Module 3.5 Collaboration

Collaboration allows us to:

Strong communication skills are essential for productive teamwork. Collaboration not only helps build strong communication skills, but it allows the opportunity for all team members to benefit from the strengths of one another.

 

Setting up Collaborative Groups

What is Collaborative Learning?

Collaborative learning is a way of structuring your classroom so that your students work together to accomplish shared goals and products. By working together the learning of each individual is maximized. In a collaborative group each student is individually responsible for the success or failure of the entire group. Business and industry leaders tell us that they want schools to teach students to work collaboratively on projects because this is a necessary work skill.

How to Set Up Collaborative Groups

There are many ways to set up collaborative groups. How you set up your groups will depend on the activity, the age, ability and social skills of your students, and the time you plan for your collaborative group activity. For some students collaborative learning can be a frustrating experience if it is not properly set up.

If you have not use collaborative learning groups before, you will find it takes a little practice. Here are some good general guidelines to follow:

When setting up collaborative groups try to foster groups that encourage positive interdependence. This means that the students in each group need each other's skills to succeed. Make sure you have a system in place for individual accountability. Know how you will make sure each student does his/her fair share of work, and that all students learn. At the end of each group period give your group time to process and reflect on how the group performed. This can me done using a feedback form. Before you begin your collaborative group project make sure the rules and guidelines for group work are clear and are understood by all students. Spend some reviewing and building social skills those collaborative activities that these social skills. Each member of a collaborative group should be assigned a specific role. Roles will be determine by the task assigned to the collaborative group.

 Typical roles are:

Other roles may be:

Things to do when you set up collaborative groups:

 

Collaborating with Parents/Community   

Why is collaboration vital to your Project? When we speak of the pbl component "collaboration" we are usually thinking inside the classroom student to student, student to teacher, or teacher to teacher.   We need to also consider student/teacher to parent/community.

The Center for School, Family, and Community Partnerships provides surveys for teachers and parents in elementary and middle school grades, and teachers, parents, and students in high schools. The quantitative information collected from the surveys helps parents and schools develop a comprehensive, successful partnership program based on Epstein's six types of involvement.

How can you use technology as tool to help you collaborate with parents? How can you design your project to include input from the community?

Your classroom web site can be used as a communication tool between the classroom and those outside of the classroom.

How to Set Up a Class Web Site for better Collaboration:

In addition to posting projects online think about making the project page a part of a classroom web site. According to David Warlick <http://landmark-project.com> classroom web sites are created by teachers to help their students attain specific educational objectives. Qualities of a good classroom web site are:

 

 

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