Learning in Groups

Collaborative teams. Research has shown that collaborative work done under the right circumstances can lead to better learning than solo work. Face-to-face learning environments especially lend themselves to collaborative assignments. Collaborative work moves the facilitator from the sage on the stage to the guide on the side and acknowledges that participants have valuable experiences and ideas.

However, collaborative work that is not well managed can be countered productive to learning. One of the main features of effective collaborative work is structure. Rather than throwing participants into a team to complete a vague assignment, use a defined collaborative methodology, give assignments that benefit from collaboration, assign roles, and give clear directions.

What is collaborative learning?

Collaborative learning refers to a structured interaction between two or more participants, which supports the learning objective. Most activities that support far transfer learning, such as working on cases, projects, or role-plays, benefit from multiple perspectives. Therefore, assigning participants to work in teams often yields better learning than assigning participants to work alone. However, research shows that simply asking participants to work together does not promote deep learning. Instead, to be effective, you must apply proven, evidence-based guidelines for collaborative activities.

Some plusses and minuses of collaborative learning, also called cooperative learning, group learning, and team learning, are listed in the table below.

Benefits	Drawbacks
Offers participants multiple perspectives and resources when approaching a far-transfer assignment. Allows tackling of more complex assignments than might be feasible in solo practice mode. The act of articulating ideas and positions to others leads to deep learning. Provides opportunities for participants to learn from each other.	May require more time to “cover” the same material than solo assignments do. Can become dysfunctional if individuals lack teamwork skills. Can lead to confusion, unequal participation, or superficial learning if not properly structured.

I would like to share some proven guidelines for creating effective collaboration learning in the table below.

Feature	Description	Example
Choose an assignment that benefits from collaboration	Be sure the assignment incorporates sufficient scope and complexity that it cannot easily be completed by one person alone.	Design a website Write a marketing plan Conduct a needs assessment
Optimize group size based on the objective	Groups that are too large become unwieldy and lead to lack of participation. Pairs can be effective for small assignments or tutoring. In most cases groups from 2-5 members are best.	Work with your partner to review and revise your first draft project plan. Work with your team to review and critique the assigned websites.
Optimize group composition to balance expertise	For most purposes, heterogeneous groups that mix participants with more and less work experience, different job roles or organisations give better outcomes than homogeneous groups. It is usually better to avoid participant self-selection into groups.	Based on your background summaries, I have assigned each of you into a group. Each group has at least one person who has designed one or more websites.
Use brief team building exercises to facilitate group formation	If participants are not used to working in teams, some teambuilding exercises can help them to work better.	Work with your team to compose a group resume on a wall chart. Tell the teamwork story below. Then take 10 minutes to set up the ground rules that will guide your team working process.
Structure assignments around products, processes, and roles	Learning is better when you give groups a structure to follow. Process guidelines often benefit team work. You can also assign or ask groups to assign specific roles such as moderator, project manager, time keeper, facilitator etc	Follow this process to design your website: Gather client requirements Research the technology infrastructure Develop a prototype Assign one team member as project manager
Use proven collaborative structures such as jigsaw and structured controversy	Group outcomes benefit from collaborative structures that ensure that each group member contributes to the outcome.	Use jigsaw and structured controversy structures
Align rewards to encourage interdependence among members of the learning team	If the collaborative outcome is to be graded, base grades on the contribution of each individual to a total group score rather than on individual scores independent of others or on a group product.	Each of you will receive an individual grade for your website prototype. Then a team score will be calculated based on the sum of individual scores. Work to ensure that both your own work and that of your colleagues meets the standards.

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