Welcome back to this weeks blog post! Today I will be exploring the idea of coopertive learning enviroment.
Coopertive learning is essentially group work and the idea that students are engaging with peers to become familiar with discussing materials and concepts. It is proven that using active learning skills such as coopertive learning is much more effective than sitting in class and writing notes on a laptop. Actually engaging with materials and working on a projects with peers, having discussions can help deepen the understanding of concept. It is becoming more evident in higher education courses that group work/ coopertive learning is important and that students are more likely to come to class because they know they have a responsibility to come to class.
In elementary and middle school there were many group projects and coopertive learning skills to be tested. However the older you get such as college you can see that there is a lack of coopertive learning being implemeted into the learning enviroment. Active learning is important and we know that so why does it stop in post secondary? Personally I really enjoy having discussions with my peers and group work as it makes me engaged with material being presented to me. Instead of typing my notes out and trying to focus on a three hour lecture I find that having these active learning methods help with understanding the content better.
As a instuctor of the class there are a couple of things to keep in mind. Since you are not facilitating the class and letting students have free reign there needs to be accoutability and keeping students on task. Having a schedule of groupwork and setting groups before hand and creating a outline of certain roles within the groups can help as well. Even some classes do half lecture from the instructor and half of the class spending time on discussion questions and groupwork.
