What is Cooperative/ Collaborative Learning?

Cooperative/ collaborative learning is, put simply, effective group work. The basis for this concept is to group students in an effective way to help them gain a more complete insight of their peers and the various perspectives of any subject matter. Cooperative/ collaborative learning is the fancy way of saying small group learning. In my SPC 1026 class, or Fundamentals of Speech, we learned about small group communication. This type of communication is quite important to master because we find ourselves in that type of situation daily. Whether communicating with our co-workers or coming home to share with our families, these gatherings happen in small groups and we should be able to act appropriately in each. While reading about cooperative/ collaborative learning I found myself comparing it to the similar aspects of small group communication. There are several different types of small groups, and one that fits the purpose of cooperative/ collaborative learning is the task-oriented group. In this group the members work towards the same goal. In a classroom, once the students have been grouped together I assume the goal for each member of the group becomes the same, to complete the task at hand. However, everyone (students, peers, co-workers, etc.) has their own opinion of how a problem should be solved or how the task should be completed. This is where the essence of cooperative/ collaborative learning really shines. For the students to work effectively in the group, they must become a team. For this to happen there are certain skills that must develop in each of them. Celebrating diversity, acknowledging the differences in others, and being able to relate to other learners are just a few of the benefits when developing strong interpersonal skills. It is important that the student learns to work with all types of people, despite their differences in opinions or even backgrounds, and to be able to construct their knowledge based on an array of perspectives. This brings up another important aspect of cooperative/ collaborative learning. During small group learning the students have more of an opportunity for feedback from their peers. In these groups, the students are able to share more of their ideas and opinions and get almost instant feedback. This alone motivates the student to open up and speak out about the task. The students are guaranteed a listening ear and an exchange of ideas. Unfortunately, cooperative/ collaborative learning isn’t always the answer and needless to say some even oppose it on the basis that in mixed-ability groups the strong students are left to teach the weaker ones and this can become a burden to the student themselves. Another drawback is that this type of learning may only encourage lower-level thinking. In group assignments, sometimes there is only enough time to cover the most basic level of the task at hand. In the end, I believe there are several ways of learning and that each has its own time to be implemented. There is no such thing as a better way, just a more effective way. And they can all be made effective. It just takes a teacher with an open mind and an inquisitive heart to set it all in motion.