Instructional Strategies to Build Collaboration in Online Courses Deanna E. Mayers Director of Curriculum

Collaboration develops understanding Collaboration is work force skill for today’s global world Why Collaboration?

According to Vygotsky, students are capable of performing at higher intellectual levels when asked to work in collaborative situations than when asked to work individually. Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Builds understanding

Why Collaboration? The term "collaborative learning" refers to an instruction method in which students at various performance levels work together in small groups toward a common goal. Anuradha A. Gokhale JTE Volume 7, Number 1 - Collaborative Learning Enhances Critical Thinking Builds understanding

Why Collaboration? “…by interacting with others, children learn not only what to think but how to think” Productive Work Groups Frey, Fisher, Everlove Builds understanding

Why Collaboration? “…if the purpose of instruction is to enhance critical- thinking and problem- solving skills, then collaborative learning is more beneficial.” Anuradha A. Gokhale JTE Volume 7, Number 1 - Collaborative Learning Enhances Critical Thinking Builds understanding

Why Collaboration? If you “Google” the terms “online collaboration”… …you will likely at least 30 million hits with more than the first thousand hits focused on tools for business professionals to collaborate online. work force skill

Why Collaboration? “The shared learning gives students an opportunity to engage in discussion, take responsibility for their own learning, and thus become critical thinkers” work force skill Totten, S., Sills, T., Digby, A., & Russ, P. (1991). Cooperative learning: A guide to research. New York: Garland

Why Collaboration? work force skill Businesses are using online collaboration to do everything from: –develop concept maps –plan projects –create drawings –chat –Discuss –sharing documents and videos.

Collaboration Strategies 1.Quick Writes 2.JigSaw activities 3.Responding to others 4.Read and Respond 5.Collaborative Vocabulary 6.Group Projects

Responsibility Learning Model Moving to the student assuming more responsibility for the task

Responsibility Learning Model

Teacher Centered Learning Productive Work Group Fisher and Frey p. 7, 2008 More Student Centered Learning

Suggestions Ask students to predict what would happen if an aspect of a familiar system, such as the government or transportation, were changed. Ask students to build something using limited resources. This task generates questions and hypotheses about what may or may not work. Environmental or Invention GRASPS Project G – Goal R – Role A – Audience S – Situation P – Performance or Product S – Standard (Rubric)

Questions About Things and People Things and People: 1. What action does this thing or person usually perform? 2. What action is usually performed on this thing? 3. How is this thing usually used? 4. What is this thing part of? 5. What is the process for making this thing? 6. When this thing is used, does it present a particular danger or other things or to people? What is it? 7. What particular color, number, location, or dimensionality does this thing have? 8. How is this thing usually sold? 9. What particular emotional state does this person have? Example – After reading a quote from Georg Percy, what are your impressions of this “New Land” as an Englishman? Why do you believe, with this information, would anyone want to leave England for a land with this description?

Questions About Events Events: 1. What people are usually involved in this event? 2. During what season or time of year does this event usually take place? 3. On what day of the week does this event usually take place? 4. At what time of day does this event usually take place? 5. At what point in history did this event take place? 6. What equipment is typically used in this event? 7. How long does this event usually take? Example: What factors contributed to America being able to win the Revolutionary War?

Questions About States State 1. What is the basic process involved in reaching this state? 2. What changes occur when something reaches this state? Example: Scientific evidence indicates that carbon dioxide added to the air by the burning of wood and fossil fuels is contributing to "global warming," a rise in global temperature. Tropical rain forests are estimated to be responsible for more than 20% of global photosynthesis, yet their consumption of large amounts of carbon dioxide is thought to make little or no net contribution to reduction of global warming. Why might this be? (Hint: what happens to the food produced by rain for street when it is eaten by animals or the tree dies?)

Questions About Actions 1. What thing or person usually performs this action? 2. What effect does this action have on the taste, feel, sound, or look of this thing? 3. How does this action typically change the emotional state of a person? 4. How is the value of this thing changed by this action? 5. How does this action change the size or shape of a thing? 6. How does this action change the state of a thing? Example: Why did these social reform movements occur, who were their leaders, what was their impact on American society? Religion Temperance (no alcohol) Women's rights Equality

Questions based on ideas in Productive Group Work by Frey, Fisher, and Everlove. Explaining Ideas 1. The main idea is ______________ 2. The reason I know this is from ______________ 3. This is like _____________ and different from ________________ Responding to Others

Questions based on ideas in Productive Group Work by Frey, Fisher, and Everlove. Check for Understanding 1. Does that make sense to you? 2. Is there a part that is confusing? 3. Can you repeat it in your own words? 4. I understood _______________, but I didn’t understand ____________. 5. Can you show the me where you found the information 6. Can you explain the information from the lesson to another person? Responding to Others

Questions based on ideas in Productive Group Work by Frey, Fisher, and Everlove. Reflecting on another persons words: 1. ______________ said _________and it reminded me of ___________ 2. Our ideas are similar because ____________ 3. Our ideas are different because ______________ 4. We could use ___________ and _____________ to explain ___________ 5. Here’s a new idea that uses _____’s thoughts and ___________’s thoughts. Responding to Others

WHAT IS KEY TO A STRONG COLLABORATIVE EXPERIENCE? Build Positive Interdependence

Steps to Building Positive Interdependence 1.Goal – each member must contribute to reach the goal 2.Resource – each member has a unique piece of information 3.Reward – should be both independent and overall 4.Roles – each member should have a job that is necessary to complete the task Productive Group Work Frey, Fisher, Everlove, p. 15

Quick Talks (Quick Write) Voice Board 1.Create a short 1-2 minute Voice Board Post 2.Prompts can be general or more specific to the lesson 3.Can do this before, during or at the end of a lesson Question starters: 1.What’s the best thing you learned today? 2.What was confusing to you in the lesson? 3.What do you already know about this topic? 4.How did you help yourself to learn today? 5.What do you think the next lesson will be about? 6.What would a person who skips this lesson in the course need to know about?

1.Vocabulary Squares Journal 1.Term Discussions 2.PhotoStory presentation on a wiki or blog Collaborative Vocabulary Building Academic Vocabulary, Marzano and Pickering

Read and Respond Activity (Cube It) Journal 6 questions – 1.describe it 2.analyze it 3.apply it 4.take a stand 5.reinvent it 6.choose a different perspective Wiki 1.Create a section for each student to answer the questions 2.Create a section for them to work together on a summary

Collaboratively Constructed Products Collaborative Project Information Poster or a PowerPoint presentation Ask each student to contribute in a different color ink and sign in that color Give each member a responsibility to specific content, must create 2-3 multiple choice question for their section, all must “take” the quiz. A Jig-Saw approach P hase 1: Meet in home groups 1.Go over overall goals Phase 2: Meet in expert groups –Focus on one specific aspect of the content –Ensure mastery before they leave the group Phase 3: Return to home groups to teach each other

Wiki Create a section for each student to answer the questions Create a section for them to work together on a summary

Teacher Collaboration Moving your professional learning communities to the online collaborative world Use online asynchronous and synchronous collaboration technology to stay informed Build strong learning opportunities with students.

A Challenge for YOU Share your “best practices” with others Searching our database for ideas and learning objects for your courses. BSNCloud Open Educational Resource (OER) Use Rate Contribute

Collaborate to Clarify: Join the Discussion here: Deanna E. Mayers Director of Curriculum

References Classroom Instruction That Works by R. J. Marzano, D. J. Pickering, and J. E. Pollock, 2001, Alexandria, VA: ASCD. “Collaborative Learning Enhances Critical Thinking” by Anuradha A. Gokhale JTE Volume 7, Number 1. Cooperative learning: A guide to research. Totten, S., Sills, T., Digby, A., & Russ, P. (1991). New York: Garland Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. By Vygotsky, L. (1978). Cambridge:Harvard University Press. Productive Group Work by Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher, and Sandi Everlove, 2009, Alexandria, VA: ASCD. “Teaching Students to Construct Graphic Representations,” Beau Fly Jones, Jean Pierce, and Barbara Hunter, Educational Leadership, December Building Academic Vocabulary, by R. J. Marzano and D. J. Pickering, 2005, Alexandria, VA: ASCD. The Global Development Research Center, Source: Adapted from Classroom Instruction That Works by R. J. Marzano, D. J. Pickering, and J. E. Pollock, 2001, Alexandria, VA: ASCD.Classroom Instruction That Works