Collaborative learning: A learning tool advantages and disadvantages

Headnote

Collaborative learning is a situation in which two or more people learn or attempt to learn something together. Unlike individual learning, people engaged in collaborative learning capitalize on one another's resources and skills asking one another for information, evaluating one another's ideas, monitoring one another's work, etc. It is somewhat different from cooperative learning. In this paper the concept of collaborative learning has been discussed. The advantages and disadvantages of collaborative learning have also been discussed. The assumptions which underlie the learning process in collaborative learning have been also discussed.

Keywords: meaning and characteristics of collaborative learning

Collaborative learning is an educational approach to teaching and learning that involves groups of students working together to solve a problem, complete a task, or create a product. According to Gerlach (1994) "Collaborative learning is based on the idea that learning is a naturally social act in which the participants talk among themselves. It is through the talk that learning occurs." There are many approaches to collaborative learning. A set of assumptions suggested by Smith and MacGregor (1992) about the learning process underlies them all:

* Learning is an active process whereby students assimilate the information and relate this new knowledge to a framework of prior knowledge.

* Learning requires a challenge that opens the door for the learner to actively engage his/her peers, and to process and synthesize information rather than simply memorize and regurgitate it.

* Learners benefit when exposed to diverse viewpoints from people with varied backgrounds.

* Learning flourishes in a social environment where conversation between learners takes place. During this intellectual gymnastics, the learner creates a framework and meaning to the discourse.

* In the collaborative learning environment, the learners are challenged both socially and emotionally as they listen to different perspectives, and are required to articulate and defend their ideas. In so doing, the learners begin to create their own unique conceptual frameworks and not rely solely on an expert's or a text's framework. Thus, in a collaborative learning setting, learners have the opportunity to converse with peers, present and defend ideas, exchange diverse beliefs, question other conceptual frameworks, and be actively engaged.

Collaborative learning processes can be incorporated into a typical 50-minute class in a variety of ways. Some require...