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Recently, I read a book on collaborative learning at the college level.  It was interesting to see how much time the authors spent trying to convince professors of the value of students working in teams.  In fact, an entire chapter was devoted to the debate between the verbiage "cooperative learning" versus "collaborative learning" with the overall conclusion being the words do have different meanings in the deepest sense, but not to the degree of dismissing the practice.  Oh academia!  

Nonetheless, the book, Collaborative Learning Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty is a keeper!  First, the book convinces faculty members that using collaboration techniques in both onsite and online classes add value.  Second, it asks critical reflection questions so that the methods and strategies are employed with fidelity.  Finally, it provides research-proven methods of collaboration to educators, many of which high school teachers have been using for years (ex. Think-Pair-Share).  

Integrating collaborative learning situations in classes with more regularity should be a goal within the early college structure. Looking at rationale and considering various subjects and perspectives, the authors provide a clear path to justify the use of collaboration within the classroom: 
  • Students learn by integrating new information into existing understandings. 
  • Students learn through scaffolded activities.
  • Students learn through imitating others. 
  • Students learn through interacting with others. 
  • Students learn when they seek understanding. 

Creating a learning environment when elements listed above are present is optimum, but keep in mind things like "deep" versus "surface" learning and how social interaction can be both a blessing and curse. The final word of caution from the authors and one that should be repeated is that creating collaborative experiences for the mere sake of checking the block is counter-productive. Using collaboration techniques/protocols should compliment the learning environment, not necessarily dominate it.  The more intentional use of collaboration within the classroom should yield benefits beyond just a division of work; indeed, it should enhance and improve learning through the items listed above. 

Adapted from  Collaborative Learning Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty Claire Howell Major, Elizabeth F. Barkley, and K. Patricia Cross, 2005
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Blog Instructions

Read the above introduction and from your experiences, answer the following question: 

 What are the keys to effective student collaborative learning?
Be subject specific in your response  (through the lens of your particular subject such as math, social studies, language, AVID, science, etc)

Shields-Nicdao-White will all answer individually and respond/comment to one other

Merritt-Matkins-Patrick will all answer individually and respond/comment to one other 

Howard-Webb will both answer individually and respond/comment to each other

Rivera-Rappold  will both answer individually and respond/comment to each other 

McGinnis-Hasapis-Hosking will all answer individually and respond/comment to one other 

Huffman-Thetford-Hickle will all answer individually and respond/comment to one other


Click on the blue "comments" to answer and respond. 

This assignment is due by Dec. 3, response and comments by Dec. 7. If you have any questions, please send me a note via my edumentality email.  I am having technical difficulties on my Gmail account. athetford@edumentality.com 

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44 Comments
Alison Thetford - 7 years ago
What are the keys to effective student collaborative learning?
Be subject specific in your response (through the lens of your particular subject such as math, social studies, language, AVID, science, etc)

Shields-Nicdao-White will all answer individually and respond/comment to one other

Merritt-Matkins-Patrick will all answer individually and respond/comment to one other

Howard-Webb will both answer individually and respond/comment to each other

Rivera-Rappold will both answer individually and respond/comment to each other

McGinnis-Hasapis-Hosking will all answer individually and respond/comment to one other

Huffman-Thetford-Hickle will all answer individually and respond/comment to one other


Click on the blue "comments" to answer and respond.

This assignment is due by Dec. 3, response and comments by Dec. 7. If you have any questions, please send me a note via my edumentality email. I am having technical difficulties on my Gmail account. <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="1e7f6a767b6a78716c7a5e7b7a6b737b706a7f72776a67307d7173">[email protected]</a>
Rod Hosking - 7 years ago
What are the keys to effective student collaborative learning?

Collaborative learning definitely can be of use in the English class; however, I have also seen it dominate a class and dilute any real learning as well. So with that said(actually written or to be more specific typed here), how does one use it effectively in the English classroom? First of all it must have purpose and relevance. Teachers that use collaborative learning merely to say they use collaborative learning often have peripheral purpose rather than real purpose in mind. The lesson and the goals of that lesson SHOULD be more important than the means. If I am teaching students how to open an essay with interesting paragraphs, then I may have students write a few opening paragraphs then put them into groups and then they can apply what we have been learning in class through peer editing, etc.... The purpose in this example is fairly clear. If I have students write a few opening paragraphs together, the purpose is there still but somewhat diluted as accountability and ownership have dramatically decreased. That brings me to another important attribute of effective collaborative learning. Students must have something personally vested in the assignment and group activity - there must be both ownership(in the learning if nothing else) and accountability. Another characteristic of effective collaborative learning groups is that groups must be manageable and time must be a finite construct rather than an indefinite blob that seems to grow more and more as students quickly realize it has no boundaries. Groups that are too large quickly devolve into chaos or apathy. I find that pairs or groups of three have worked best for my purposes. If there is need for a larger group, again there must be student accountability involved. Each student must know that he/she has a responsibility. Time limits are needed though they can be changed when real need is necessary.

These are some of the things I have found to be useful in effective collaborative learning. One last point - and perhaps one of the most important - is one generally OUT of the teacher's hands. If class size continues to balloon as it has over the years everywhere, the ability to use effective collaborative learning gets harder and harder to do. It is a sobering thought as teachers can hear all about the practices and strategies needed to use teaching essentials such as this in the classroom only to have have their hands tied by the very people that want them to use such tools. interesting.
Kelley Hasapis - 7 years ago
Your final point is an excellent one. As long as class size is a reasonable number, collaborate learning can work. However, when numbers "balloon," it becomes too much of a hassle for a teacher to even attempt it.
K.R. McGinnis - 7 years ago
I agree with what Hasapis said and agree wholeheartedly about the ballooning class size being a limiter to effective collaboration.

of course, the people up the chain would say "an effective teacher can use any strategy or practice and be good..." but that's also not based in reality. We can be good, effective teachers because we know what will and won't work. It doesn't mean we don't try, but continuing to do the same thing over and over again with the same results, well, you know how that idiom goes.
kelley Hasapis - 7 years ago
The comment that resonated with me from the reading was that collaborative learning should "compliment the learning environment, not necessaily dominate it." I feel that when used thoughtfully, collobartive learning can be extremely useful. If the activities are designed to enforce the lesson (rather than just waste-time), students of all learning levels benefit.

I have conducted successful collaborate learning assignments and those that were not-so successful. I think the key to getting a good response is planning.
Rod Hosking - 7 years ago
Yes, planning is definitely an essential part of any collaborative work done in the classroom. Purpose, roles, outcomes are all considerations.
K.R. McGinnis - 7 years ago
That is fundamental. I said in my piece that it must be effective and purposeful, otherwise we are just "doing the thing to do the thing."

It does require planning and forethought. Just slapping kids in a group does not a collaborative activity make.
Milagros M Rivera - 7 years ago
Tried twice to write my comments.
Both time was cut off
Kenny Huffman - 7 years ago
In my experience, it is a good idea to establish a communicative culture in the classroom. This allows for students to easily assist each other, whether informally (review for the quiz) or in a more structured task (Capitalism activity). At Cross Creek, a student encounters collaborative/cooperative learning opportunities various times throughout a week of classes.
Alison Thetford - 7 years ago
Mr. H, I'd like to know more on how you assist in the "communicative culture" that is in your classes. Do you have pre-designed talking prompts or is it more opportunistic? Social studies classes are perfect places for collaboration between students. What is your favorite activity/protocol that gets students accountable for their individual contributions to the group effort? How do you streamline feedback for group effort?
Kelley Hasapis - 7 years ago
I agree. Our school does use more collaborative learning because, for the most part, our class sizes are conducive to it. I've seen many positive examples of group work in our school.
Alison Thetford - 7 years ago

I agree. One thing that can hold any teacher back is the space that grouping occurs, not necessarily the number of students in the class.

If the classroom size (which is an impediment at CC) is small, just moving around for the teacher is a chore, much less putting students into groups...

I liked to use collaboration techniques with larger classes because it cut down on individual grading. This is one benefit.
Tammy Rappold - 7 years ago
In the world language classroom, the goal is to develop proficiency in reading and reading comprehension along with aural comprehension and verbal expression. What, then, are the keys to effective student collaborative learning? While reading and reading comprehension are enhanced by using collaborative strategies, for speaking and listening skills to be developed teachers must employ some sort of collaborative strategy.

The key then is to use backwards design principals when deciding on which collaborative strategy should be used to achieve a given goal. Once determined, assigning roles sharpens the focus when student groups meet. Clearly defined goals for the group as well as specific tasks assigned to individuals together are the key to making student collaboration effective in growing student target language proficiency.
Alison Thetford - 7 years ago
Ms. R, How intuitive of you to identify how important collaboration is within the world language classroom. The more deliberate the plan, the more opportunities for maximizing learning. Collaboration, as long as it is a well-thought activity, can be accomplished in pairs, quads, trios, half-class, or even whole class work. How the collaboration is executed needs to be at the forefront of planning. Gone are the days of just putting students together, assigning work, and let them go. Employing particular protocols allow students to understand process so that learning (not learning the protocol) content is the #1 goal.
Alison Thetford - 7 years ago
In my social studies classes, collaboration occurred every day. Whether it was a direct command, "Turn to your partner and discuss __________________. Each person has one minute to talk." OR using a fun activity, "Huh?" or "Collaboration Stations" or even "Think-Pair-Share" are ways for students to actively learn. This offered me observational moments to check on accuracy or even group dynamics. From my reading, more college classes are using collaboration techniques and it is helpful to include meaningful group tasks to assist in understanding of content, but also prepare students to work with others in college.
Webb - 7 years ago
In my Chemistry class and even in the Earth science classes students collaborate while they're studying by working out the problems and discussing what they did to solve it. In chemistry I assign each group a number of problems and give them a few minutes to get the problem down on the whiteboard so that each group then can explain how they solved the problem to the class. this helps others to understand different ways of solving the problems or sometimes just hearing it from the students helps them to better understand the information. If only one or two students tries to explain, then I will ask pointed questions to insure that the others helping in the group to present understand how to solve as well.
Alison Thetford - 7 years ago
Collaboration can be done face-to-face as well as online and the communication piece is so important as you point out. How to make the groupings more deliberate and intentional is worthy of reflection, for sure.
Alexis Howard - 7 years ago
What are the keys to effective student collaborative learning?

I think some of the big take away components for having effective student collaborative learning is making sure as a teacher, you understand the climate of each specific class under you. There will always be classes where strategic grouping is necessary to maximize student outcomes. There are some students who work great together as friends, but there are others that when placed together, will be distracting. Specifically in science, I feel like placing students in groups of 2 or 3 works best for student engagement. Making them much larger than that, students will get lost in the shuffle and rely on their peers to do the work. I am also in favor of groupings of this size for labs. Having too many hands per group handling equipment and chemicals can lead to accidents. The only time I really like grouping the students into larger groups is when they do their board game reviews that I designed. Having larger groups with these activities will help the reviews be more thorough and more engaging.
Alexis Howard - 7 years ago
I love using small groups to do problem work. This gets them thinking on higher levels, because not only are they solving for the problem, but they are also figuring out how to help another peer who might not understand themselves. One thing I also like to do is have them lead the class on specific problems assigned after doing the math on the big portable white boards.

Nice ideas!
Patsy Patrick - 7 years ago
When I visit a class I engage in conversations with students as they are collaborating on a project or task. I ask many of the following questions or observe
What are the goals for the group
Who assigned roles or task for members.
Is this a real world problem?
How big is the group?
I look at demographics of the group (representation of all members of the class).
How did you choose your group or were you assigned?
Do you have rubric?
Was there a pre and post assessment?

Contributing and being heard can students feel important and valued. The learning experience becomes fun (I know some do not like that word in education), and students are more excited and/or engaged. As students work as a team, they also receive more support and gain confidence. Collaborative learning can help shy students who may become isolated or the student who is not shy learn to be part of a team.
EBONY MATKINS - 7 years ago
Collaboration is important and is more effective when students are doing most of the work while the teacher is facilitating instead of leading. Incorporating collaboration requires teachers to take a step back and allow students to "find their way" as a group.
Alison Thetford - 7 years ago
Also, preparing students for collaboration within the college classroom...many professors are now assigning group projects. I can see an entire AVID lesson on this subject because I've heard enough about "grown students" not doing work . . . how can we help our students deal with some of those pitfalls. (Another topic, out of my circle of control is how can we help professors make group projects more equitable and fair for all?)
Alison Thetford - 7 years ago
Students collaborating in class is just one tool for teachers to use to teach content, but also allow some structured social interaction.
Matkins - 7 years ago
Collaboration within AVID occurs often. One example would be the "Exchange of Information" step in the Cornell Notes Process. Students are in collaborative pairs and they are reviewing notes and adding/adjusting information as needed. They are discussing the notes which also allows them to share their individual understanding of the material. They also work together to answer questions through purposeful dialogue (practice/review)..
Alison Thetford - 7 years ago
Great point! Collaborative techniques do not have to be over-the-top. Students comparing notes, adding and editing, is a simple collaborative method.
Jennison Shields - 7 years ago
In math class collaboration can be a great tool to help students understand what they are learning. Students do need, in my opinion, time before beginning collaboration to think about the problem individually. If they begin by talking to group mates they usually choose the strategy offered by the most dominant student, or the one they think is the "smartest". When they must begin a task individually they have more ownership of the problem, and the group can discuss the different strategies each individual has started. This is they real value in group work, but rarely happens if they begin the task in a group.
Alison Thetford - 7 years ago
Excellent point! I think there needs to be individual effort before the collaboration begins because there will be free riders and that is clearly unfair and counter productive. I know sometimes in social studies classes an introduction/brainstorming activity can start collaboratively, but it is not a standard practice.
Leoncia Jane Nicdao - 7 years ago
I agree with you, Ms. Shields. What I observed when they start as a group right away, students tend to depend on the dominant one on the group. They tend not to think on their own, thus forfeiting the benefit of a collaborative work. Some lose their confidence and rather keep their ideas on their own.
Tiffany White - 7 years ago
100% agree. Students need to think about a problem individually first. This works well with Mathematical Task. If I want students to start on a task individually first normally I will let that be the warm up for class that day.
Gina Hickle - 7 years ago
Firstly, I am not a classroom teacher, so I apologize, Mr. Huffman, that you were not paired with another classroom teacher with whom to respond. My experience with collaborative learning is more in a group counseling sense, where students working on similar goals or needing support in similar areas can be grouped to learn and gain insight from one another. The group-forming and selecting process is carefully done so that students can identify with and feel comfortable with the other members. If students are expected to work together and share/reveal vulnerabilities then the atmosphere has to be designed with that in mind so that trust can be established. Also, during the group activities the students are monitored to make sure no one person is dominating the discussion and that everyone has an opportunity to both share and to listen. This is the dynamic that needs to exist in order for change and learning to develop. Again, I am speaking from a therapeutic vs. academic lens since that is my experience, but I think it can apply to both.
Alison Thetford - 7 years ago
I enjoyed reading your comments. Grouping/collaboration are very much in your area of expertise because sometimes the very thing that is supposed to help students can be frightening and counter-productive. Your comment about monitoring the groups was insightful. Keep an ear open for both content and appropriate social interaction.
K.R. McGinnis - 7 years ago
Functionally, I think we all agree that collaboration is a great tool and can be useful in any discipline or setting. As Mr. Hosking noted in his piece, however, there are certain elements beyond our everyday control (such as increasing class sizes).

Collaboration always has a place in a classroom, but can it be effective? I can use collaboration for peer editing of papers, sure, but how do I measure if it was effective? It's not a hard, fast sort of thing. Peer review is more of an experiential task which works on a subconscious level. Likewise, we can use collaboration for things like discussion and truly utilizing the Socratic method because the function is not necessarily about who is and who is not "right."

Of course, we can add those structures and supports to fit the assignment or build to a specific skill or goal, but it all continues to hearken back to the question - are we doing things that have purpose, relevance, and are they effective? If they are not those things then we are simply doing a thing to say we did the thing.

Naturally there is the blowback to say "well, you define your own meaning and relevance behind the thing..." but that isn't always true. Test scores, for better or worse, matter. And we can use collaboration to enhance the learning process, but the students can't rely on anyone other than themselves when it comes time for testing.

As for an anecdote of a successful use of collaboration, one of my favorites is when I do a big collaboration station activity with Grammar. I turn it into a competition and also make it as a closing activity for the grammar unit so it functions as a review. The kids also have fun with it and like it which makes a world of difference to me because, well, it's a grammar unit.
Rod Hosking - 7 years ago
I think the use of collaboration with grammar sounds very intriguing. Yes, students are wholly accountable for their individual performances when it comes to tests and ultimately the challenges that life throws at them. Collaborative learning is definitely a useful tool to sometimes help with these goals. It should never be the only tool.
Alison Thetford - 7 years ago
Right Mr. H- too much of a good thing certainly applies.

The research suggests that colleges and universities are moving to a more collaborative model for students. My biggest concern is are they setting up for failure. We high school teachers know that putting students into groups with little accountability leads to disaster.
Alison Thetford - 7 years ago
Right! Insert collaborative techniques when most beneficial to students. Ms. Shields comments about individual effort first can really strengthen the efforts to maximize learning. The collaboration station using grammar sounds like fun.
Gina - 7 years ago
I concur, Mr. Huffman. If students are not comfortable communicating with each other due to an unfavorable variable in the learning environment, then the learning process is stifled.
Tammy Rappold - 7 years ago
I had the pleasure of observing Mr. Huffman's class during exams. His students knew what to do with a simple prompt and then started to review in pairs. As Ms. Hickle pointed out, learning is stifled in an uncomfortable learning environment. I had a principal who referred to that intangible that everyone feels in a classroom as the "feeling tone."
Leoncia Jane Nicdao - 7 years ago
Collaboration is a great tool for Mathematics teaching and learning. It let students more accountable for their learning. But based on my experience using the Mathematics Design Collaborative (MDC), students get frustrated and stressed when I let them work in a group right away and especially when they know that I could not answer their questions directly. However, I have learned that I need to post on the board guide/reflective questions for their perusal just in case they get lost along the way. I also need to be very observant to their discussions to eliminate misconceptions. I should keep on reminding them to work as a group, to share, and to agree and disagree especially on the process of solving the problem.

In Math, it is important that students learn and analyze the problem individually first before letting them to work in a group. In this way, they will not just be depending on the other members; they will also be able to share in the discussion based on their initial understanding; they will be able to come up different ways/methods to solve a problem; and they will be able to learn from their mistakes.
Tiffany White - 7 years ago
I agree that students get frustrated because they want you to tell them answer without them thinking it through themselves, but we have to continue to incorporate these practicing until it becomes routine for them. This will help them when they are by themselves doing their homework/studying at home. They will not shutdown when they don't understand a problem, they will know the questions to ask themselves or procedures to go through to possibly lead them in the right direction.
Alexis Howard - 7 years ago
What are the keys to effective student collaborative learning?

I think some of the big take away components for having effective student collaborative learning is making sure as a teacher, you understand the climate of each specific class under you. There will always be classes where strategic grouping is necessary to maximize student outcomes. There are some students who work great together as friends, but there are others that when placed together, will be distracting. Specifically in science, I feel like placing students in groups of 2 or 3 works best for student engagement. Making them much larger than that, students will get lost in the shuffle and rely on their peers to do the work. I am also in favor of groupings of this size for labs. Having too many hands per group handling equipment and chemicals can lead to accidents. The only time I really like grouping the students into larger groups is when they do their board game reviews that I designed. Having larger groups with these activities will help the reviews be more thorough and more engaging.
Alexis Howard - 7 years ago
What are the keys to effective student collaborative learning?

I think some of the big take away components for having effective student collaborative learning is making sure as a teacher, you understand the climate of each specific class under you. There will always be classes where strategic grouping is necessary to maximize student outcomes. There are some students who work great together as friends, but there are others that when placed together, will be distracting. Specifically in science, I feel like placing students in groups of 2 or 3 works best for student engagement. Making them much larger than that, students will get lost in the shuffle and rely on their peers to do the work. I am also in favor of groupings of this size for labs. Having too many hands per group handling equipment and chemicals can lead to accidents. The only time I really like grouping the students into larger groups is when they do their board game reviews that I designed. Having larger groups with these activities will help the reviews be more thorough and more engaging.
webb - 7 years ago
I agree with Mrs. Howard in that the teacher has to know her classroom. There are absolutely classes that you can have big groups with where everyone seems to work great together and things are clicking in just the right order and then there are those classes where it doesn't matter who you put together chaos will ensue and all Hades will break loose if you are watching each group like a hawk and now the learning and fun suffers. So one must know their own classrooms and their own style of teaching stay true to that design for it works for them and it makes the classes and lessons more engaging for the students.







Tiffany White - 7 years ago
Effective communication can be effective in so many ways. Assigning students to groups to review their homework, do daily class worksheets, participate in moderated discussions, and complete projects. Students quickly realize that they are able to solve problems as a group that they would not be able to solve as individuals. Last semester my students sat face-to-face in groups of four tables to collaborate. However, I do prefer groups of two for math. Simply because the bigger your groups the more a student will not do their part in the group. The smaller the group I believe their will be more participation and if they are pair homogeneously bought students will get more out of struggling together to problem solve than one person taking over in the group.(I hope that makes sense). This also helps build accountability.

One collaborative activity that my students love that we do to review before test day or to get practice on something we've learned is "Sum it Up" activities. Students are put in to groups of 4 and given a set of 4 cards with a problem. First each student is to work their problem by themselves. Then they take their answers and add them up. The group leader will bring me the number of the answers they added up. If the number is correct they get to go to the next set of cards. If they the number is not correct they have to go back and figure out which cards have the wrong answer and work out correctly to get the correct sum.
They get no help from me. They are able to persevere through solving the problems. It also encourages them to seek ideas and advice from their group members and also allow them to teach one another.
Tamela Rappold - 7 years ago
I like how Ms. White uses gamification in the classroom through her "Sum It Up" activity. It sounds like she has struck a balance between the individual contribution and the product produced by the team as a whole.

I also like her idea of grouping students homogeneously but in pairs. I have found that to be helpful in the world language class for the same reasons. There is no where for a group member to hide yet discussing the task allows them to come up with solutions to solve the language problem. Grouping them homogeneously does narrow down the possibility of one of the pair becoming too dominant.