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Institute of
International Education
809 United Nations Plaza
7th Floor
New York, NY 10017
USA
Tel: +1 (212) 984 5367
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Online Learning Communities and Collaborative Learning |
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Online Learning Communities and Collaborative Learning
Marina Moisseeva,
Distance Learning Laboratory, Russian Academy of Education, Russia
Reinhold Steinbeck,
Stanford Learning Lab, Stanford University, USA
Sabine Seufert,
Institute for Media and Communication Management, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
Introduction: Why Collaborative Learning?
The majority of existing distance courses today use the traditional method of teaching based on the following approach: Web-textbooks plus tests as the main tool to control the learning process. As a result, students are predominantly engaged in individual activities, instead of collaborative dialogues with peers. Such an approach to Internet-based distance learning does not respond to the need for education to be more closely aligned with the team-playing and project-/problem-solving approaches necessary for the world of work in the 21st century.
Currently, many educators all over the world are focusing their efforts on the design and implementation of more active and collaborative methods of teaching and learning. Online learning environments could benefit from these approaches as well. Many of these methods (collaborative learning, cooperative learning, project-based methods, problem-based learning, etc) are based on constructivist and behaviorist learning theories, and are more aligned with skills needed today and in the future. The following features could characterize these approaches to collaborative teaching and learning in general:
Learners are engaged in collaborative activities in small groups of peers;
Interdisciplinary approaches to curricular design;
Intensive communication;
Use of different media knowledge archives;
Self-assessment, reflecting, and critical thinking, peer critique.
From Traditional Collaboration to Distributed Collaboration
In 1998, the theme of the American Association for Higher Education conference "Taking Learning Seriously" (Cross 1998) emphasized a trend that began in the mid 1980s and focused on the concept of active learning, with faculty and students participating together as they develop a deeper understanding of the subject matter. Distributed Collaborative Learning is one promising vehicle that is being adopted by more and more university teachers as they create learner-centered environments.
Although limited research exists about the impact of collaborative learning on college students, researchers seems to agree that collaborative learning positively contributes to students' learning and achievement (Gerlach 1994; Johnson, Johnson, and Smith 1991; Mills and Cottell 1998; Slavin 1995). This is supported by decades of research in secondary education that indicates that collaborative learning, particularly when engaging learners in complex authentic tasks or projects, results in significantly higher outcomes such as achievement, higher-level reasoning, multiple viewpoints, retention, motivation, transfer of learning, and social competencies (Johnson and Johnson 1989).
As universities recognize the need for education to be more closely aligned with the team-playing and project-/problem-solving approaches necessary for the world of work in the 21st century, a further increase in the use of distributed collaborative learning situations at the university level can be expected in the coming years. This is definitely true, but not limited to programs in engineering, business, or science. Furthermore, the globalization of virtually every aspect of our lives, combined with new communication technologies, creates a need and opportunity to engage individuals and groups of learners and coaches who are separated in time and/or space, and may come from different cultural backgrounds.
Collaborative distributed learning inherited three main ideas of traditional collaborative learning: learning community, self-evaluation, and small group learning. The first experiences of implementation of this method into practice didn't influence the quality of knowledge the students showed at exams, but it influenced greatly the social context of the learning environment. Within collaborative learning the main force that influence the learning process is the community (collective), group of learners that was practically impossible within the traditional system of education (Bruffe, 1984).
The Main Idea of Collaborative Learning
The collaborative learning is based on constructivist theory that knowledge are socially produced by communities of people, and each man could get this knowledge if he would join these communities. People share their ideas, experiences, feelings, information, and within this process of exchange they come to the understanding of what is valuable and acceptable for the other members of the group, and for the group on the whole.
The main skill that students get within collaboration is the skill to listen to other people; to respect their opinion, understand the alternative points of view, not rejecting the personality, but, at the same time, remaining the member of the community.
Thus, within collaborative learning the following problems are solved (MacGregor, 1990):
Student studies better, if he knows how to speak, to participate in discussion, to establish social contacts with other members of the community;
If he speaks and communicate well, he writes better, more logical and literate;
Within social contacts among students the learning community is forming, consisting of people who have a certain set of knowledge and who are ready to get knew knowledge within collaboration and communication with each other, joint cognitive activity. So, collaborative learning "...is the joint (distributed, shared) inquiry, as a result of which learners work together, collectively constructing, producing new knowledge instead of consuming the knowledge that is presented to them by a teacher, or any other source of information" (MacGregor, 1990).
Collaborative Group Work
Collaborative learning assumes the group work of learners that collaborate together to solve some existing problem, or unknown issue. The main features of this process are the following (Amy Soller, 1999):
1. Participation
2. Socialization
3. Discussion
4. Reflection
5. Collaboration for self-development
All these tasks are difficult enough, and the teachers should assume that students initially do not know how to communicate properly, how to collaborate together and produce a new knowledge, how to evalue their activities, etc. The experience of the educators that used collaborative methods in their everyday practice showed that at the initial introductory period of the collaborative projects the teacher should spent enough time at various collaborative and communicative exercises and trainings, that are aimed at:
Getting students acquainted with each other;
Learners' team closely-knitting, community building;
Learning the basics of interpersonal and group communication;
Development of the dialog and discussion abilities;
Study of the personal learning styles, socio-psychological types of learners that work in one group.
This is twice more difficult in conditions of the distributed collaborated projects when all participants of the learning process are separated by distances and work together online.
Supporting Exercises in Distributed Collaborative Group Work
As more and more university teachers are planning to integrate a distributed collaborative learning module into their courses, new methods and tools are needed to better support distributed collaborative learning teams. The Stanford Learning Lab has embarked on a series of design experiments to explore best practices, principles, and prototype tools to more effectively support internationally distributed learning teams, as for example, the skill building exercise (Global Collaboration Exercise, GCE) designed to further good collaboration and communication among distributed student teams. The test bed for this experiment was an Industrial Engineering course engaging graduate students at Stanford University and KTH University in Stockholm in industry-sponsored projects.
In the original Broken Squares exercise, the class is divided into teams of 3-6 persons. Each member of the team is given different pieces of a square. The goal is for each member to put together a complete square. In order for this goal to be reached, team members need to exchange their pieces. Team members are not allowed to communicate with each other or to take pieces from others. The exercise is about giving; that is, pieces can only be given away to others but can never be taken away from others. Everyone on the team has to have a completed square in order to finish the exercise.
The Global Collaboration Exercise promotes understanding and development of interdependence. It is a participant-based educational and developmental activity, based on the notion that teamwork does not "just happen", but needs to be supported, facilitated and trained. The GCE makes teams aware of common pitfalls and can help them to develop the patience and energy required for increased interdependence. Connections between the exercise and the following teamwork issues are clearly drawn. The exercise illustrates the balance between individual competence and successful group effort.
From Collaborative Learning to Learning Communities
Collaboration between learners via the Internet encourages the building of unique online learning communities that unite learners and teachers all over the world. These learning communities could be local or global, different in number of participants and objectives, and diverse, linguistically, culturally, academically. However, they all share the following specific features: common interests and self-regulation, informal ties and community identification. The dominating processes within the online learning communities are collaboration through peer-to-peer communication, trust building, and information and knowledge sharing. Community-building efforts seem to be a promising approach to enhancing the quality of collaborative learning environments and distance courses.
Understanding of the Notion "Learning Communities"
Different modern authors identify "community" as "...cultural aggregations, a group of people who exchange words and ideas" (H. Rheinhgold, 1994), "alliances of members based on emotional relationship" (E. Dyson, 1997), "people who interact socially to satisfy their own needs" (J. Preece, 2000), "members with a shared goals, interest need" (Wittaker,Issacs, et al, 2000), "people who create, manage, and participate in a group" (Amy Jo Kom, 2000). In all these definitions one may see the presence of the following characteristics of "belonging" to the community:
Existence of common interests and goals;
Readiness to share information with other members of the community;
Participation in the certain activities typical for this community;
Following the certain set of tradition, rules, protocols, guidelines.
Who are the members of the online communities? Teachers, learners, as well as researchers and developers of the online courses, coordinators (coachers, facilitators), experts, and maybe administrators of the courses who work together within the course.
Collaborative learning creates the special learning environment that is open for any kind of beneficial information exchange, trust building, sharing of ideas, and ongoing collaborative process. Learners work together, participating in various groups and teams. That is why the definition "learning community" is so often mixed with such definitions as "learning teams", "partnerships", or "mentorships".
The main difference of learning communities from other Internet communities (geographical communities, communities of practitioners, non-profit and non-governmental communities, etc.) is the specific educational goal that influences both teachers and learners, identifies their roles in the educational process, and requires the thoughtful organizational basis of the learning process. A sense of a learning community can only be created within an online course, or "virtual university", under the certain circumstances:
The course is based on a learner-oriented approach to teaching and within an overall democratic learning environment;
Collaboration, cooperative learning and project-based learning are the leading methods of teaching;
A common set of the tools for communication and knowledge sharing (Internet software and hardware) is available to all members.
The Benefits of Learning Communities:
Enrichment of ideas, informal discourse and knowledge exchange that provide deeper understanding of the learning content;
Development of communication skills;
Socializing of the members within group learning and community activities;
Improved emotional and learning support of the learning communities' members, decreasing drop-out quote in distance learning environment;
High motivational level of learning and awareness of individual responsibility for the success in leaning;
Development of the group learning experiences, which are more than the sum of individual experiences because of the interactive nature of the knowledge construction process;
Learning through practice, learning as experience, making meaning in a social context.
Conclusion:
Appearance of the learning community within distance course indicates the effectiveness of the distance learning courses and existence of the friendly psychological environment. It could not be reached spontaneously, but developed on the basis of the thoughtful scientific approach, collaborative methods of teaching, and active involving of all participants of the learning process into the joint activities with shared goals, interests and emotional relationship.
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