Collaborative Learning

Benefits of Learning Communities

Students (Free Agents)

Content (Knowledge)

Super Agent

Students, Content, and Teacher come together to form a complex system

Students, Content, and Teacher come together to form a complex system

External Influences

Affordances

Benefits of Collaborative Learning

Benefits of Collaborative Learning

Provides Authenticity

In the real world people work in teams

Benefits of Collaborative Learning

Provides Authenticity

In the real world people work in teams

Augmented Cognition ZPD (Vygotsky)

Benefits of Collaborative Learning

Provides Authenticity

In the real world people work in teams

Augmented Cognition ZPD (Vygotsky)

Learners Develop Meta-Cognitive SkillsLearning to learn

Benefits of Collaborative Learning

Provides Authenticity

In the real world people work in teams

Augmented Cognition ZPD (Vygotsky)

Learners Develop Meta-Cognitive SkillsLearning to learn

Learners Share Their ExpertiseEveryone is a teacher

Benefits of Collaborative Learning

The evidence is strong and quite consistent across a broad array of educational research studies that students who study under various forms of peer interaction, including class discussion (versus lecture), have more positive attitudes toward the subject matter, increased motivation to learn more about the subject, and are better satisfied with their experience than students who have less opportunity to interact with fellow students and teachers (Johnson et al., 1991; Light, 1992; Springer, Stanne & Donovan, 1998).

The data also indicate that students working in learning groups like the instructor better and perceive the instructor as more supportive and accepting academically and personally (Fiechtner & Davis, 1992; Johnson et al., 1991).