignment in which students need to find information about countries where English is an official language (objectives of that assignment are: increasing general knowledge, vocabulary, cultural differences and tolerance): one member could focus on politics, another on economic yet another on culture and so on. Then, if Klemm's points are followed, the group can come to a very complete and positive result, learning throughout the process.

What is then a teacher's role in this context? In the first place, a teacher should be a guide to his/her students. It's important to clearly explain the objectives of CL. It may sometimes be a new system for students (especially in countries like Mexico, where public schools mostly teach traditionally; fortunately, the system has been changing rapidly in private schools) and they may need some time to get used to it; however, something different is always a good way to get the students' attention and interest. The ones that are reluctant at first, will soon be convinced by the dynamic nature of this now form of teaching and they will definitely notice a welcome change in their learning process.

It is also the teacher's task to explain the use of roles within the groups and to emphasize positive interdependence. Some members may again be reluctant at first, but hopefully, through positive interdependence, they will become more open to the philosophy. The other members of the group have an important role here: guide reluctant students and help them become participative and get a more complete and satisfying group result. Another element of CL that comes in here is effective interpersonal communication. (see Johnson and Johnson, 2000). In a few words, I would say that effective interpersonal communication refers to group members staying in contact with each other regularly, making sure that their communication is clear and to the point.

This can be easily achieved at present, using current communication techniques such as on-line messenger services, e-ma andl or on-line forums; we should not forget telephone and face to face interaction, the latter being undoubtedly the ultimate form of communication.

Evaluation of CL (here in an advanced English class) is quite a challenge. How can a teacher evaluate the learning process and not just the product? The teacher can't possibly participate in all chats, discussions and meetings of all his/her students. To give an idea, I will share two techniques that I have found to work very well in the classroom:

1) Group/ peer evaluation
2) In-class peer evaluation

This technique works for both partial exams and final exams:

A few comments on the above technique: in order to promote student involvement, I ask the class on one of the first days of the semester to discuss the evaluation of the process of CL. First, they discuss it in their CL groups and then (a) representative(s) of the team present(s) their ideas to the rest of the class and the teacher; consequently, this evaluation technique is based on their comments. As for the percentage: that's up to the teacher. 10% isn't much, but it might be recommendable for a first partial. If it works well, it would be good to increase that percentage, so that the students feel even more involved.

The individual peer evaluations are top secret to ensure unbiased grading. They can really express how they feel about fellow group members.

This technique can be used for in-class group (video and 'live') presentations:

When there's a group presentation in front of the rest of the class, the teacher can ask three or four students that are not members of the presenting CL group to evaluate the presentation. It is essential to set the standards for such an evaluation, so that the evaluators clearly know how and what. E.g. the teacher could ask them to evaluate the following points on a scale from 1 to 10: fluency, body language, grammar, vocabulary, information, confidence, teamwork. The teacher can hand out a spreadsheet with those (or other) elements and enough space for grades and, very important, justification.

The justification for grades in co-evaluation is very important. It's essential that students are unbiased in their judgements and base their grading on the quality of the presentations, not on the individuals giving the presentation.

Collaborative Learning is a very enriching process, both for teachers and students. It is clear that the teacher's role in a CL group is that of a guide, rather than that of a authoritarian ruler (traditional teaching). It is rewarding in that students learn by themselves, learn more, learn interpersonal/ social skills, feel more involved, feel more dedicated, feel more confident, enjoy the class, teach each other, teach the teacher, become independent learners, and maybe become better citizens of the world.

It's important to constantly reinforce the process of collaborative learning, otherwise students tend to go back to co-operative learning, and only do whatever they can to get a good grade. In due course, the students will become more and more collaborative, but it is important to remind them of the philosophy behind CL on a regular basis.

Appendix:

STUDENTS' COMMENTS ON CL PRACTICE

1) I believe up to this day, this class has been the only one that really makes me feel that I am at the University. I don't find much interest in these same old-fashioned systems of education. I think that collaborative working provides us several opportunities to interact, practice, learn and to understand the need of working in a group. It helps us get along well within the group and also pushes us to do a bigger effort in order to be all at the same quality level.

2) I think Collaborative Learning has been, and will continue to be a good experience, because of mainly two points.

First, it's a good exercise to evaluate and be evaluated by someone with more direct influence and contact than the teacher himself. I'm talking about another student, of course. A team-mate can consider more aspects to evaluate than the ones seen in class, considering teamwork, contributions, involvement, and attending team reunions. Besides, when the co evaluation is turned in as private, the person evaluating can be completely honest and give a better over-all grade to the person s/he's evaluating, because s/he knows the real collaboration that s/he contributed.

And second, it's also important to learn how to work with people you don't know. I imagine that you can't always choose the people you will work with. Sometimes you'll like them, sometimes you won't, so you have to adapt. Not only that, you have to learn to adapt; and I think that right now, before getting a degree, is the best time to learn this.

An example of how it has helped me is that I wasn't able to be at any of the two team reunions that we had. I can say I feel kind of bad about it, and I think is an important lesson, not school-learned or taught, about responsibility.

3) I think that collaborative work is a rewarding experience, because in this world we have to learn to work with others to get what we want. It is also a good way to make friends and to know other people. Maybe we could change teams every month so that we can learn to work with different people. In this kind of activities we also learn to expect other ideas and to organize. I think collaborative work help people to understand others.

4) For me the collaborative work has been very productive, I have learn very much from my team-mates, they teach me a new way to see team work, new ways to work.

5) Collaborative classrooms seem to have four general characteristics. The first two capture changing relationships between teachers and students. The third characterizes teachers' new approaches to instruction. The fourth addresses the composition of a collaborative classroom.

In this course I have learned many experiences working in teams. I thank my teacher for being a collaborative teacher. Collaborative teachers differ in that they invite students to set specific goals within the framework of what is being taught, provide options for activities and assignments that capture different student interests and goals, and encourage students to assess what they learn. Collaborative teachers encourage students' use of their own knowledge, ensure that students share their knowledge and their learning strategies, treat each other respectfully, and focus on high levels of understanding. They help students listen to diverse opinions, support knowledge claims with evidence, engage in critical and creative thinking, and participate in open and meaningful dialogue.

This may first involve attention to the physical environment. For example, teachers move desks so that all students can see each other, thus establishing a setting that promotes true discussion. Teacher may also wish to move their desks from the front of the room to a less prominent space.

All this information gives an example of the idea that I have for collaborative learning.

6) As humans we are always learning, but it is ridiculous to think we learn individually, because we are social beings who each day deal with people, helping, helped, or collaborating with others in order to succeed. So, as we will be always handling problems aside people, we must practice and know how to do it. That is why it is important to work in teams, in order to socialize, discuss and together find the best solutions for the problems; even if two minds don't work better than one; more ideas and points of view will help to develop a bigger and more complex idea than the simple idea of one experience; but to learn collaboratively; to learn and teach to and from others, gaining experience but helping to progress; in order to progress as a whole.

I think that our team has developed a nice relationship, helping and sharing experiences and points of view. We have been learning from ourselves more than what a person could learn by just reading a book; because as we all learn knowledge; we learn behaviour; humanity and compromise.

7) I think this way of learning has been really useful, this is because we help each other to understand topics like the Jerry Maguire movie and the presentations. I that the presentations were very interesting because it is easier for us to understand other students when explaining difficult topics like the middle east, globalization, etc. Another advantage is that we get to know our classmates and establish good relationships to help each other in the future. I hope this kind of activities to continue along the semester .

References:

1) Gerdy, Kristin B. 1998-1999. If Socrates Only Knew: Expanding Law Class Discourse. J Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University. Lawyering Skills Section 9. http://www.law.byu.edu/Lawyering_Skills/Section_9/
[Editor's note: the cited link is no longer valid, but Kristin Gerdy's material can be seen at http://www2.cali.org/conference/1998/postconf/thursday/25c4a/  Dec 04]

2) Klemm, W.R. 1994. Using a Formal Collaborative Learning Paradigm for Veterinary Medical Education. Journal of Veterinary Medical Education Official Publication of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges Volume 21 -Number One Spring 1994

3) Johnson, David W. and Frank P. Johnson. 2000. Joining Together: Group Theory and Group Skills. Needham Heights, MA: Pearson Education. Seventh edition.