The educational community is unanimous: collaborative learning is beneficial to learners of all ages. Collaboration is at the heart of interpersonal relationships early on. Children learn about group life and the rules that underlie it, share their toys and games, and realize that every person is unique. Gradually, these interpersonal relationships become more complex as children grow up and experience a range of situations.
Benefits of collaborative learning
Collaborative learning has many benefits, one of the most important being student motivation. As a matter of fact, most learners prefer subjects where teamwork is allowed and have the impression they perform better in those situations (Slavin, 1995). A second important benefit of collaborative learning involves students’ emotional and relational skills.
This type of approach improves students’ self-esteem, helps them make friends, and makes them more open to differences and prone to strong social cohesion. Finally, a collaborative approach effectively prepares young people for the workplace, as it emphasizes the creative and interactive skills that are required in most jobs.
Cooperation or collaboration
Although the dictionary definitions of cooperation and collaboration are quite similar, some researchers believe that there is a marked difference between the two.
According to Henri and Lundgren-Cayrol (1997), ‘cooperation’ is best defined as work in which team members divide a task. In other words, each person is responsible for a portion of the work that will ultimately be part of the whole.
As for collaboration, it implies a situation in which everyone is free to share their knowledge, confront their perceptions, and develop and validate new conceptions. Communication is therefore essential to collaborative work.
In both cases, team members are working toward a common goal. However, cooperation and collaboration should be thought of as a continuum: cooperation should be favored with young children and collaboration with older students.
Implementing collaborative learning
Despite the consensus on the benefits of collaborative learning, some teachers are unsure how to implement an approach that has the aforementioned benefits without the disadvantages—distractions, wasted time, peer judgment, disengagement, etc.—that are unfortunately all too common.
Effective collaborative work needs to involve awareness of its purpose as well as individual responsibility for achieving that purpose (Slavin, 1995 and 2009; Rohrbeck et al., 2003; Webb, 2008). In other words, learners need to know what the goal is and recognize that each teammate’s participation is essential to reaching that goal.
But how do you get all team members to commit to the task? According to researchers who have studied the issue, this seems to be the hardest part for teachers.
Plante (2012) mentions that students’ attitudes toward school and collaborative spirit can be influenced by the classroom atmosphere. This means that teachers are more likely to engage the entire group of students in collaborative activities if they have established a sense of community through group learning activities and activities in which sharing, mutual aid, solidarity, and respect are emphasized and competition is removed.
In addition, the SPRinG project, which ran from 2000 to 2005 in the United Kingdom, achieved very positive results by supporting teachers in setting up activities that promote social skills, communication, and teamwork. Students who completed the SPRinG program showed greater involvement and commitment to their assignments. The researchers also observed that these students could have higher-level discussions than other students who did not take part in the research project. Therefore, teachers and students need to be trained in collaborative work in order for it to have a positive impact.
In closing, here are a few skills to work on with your students to promote collaborative work in your classroom:
- Communication skills
Taking turns speaking, speaking clearly, making sure you are understood, listening to others and making sure you understand, asking for help; - Interpersonal skills
Managing conflict and differences of opinion, verbalizing problems, seeking solutions, trusting others; - Organizational skills
Coordinating work, defining roles and sharing responsibilities, following through on commitments, reflecting on the inner workings of the group.
And remember: there’s nothing that can’t be taught!
