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Collaborative Learning

A Selected and Annotated Bibliography

Bosworth, Kris. "Developing Collaborative Skills in College Students." Collaborative Learning: Underlying Processes and Effective Techniques. Kris Bosworth and Sharon J. Hamilton, eds. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, no. 59. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1994. 25-31

One of the obstacles to implementing collaborative activities is that students are accustomed to working competitively, not cooperatively. In this short article, Bosworth defines some of the collaborative skills students need to learn and suggests ways teachers can teach these skills and make them explicit.
Bruffee, Kenneth A. "The Art of Collaborative Learning: Making the Most of Knowledgeable Peers." Change 26.3. (1994): 39-44.

One of the leading experts on collaborative learning here provides a more personal story of how peer collaboration has helped and encouraged him in his professional writing. Bruffee discusses the advantages of learning in a community over learning in isolation, particularly when people are learning how to make good judgments. The development of trust and the granting of authority are also examined as crucial aspects of effective collaborative learning. An introspective and somewhat philosophical look at what it means to collaborate.
Bruffee, Kenneth A. Collaborative Learning: Higher Education, Interdependence, and the Authority of Knowledge. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1983.

This is one of the most comprehensive books available on collaborative learning. Bruffee writes for university teachers and administrators, as well as for non-academics interested in higher education. He challenges these audiences to revise their assumptions about the nature of knowledge, the nature of authority, and the teacher/student relationship. Bruffee defines collaborative learning as "a reacculturative process that helps students become members of knowledge communities whose common property is different from the common property of the knowledge communities they already belong to" (3) and urges a shift from a foundational to a non-foundational, social constructionist understanding of knowledge, which requires a different kind of authority on the teacher's part. Bruffee argues that collaborative learning puts into place changes in our society. Chapter topics in Part I include the classroom consensus group model, collaborative writing, peer tutors, and implications for education technology. Part II considers the implications of collaborative learning theory for broader issues of higher education such as normal vs. boundary discourse, communities of teaching peers, teaching science "as a tradition of pragmatic, interpretive thought," and negative effects of foundational thinking on both education and research. In the final chapters, Bruffee provides an evaluative literature review, the outlines of a curriculum based on a non-foundational understanding of knowledge, and a note about classroom design.
Cramer, Sharon Farago. "Assessing Effectiveness in the Collaborative Classroom." Collaborative Learning: Underlying Processes and Effective Techniques. Kris Bosworth and Sharon J. Hamilton, eds. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, no. 59. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1994. 69-81.

This article addresses one of the biggest questions teachers have about collaborative learning: how to assess it. Cramer describes many of the different options teachers have for assessing both the process and the products of group work. This would be particularly useful to someone in the midst of designing collaborative activities.
Davis, Barbara Gross. "Collaborative Learning Group Work and Study Teams." Tools for Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993. 147-158.

Helpfully distinguishes informal learning groups (ad hoc one-session student clusters), formal learning groups (teams established to complete a specific tasks), and study teams (long-term groups whose primary responsibility is to provide members support, encouragement, and assistance in completing course work) from each other. Provides strategies for creating group task and assignments, organizing groups, guiding groups, and evaluating group work. An excellent introduction to collaborative learning, the article also provides an extensive list of references.
Center For Excellence in Learning and Teaching. "Collaborative Learning and Teaching." Newsletter 13./2 (1994).
Center For Excellence in Learning and Teaching. "When Students Learn in Groups." Newsletter 14.2 (1995).
Johnson, David W., Roger T. Johnson, and Karl A. Smith. Cooperative Learning: Increasing College Faculty Instructional Productivity. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Reports, no. 4. The George Washington University, 1991.

This is a good overview of cooperative learning containing basic definitions and descriptions of various forms that group learning can take. Of particular interest to the instructor using student groups are chapters on the instructor's role and the effective combination of lecture and group work. The chapter on base groups would be of interest for anyone teaching a capstone course where groups established at the beginning of a course work on semester-long projects. For the educational researcher, the chapter overviewing various studies on how students learn in groups might be of use.
McKeachie, Wilbert J. "Peer Learning, Collaborative Learning, Cooperative Learning." Teaching Tips 9th. ed. Lexington, Mass: D.C. Heath, 1994. 143-151.

This chapter of McKeachie's excellent book provides a good solid review of the research and the long history of peer/collaborative learning. A good starting point for those new to the method.
Michaelsen, Larry K., and Robert H. Black. "Building Learning Teams: The Key to Harnessing the Power of Small Groups in Higher Education." Growth Partners, 1994. 1-18.

The authors compare the traditional learning model (defined rather narrowly as non-interactive lecture) to their team learning model, which consists of four parts: course design, classroom management, student group composition, and performance evaluation. They advocate an activity sequence that involves individual and group testing of students on assigned content they have studies prior to coming to class. This "Readiness Assurance Diagnosis" is followed by feedback from the instructor. Then the genuine work of applying what has been learned begins and constitutes the bulk of student activities for that particular learning unit. Students work in permanent, heterogeneous teams of six to seven members. They are evaluated by a combination of individual performance, group performance, and peer evaluation--with weights negotiated by the students themselves. Guidelines are included for forming effective learning teams and motivating students to attend class and come prepared for team work. This is an excellent guide for instructors who are assigning long-term group projects. It also provides an alternative to lecture for those teaching large classes.
Miller, Judith, John Trimbur, and John M. Wilkes. "Group Dynamics: Understanding Group Success and Failure in Collaborative Learning." Collaborative Learning: Underlying Processes and Effective Techniques. Kris Bosworth and Sharon J. Hamilton, eds. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, no. 59. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1994. 33-44.

As the title indicates, this article looks at the issues of group dynamics in collaborative classrooms. The authors offer three models-personality and learning style, cognitive style, and group life development-for analyzing group dynamics and understanding the problems and opporutnities of collaboration. They then make practical suggestions for designing assignments and facilitating group work. This article would be particularly useful for teachers using long-term collaborative projects in their classes.
Smith, Karl A. "Cooperative Learning: Making 'Groupwork' Work." Using Active Learning. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, no. 67. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996.

In only twelve pages, Smith succinctly yet thoroughly defines cooperative learning--its history, research findings, fundamental principles, ideas for implementation, and common barriers. This is a good introduction to cooperative learning for beginners, yet also provides some useful background information and practical ideas for the more experienced.
Tompkins, Jane. "Pedagogy of the Distressed." College English 52.6 (1990): 653-60.

Tompkins discusses "the distance between what we do as teachers and what we say we believe." She describes her own change from the "performance model" of teaching, which focuses on the teacher's ability, to a collaborative model focusing on the students. This is thought-provoking and extremely well-written article that has become a "must read" in the literature on teaching.
Wiener, Harvey S. "Collaborative Learning in the Classroom: A Guide to Evaluation." College English 48.1 (1986): 52-61.

A very nice piece that brings up an important question rarely dealt with. Namely, how do we measure teaching effectiveness in collaborative settings? The author of this piece argues that dimensions often overlooked in typical assessments/observations of teaching effectiveness include first some assessment of the teacher as task setter, which he argues is comparable to the lesson plan in a typical class session. And subordinate questions that might also be asked include: Is the task clearly worded? Does it split the exercise into workable segments? Do students know what to do and how to do it? Is the task pertinent to the students' needs, goals, and abilities? Is the task difficult enough to challenge but not so difficult as to stonewall conversations? Wiener's article is an important study of how to assess the effectiveness of collaborative learning methods in the classroom. He sets our various functional roles that the instructor should consider playing order to make the collaboration successful. These roles include task setter, classroom manager, and synthesizer. Other features that an evaluator should consider are: social setting, student behavior, teacher's behavior, how teacher forms groups and assigns management roles, the quality and nature of groups reports, and the extent to which group work helps accomplish session and course objectives. Considerable discussion of "group consensus" is included in Wiener's study. Although the tasks set in Wiener's examples are determined by his own discipline, English, many of these evaluative criteria could be applied to groups doing problem-solving or project design.
Whipple, William R. "Collaborative Learning: Recognizing It When We See It." AAHE Bulletin 40.2 (1987): 3-5.

This article reviews and summarizes a nationwide focus on a variety of projects, pedagogical techniques and classroom strategies all falling under a rubric called collaborative learning. This article does a good job of introducing you to the assumptions those interested in the area propose and some ideas as to the kinds of pedagogical strategies that can be used to encourage cooperation among students and between students and teachers.

Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching
The Pennsylvania State University
401 Grange Building, University Park, PA 16802
celt@psu.edu
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http://www.psu.edu/idp_celt/clbib.html

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