1. Collaborative Learning
Heather Macdonald
College of William and Mary
Richard Yuretich
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Early Career Workshop 2005

2. Traditional Teaching Cartoons courtesy of Karl Smith
Early Career Workshop 2005

3. Collaborative Learning
Cartoons courtesy of Karl Smith
Early Career Workshop 2005

4. Cooperative/Collaborative Learning
“Students work together to maximize their own and each others’ learning” (Johnson et al., 1990)
Structured environment in which students learn in cooperative groups
Question or activity should benefit from group approach
Early Career Workshop 2005

5. Gallery Walk Divide into groups
Each group assembles around one flip chart. Designate a “recorder” to write, and a “reporter” to summarize at the end of the session.
Discuss the question on the flip chart and post a response.
On the signal move clockwise to the next flip chart. Discuss and respond as above.
Continue until you return to the original question.
The “reporter” will summarize.
Early Career Workshop 2005

6. Reflection Benefits and difficulties with what we have just done?
Early Career Workshop 2005

7. Benefits of Well-designed Collaborative Learning Activities
Active engagement of students and improved learning
Peer-teaching
Practice in speaking the language of the discipline
Practice in the skills of teamwork:
Students are responsible for contributing to the team’s success.
Students are individually accountable for their own performance.
Early Career Workshop 2005

8. Examples of Collaborative Learning Activities
Informal Learning Groups
Think-pair-share
Discussion groups
Gallery walk
Formal Learning Groups
Jigsaw groups
Simulations and role-playing exercises
Debates
Research groups
Early Career Workshop 2005

9. The Jigsaw Structure
Teams of students investigate different aspects of the same problem/issue (each member of a team works on the same thing).
Members of each team then disperse among mixed groups and teach other group members what they have learned.
The group puts the pieces together and addresses a question that can be answered once all the team pieces are together)
Early Career Workshop 2005

10. The Jigsaw Structure
Teams
Groups
Early Career Workshop 2005

11. Some Examples
Early Career Workshop 2005

12. Example of a Jigsaw Collaboration
Part 1: Find out the information about a planet or satellite
Produces “experts” on a particular topic
Early Career Workshop 2005
Early Career Workshop 2004

13. Jigsaw Example (continued)
Part 2:Teams are reorganized with (at least) one expert from each planet to research a new problem, such as:
If Earth were going to be destroyed, choose the best place to establish a human colony, and defend your choice!
Early Career Workshop 2005

14. Critical Aspects for Success
Team assignments carefully crafted
Overlapping assignments
Each valuable in its own right
Lend themselves to comparison
Appropriate level
Students come prepared
Build in individual accountability
Early Career Workshop 2005