Collaborative learning is such an educational approach that embraces the teaching process wherein many students work together as groups in order to attain and share a common goal, with certain educational objectives.
Thus, the technique has been widely adopted both in schools and colleges/Universities since it contributes towards a richer and more interactive learning experience for the students. By making interaction among students, presenting their ideas and cooperating with each other, collaborative learning significantly develops the interest and excellent academic performance of a student.
Understanding Collaborative Learning
It is essentially defined as collaborative learning wherein the students sit at working together in smaller groups to work on problems, complete tasks, or to come up with projects while its traditional method leaves students alone in the class.
Researchers concluded that when the students are working together, they have received more profound learning with increase in the acquisition of knowledge and effective retention of the acquired knowledge. It is also revealed that collaborative projects account for an average increase of 17% in the learning outcomes of the students.
Advantages of Collaborative Learning
Higher Engagement
Probably the most significant advantage of collaborative learning is that it helps to boost the involvement of students. That is where students work in groups, there are more opportunities for active participation in discussions and expression of ideas.
Evidently, there will be a lively environment in a class where students are valued and motivated. The evidence from research studies reveals that students working in groups portray higher degrees of involvement compared to those working alone.
Higher Retention of Knowledge
Cooperative learning is both interactive for the learners and keeps the knowledge in their minds. During the actual act of learning, when the learners discuss the concepts with other learners, they reinforce their thoughts by telling others and answering the questions put forth by their peers.
In this process, they keep adding each other’s ideas and relate it to knowledge. According to various studies, it has been observed that cooperative learning is better than the traditional approach in the sense of extending deep understanding as well as retaining the information.
Enhanced Critical Thinking
Group work exposes the students to different points of views and ideas with which to mingle, an excellent catalyst for critical thinking. Such group work enables students to evaluate a number of different standpoints and assumptions. This interaction results in the establishment of a culture of critical analysis as part of learning. It is evident that collaborative learning develops higher-order thinking skills as it enables learners to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information effectively.
Effective Communication Skills
Hence, effective communication is both an academic and professional success. Cooperative learning allows a student many opportunities to use communication skills in expressing his thoughts and listening to the thoughts of others. Discussion and group work offer a chance for the students to voice their ideas while nurturing teamwork skills at the same time.
Increased Motivation
The social dimension of collaborative learning enhances the motivation of students. When students work as a team to achieve a common goal, they usually feel responsible for both the performances of their peers and themselves. Shared responsibility results in high effort and zeal about something. Moreover, well dynamics of a group makes an atmosphere where learners feel free to take risks and experiment with new ideas6.
Challenges in Collaborative Learning
There are still challenges on the way to positive virtues of collaborative learning. One of such challenges include unequal participation from the group members. Sometimes, a few members tend to hijack the discussion or take up all the responsibility than other members leading to frustration experienced from other fellow participants who feel ignored. The challenge can be dealt with structuring specific roles within groups or clearly expressing what to expect on active participation.
Group dynamics is another challenge since trust and respect lack the psychology between the members when they work together, and that in itself can make collaboration unfruitful or even destructive. Educators need to be alert to an all-inclusive environment where every voice is heard and valued.
Another hindrance is that of time limitation. Groupwork requires a lot of time, and if the schedule is tight, this can be problematic; teachers may have to reschedule their lessons or separate time for groupwork so that students might have more opportunities to interact with one another.
Conclusion
Collaborative learning is a holistic approach that redefines learning using a more active environment of students working together toward common goals. This is better to retain knowledge and to build ideas related to critical thinking and communication to be utilized practically in real life upon graduation.
With the prevalent application of cooperative learning in educational institutions, it is growingly evident that this method of strategy prepares students not only academically but socially for the challenges students will face outside the walls of the classroom. The investment placed by educators into cooperative practices ensures that an entire generation of learners emerges who are knowledgeable as well as skillful collaborators unto an interconnected world.
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