Collaborative Learning ActivitiesUN

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Collaborative LearningActivities

What are collaborative learning activities?Students engaged in collaborative learning work together toward a

common academic goal. There is considerable variation in definitions as to thedegree of structure involved, the permanence of the student groupings, andlevels of group, as opposed to individual, accountability. However, the followingcharacteristics are part of most definitions:

Activities include an element of positive interdependence amonggroup members

Collaborative learning preserves individual accountability Activities include face-to-face interaction among students and with the

instructor Activities are designed to enhance students cooperative skills Collaborative learning is best suited to processing or practicing newly

introduced concepts.Beyond these essentials, there is considerable scope for variation in the

design of such activities. Activities may be designed and implemented withgreater or lesser degrees of departure from an instructors usual teaching style,so a courses format need not be radically altered to accommodate collaborativeactivities. Whether in a large lecture course or small seminar, these activities addto the ways students work with new knowledge, thereby increasing the qualityof their learning.

The following activities were chosen with particular criteria in mind: theyshould be easy to implement; they should provide a loose structure for studentpractice with readings, lecture material, or their own writing; they should notrequire group grades; and they should require student preparation, not for agrade, but in order to participate in the class community. In addition, each ofthese activities involves various possible sizes of groups and various amounts ofin-class, group activity. For this reason, the collaborative activities listed here aresuited to classes of varying size and format. The first activity is highlyrecommended for the first day of class to accustom the students to activeparticipation; the other activities can be implemented at any time.

First Day of Class: Groups of 4-5 students develop questions they have about theclass, its structure, content, requirements, and so on. The syllabus is distributed,and groups review their questions in light of the syllabus. The class reconvenesto discuss any existing questions and to review groups preconceptions andthoughts about the course. (adapted from Kadel and Keehner 1994, 111)

Encouraging Reading Outside the Classroom: A reading review sheet of 3-12questions is distributed before a given reading assignment. The day the readingis to be discussed, small groups begin the class by comparing their answers to thereview questions. Groups might be asked to pinpoint a particularly difficult

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question and to reach a consensus on the answer to report to the class.Alongside this activitys primary goal of increasing the number of students completing reading

assignments in a timely fashion, the collaborative group work gives more students confidence toparticipate in class-wide discussion. Students are given intrinsic motivation for coming to classprepared lest they be unprepared for the small group discussion with their peers. This activity can beused for insuring preparation for any in-class activity. (adapted from Kadel and Keehner 1994, 119-20; and Hawkes 1991)

Dialectical Notebook: All students read an article. A pair of students, A and B, share a notebook forresponding to the article. For example, student A chooses and comments upon a series of excerptsthat particularly characterize the articles meaning. Student B then writes a response to Ascommentary; A then responds to both the initial choices and Bs response; and B then completes thesequence by responding to As last entry. These steps could be abridged, but the essential ingredientof this activity is the peer interaction in written form. This writing need not happen during classtime; notebooks could be exchanged in class at each stage. At the end of the sequence, at the time thereading is scheduled for class discussion, all students will have had plenty of opportunity to test andreact to one anothers ideas. (adapted from Kadel and Keehner 1994, 132-3)

Double Entry Journals: The left side of a standard notebook page is used for summarizing a givenreading and listing 6-10 major points. The right side is used for reaction to the reading and answeringpre-distributed questions. These journal entries can then be used in group work to summarizemembers reactions, to draft a burning question that was not resolved by the reading, or tosummarize the groups discussion for the class. The journalling forms the groundwork for classdiscussion and ensures preparation on the part of the students. (adapted from Hughes and Townley1994, 14-17; for further discussion of the collaborative use of journals, see Bolling 1994)

Jigsaw: This activity is particularly suited to situations in which students require practice withcontent that is easily divided into constituent parts. Groups are assigned a specific aspect or elementof the concept under consideration (e.g., different aspects of a work of literature, different steps ormethods for solving a given problem), and each group member is expected to become an expert onthat aspect. The groups are then reshuffled to include one member from each of the previous groupsin one new group, and each expert is responsible for teaching their particular area of expertise to theother group members.

Develop expertise Teach to new group

group 1 group 2 group 3 group 1 group 2 group 3

1 2 3 1 1 1

1 1 2 2 3 3 2 3 2 3 2 3

In this activity, students practice with new concepts and methods by, first, reviewing andpracticing with peers, and, second, by teaching the material to others. This is not the first time thenew group members have heard of the new concept; for them the experts presentation is furtherreview as well. (adapted from Hughes and Townley 1994, 13; Millis and Cottell 1993; and Crowleyand Dunn 1992)

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Pairs and Squares: Each student, individually, spends 5 minutes writing their answer to a givenproblem or question. Pairs of students then compare and discuss their responses. Groups of pairs (4students) then compare findings and try to reach consensus for presentation to the class as a whole.

This activity encourages students to gradually increase the amount of feedback they receive on aparticular problem. Individual accountability is preserved by the initial 5 minutes, followed bypractice in developing consensus. (adapted from Hughes and Townley 1994, 13-14)

2 x 4 Debate: Pairs of students take on one side of a given issue and prepare for a very brief, tightlystructured debate with another pair that has prepared the opposing side. The debate itself might onlyinvolve a one-minute presentation by each side with 30 second rebuttals. The class could thenreconvene to discuss the process and the results. (adapted from Hughes and Townley 1994, 14)

Bookends: Pairs of students work together before a lecture session starts to compile what theyalready know about a topic and what questions they have already developed. After the lecture,students are given time to consider what was added in the lecture and to go over any questions thathave not yet been addressed. (adapted from Holubec 1992, 182)

With the exception of the First Day of Class, each of these activities requires prior, individualpreparation on the part of students. The incentive for this preparation comes not from a grade to begiven by the teacher, but from the interest of the student in being able to contribute to subsequentactivities with their peers. This self-interest has been found to be stronger motivation for higherquality preparation than more traditional methods of testing student preparation (Lowman 1990). Inaddition to this potential benefit from using such collaborative methods in the classroom, theseactivities also give students the opportunity to practice using new knowledge and developingessential skills of oral and written expression.

The following references are all available through University Teaching Services (474-7025).

Bolling, A. 1994, Using Group Journals to Improve Writing and Comprehension, Journal onExcellence in College Teaching 5(1), 47-55.

Crowley, M. and Dunn, K. 1992, Moving Towards a Cooperative Classroom, handout fromworkshop presented at S.T.L.H.E. conference, York University.

Hawkes, P. 1991, Collaborative Learning and American Literature, College Teaching 39(4), 140-144.Holubec, E. 1992, How Do you Get There From Here? Getting Started With Cooperative Learning,

Contemporary Education 63(3), 181-184.Hughes, H. and Townley, A. 1994, Cooperative Learning in Graduate Education: A Study of Its

Effectiveness in Administrator Training in Two California Universities, ERIC document ED375517.

Kadel, S. and Keehner, J. 1994, Collaborative Learning: A Sourcebook for Higher Education vol. 2(National Center on Postsecondary Teaching, Learning and Assessment, Pennsylvania StateUniversity).

Lowman, J. 1990, Promoting Motivation and Learning, College Teaching 38(4), 136-139.Millis, B. and Cottell, P. 1993, Moving Beyond the Basics: Cooperative Learning Strategies for

Advanced Practitioners, handouts from workshop presented at 1993 POD National Conference.

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