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Slidesets from a UK teacher training course Aims: To consider the benefits and issues associated with collaborative learning tasks, and to effectively manage collaborative assessment Outcomes: To identify the reasons to get students to undertake assessed work in groups To identify ways to plan and manage group assessment tasks effectively To be aware of the obligations placed on teachers managing collaborative assessment
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Collaborative Learning SkillsAngela Haslam - Higher Education Academic
Leader Robin Trangmar – Head of Education &
Training
Aims and OutcomesAims:
To consider the benefits and issues associated with collaborative learning tasks, and
To effectively manage collaborative assessmentOutcomes:
To identify the reasons to get students to undertake assessed work in groups
To identify ways to plan and manage group assessment tasks effectively
To be aware of the obligations placed on teachers managing collaborative assessment
Three aspectsSession has three parts:
The benefits to employers (P1)The academic benefits and underpinning models
(P2)The management of academic process (P3)
Part 1The benefits to employers (P1)
Q1: What skills does an employer want?
Education and employmentFuture Skills Wales 1998, 2003 & 2005
Generic skills surveysMoser Report 1999
A Fresh Start: Improving literacy and numeracyLeitch Review of Skills 2006
Prosperity in the Global EconomyNational Employers Skills Survey 2005 (2006)
Improving skills and learning opportunities
What are the top skills employers want?FSW 1998 FSW 2003 FSW 2005
Communication Skills (28%)
IT skills (23%) Problem solving skills (68%)
IT Skills (18%) Communication Skills (21%)
Customer Handling skills (67%)
Job-specific skills (18%)
Showing initiative (12%)
Other technical and practical skills (62%)
Showing initiative (17%)
Problem solving skills (11%)
Communication Skills (48%)
Product knowledge (14%)
Ability to learn (10%) Team working skills (48%)
Source: Future Skills Wales (1998, 2003, 2005)
Employment Issues:The UK’s historic skills deficit (Leitch 2006; 10)“... the UK’s skills base lags behind that of many
advanced countries, the product of historic failures in the education and training system ... The impact of this was seen in: too little responsibility taken by individuals for their
own learning;a qualification system divorced from the needs of the
modern workplace ...”Adam Smith’s ‘The Wealth of Nations’ (1776)
suggested that ‘the greater part of what is taught in schools and universities … does not seem to be the proper preparation for that of business’.
Changing demand (Leitch 2006, 33)1.26: These lower level service sector jobs
require different types of skills to the more traditional low skill jobs, such as basic manufacturing, which they are replacing.
In particular, they place greater emphasis oncustomer handling, team working and communication skills ...
... which are essential in a service economy.
Impact on business (Leitch 2006; 41)2.9: Employers in the NESS 2005 survey [suggested]
soft skills were lacking (particularly team working and customer handling skills, each of which were mentioned as lacking in ½ of all workers lacking proficiency).
Technical, practical or job-specific skills were seen to be lacking in over 2/5 of employees with a skills gap.
Other generic, soft skills such as oral communication, problem-solving and written communication skills were the next most commonly reported skills gaps.
A lack of literacy and numeracy skills were each present in 1/5 of reported skill gaps.
Measuring basic skillsMoser Report (DfEE 1999) identified Level 1 literacy and
Entry Level 3 numeracy as the standards necessary to function at work and society in general.
E3 numeracy skill: add or subtract money using decimal notation, or being able to work with fractions.
Skills for Life Survey (2003) assessed people’s basic skill levels using a variety of literacy and numeracy problems16 per cent of the working age population in England
(over 5 million people) lacked Level 1 literacy skills and 21 per cent (6.8 million) lacked E3 numeracy skills. More than 15 million people in England lacked Level 1
numeracy skills, equivalent to a GCSE Maths at grades D–G.
A fresh start: Improving literacy and numeracy, DfEE, 1999.
Q2: What skills does your course develop?
Part 2The academic benefits and underpinning models (P2)
Theory BaseBruner (1985)
Cooperative learning methods improve problem-solving strategies because the students are confronted with different interpretations of the given situation.
The peer support system makes it possible for the learner to internalize both external knowledge and critical thinking skills and to convert them into tools for intellectual functioning.
Theory BasePiaget (1926)
Learning occurs more effectively through interpersonal interactions in a cooperative rather than competitive context.
Socio-cognitive approachVygotsky (1978),
Students are capable of performing at higher intellectual levels when asked to work in collaborative situations “with more capable peers” than when asked to work individually.
Group diversity in terms of knowledge and experience contributes positively to the learning process.
Zone of Proximal DevelopmentSocio-constructivist approach
Research BaseTerenzini et al (2001)Study compared undergraduate engineering
courses taught using active and collaborative learning methods with traditional lecture and discussion courses in their ability to promote the development of students’ engineering design, problem-solving, communication, and group participation skills.
Results indicated that active or collaborative methods produce both statistically significant and substantially greater gains in student learning than those associated with more traditional instructional methods.
Research BaseJohnson and Johnson (1986)
‘Persuasive’ evidence that cooperative teams achieve at higher levels of thought and retain information longer than students who work quietly as individuals.
Totten, Sills, Digby, & Russ (1991)The shared learning gives students an
opportunity to engage in discussion, take responsibility for their own learning, and thus become critical thinkers
Gokhale, (1995; 22-31)Collaborative learning fosters the development of
critical thinking through discussion, clarification of ideas, and evaluation of others’ ideas.
Gokhale, A., (1995; 29)FindingsA: Benefits Focusing on the Process of
Collaborative Learning : Comments (# of responses):Helped understanding (21)Pooled knowledge and experience (17)Got helpful feedback (14)Stimulated thinking (12)Got new perspectives (9)
Gokhale, A., (1995; 29)FindingsB: Benefits Focusing on Social and Emotional
Aspects : Comments (# of responses)More relaxed atmosphere makes problem-solving
easy (15)It was fun (12)Greater responsibility-for myself and the group
(4)Made new friends (3)
Gokhale, A., (1995; 29)FindingsC: Negative Aspects of Collaborative Learning :
Comments (# of responses)Wasted time explaining the material to others (2)
Q3: The Teacher’s Response ...Based on your experiences,
What are the challenges associated with setting up collaborative activities?
In pairs discuss each of the following aspectsa. Practical projects (not assessed)b. Assessed work
Part 3The management of academic
process (P3)
Q3 designing learning and assessment “... the teacher's job is to create a learning
environment that supports the learning activities appropriate to achieving the desired learning outcomes” (Biggs, 1999)
How can we measure a learning outcome that is designed to capture Team working skills(improved) critical thinkingProblem solving skills
Is this a outcome or a process measurement?How do we do this where the collaborative
activity of individuals is to be measured?
Subject Benchmark StatementsEducation Studies: Honours Degree5.7 Transferable skills: Courses should be
designed so that, by the end of their degree programme, students should be able to demonstrate ability to:work with others, as a result of the development
of interpersonal skills, to demonstrate the capacity to plan, to share goals, and work as a member of a team
improve their own learning and performance, including the development of study and research skills, information retrieval, and a capacity to plan and manage learning, and to reflect on their own learning
analyse, synthesise, evaluate, and identify problems and solutions.
Collaborative assessment1. How should you set up the process?
a) What group size should be considered?b) Should you allocate groups or allow free choice?c) What role should the teacher take? Teacher,
facilitator, coach ...
2. How should you manage the process?a) What can go wrong?b) What level of intervention should be considered?c) How do you deal with ‘Billy No-Mates’?d) What is technology’s role in the process?
Q4. What are your responsibilities?As a module leader, or an academic subject
leader?
What’s the difference?Individual
assessmentFocuses only on
TASK work
Collaborative assessmentFocuses on TASK work
and TEAM work
Individual AssessmentIndividual assessment focuses on the TASK
workload (Prichard et al 2010)Individual workload has been defined as
the amount of attentional resources required to complete a task
Central to this definition is the premise that an individual has a finite pool of attentional resources. If task demands exceed an individual’s capacity,
task performance will suffer.
Collaborative AssessmentCollaborative assessment focuses on the TASK
workload and the TEAM workload (Prichard et al 2010)
Group or Team workload can be defined asthe level of attentional resources required to
perform task work and team work, as well as time-sharing between the two workloads.
These demands may be moderated by the efficiency with which the available resources are administered, which in turn may be influenced by expertise and training in the skills required for each of the above activities, and by external support from other team members
Prichard et al’s (2010) findingsStrong support for the use of team-skills
training to prepare students to work in collaborative learning groups
Training will be more critical whereworkload demands are high and the individual
team member is operating at the limits of their capacity.
Demands are likely to be particularly high in relation to group learning tasks where it is not enough just to complete the task but also to demonstrate learning from that task at the same time.
Q5: Surviving collaborative assignmentsWorking in small groups, consider one of the
following questions:
Q5a: What skills do students need to succeed?Q5b: What skills do tutors need to succeed?Q5c: What process would you put in place to
ensure a successful outcome?
Review of Aims and OutcomesAims:
To consider the benefits and issues associated with collaborative learning tasks, and
To effectively manage collaborative assessmentOutcomes:
To identify the reasons to get students to undertake assessed work in groups
To identify ways to plan and manage group assessment tasks effectively
To be aware of the obligations placed on teachers managing collaborative assessment
References (P1)Welsh Assembly Government (2007) Future
Skills Wales: Additional Analysis 2006. Objective C: Areas of significant change in skills needs and issues. Available at http://www.learningobservatory.com/uploads/publications/494.pdf
Leitch Review of Skills (2006). Prosperity for all in the global economy - world class skills. HMSO London
National Employer Skills Survey (NESS), Learning and Skills Council, 2005. Available at http://readingroom.lsc.gov.uk/lsc/2006/research/commissioned/nat-nationalemployersskillssurvey2005keyfindings-re-june2006.pdf
References (P1)Department for Education & Employment
(DfEE) 1999 A Fresh Start: Improving literacy and numeracy. The report of the Working Group chaired by Sir Claus Moser. London: DfEE
References (P2)Bruner, J. (1985). Vygotsky: An historical and
conceptual perspective. Culture, communication, and cognition: Vygotskian perspectives, 21-34. London: Cambridge University Press.
Gokhale, A., (1995) Collaborative Learning Enhances Critical Thinking, Journal of Technology Education Vol. 7 No. 1, Fall 1995
Johnson, R. T., & Johnson, D. W. (1986). Action research: Cooperative learning in the science classroom. Science and Children, 24, 31-32.
References (P2)Piaget, J. (1926) The Language and Thought of
a Child. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Terenzini, P.T., Cabrera, A.F., Colbeck, C.L.,
Parente, J.M., Bjorklund, S.A. (2001). Collaborative Learning vs. Lecture/Discussion: Students' Reported Learning Gains. Journal of Engineering Education, 90:1, 123-130
Totten, S., Sills, T., Digby, A., & Russ, P. (1991). Cooperative learning: A guide to research. New York: Garland.
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
References (P2)Hargreaves, E., The validity of collaborative
assessment for learning. Assessment in Education Vol. 14, No. 2, July 2007
Subject Benchmark Statements – Honours Degree Education (2007) available at http://www.qaa.ac.uk/Publications/InformationAndGuidance/Documents/Education07.pdf
References (P3)Biggs, J., (1999) Teaching for Quality Learning
at University, Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press
Prichard, J., Bizo, L., & Stratford, R., (2011) Evaluating the effects of team-skills training on subjective workload Learning and Instruction 21 (2011) 429-440