By acting as a team, students can expand their potential for
knowledge. Students can learn to come up with and solve new
problems developing the capability to solve problems. Instead of
memorizing information, learning rules, and regurgitating the
material and rules on demand, students learn to develop abilities
through collaborative learning situations. Students learn problem
solving skills that can be used in the job market.
Slide 4
Students learn to problem solve. Students learn to expand their
thoughts beyond the information in the textbook. Students learn to
use guidance for developing group processes and assess their
progress. Students learn to work together for a common goal.
Slide 5
Shift course situations and reward structures to encourage
students to view group work and participate with peers. Assign
tasks that are suitable for collaboration. Make the collaborative
activity values large enough that students cannot safely ignore
them. Schedule the first group activities in ways that build trust
among group members so they can get to work on the task and get to
know one another. Trust is especially important to virtual groups.
Have student groups post results of their collaboration to other
student groups. Most of all guide the process as the instructor to
ensure students are involved. If needed, offer encouragement to the
inactive group members.
Slide 6
Directions: Click on the Collaboration Activity link above to
access the Group Pages. Working together online, complete the
following tasks: 1. Determine a name, and slogan for your weather
team. 2. Assign members to the following roles. Researcher -
searches for theoretical and functional weather information.
Observer - observes conditions and records weather data. Forecaster
- analyzes weather data and makes predictions. Weathercaster -
communicates weather information to the public audience. You must
assign at least one team member to each role. While the members
will not necessarily be performing the specific tasks of a
particular role, they should fit the personality and traits for
that role. 3. Select one team member to post a promotional for your
team in the Main Discussion Board "Meet the Teams" discussion. The
goal is to sell the rest of the class on your team's strengths and
abilities. **Please note that there is no link to the main
Discussion Board provided within this activity. You may access the
Discussion Board through the menu item on the left. Review: You
will definitely want to "size up the competition" by reading the
posts from the other teams