Collaborative Learning

Collaborative learning is an approach that involves two or more individuals coming together to understand a common learning concept and complete a common task. They bank upon each others resources, expertise and skills to fulfill the task. There is joint ownership of responsibilities and failures, if any. They work independently on different parameters and evaluate each others work to improve the quality of output.

 

Benefits of Collective Learning

Celebration of Diversity: A small group of students could be culturally and socially very diverse and thus, collaborative learning projects could open up the world to learners as they begin to gain a new perspective on life from their peers. Students also get to reflect upon their lives and values against those of their classmates and learn to acknowledge differences without being critical.

Interpersonal Development: In a group enterprise, it is essential that students learn to work with all types of people and relate to their peers so that the project at hand benefits from their structured interaction.

Confidence, Communication: Collaborative learning projects at an early age can help students boost their confidence and self-esteem, besides improving their sense of ownership at work. The task of presenting their ideas, defending them, and collaborating with others to expand their horizons also requires good communication skills, which also get a boost in these activities.

Establishing a culture of collaborative learning is not difficult. Neither is the process a resource-intensive one nor is assessing collaborative learning work difficult. A teacher needs willingness and an open mind to carry it out. Moreover, the availability of technology only makes collaboration easier. Students can connect with their peers on social media or through a learning management system. Among the many benefits of collective learning, the most important one is that it is able to fulfil the real purpose of education – nurturing responsible citizens who can collaborate with their fellow denizens to solve complex social, economic and political problems.