Introduction

As social beings, human beings learn with and from their peers. As members of the human community, we learn many things, often passively, by observing and copying others; we develop our individual identity against the context of the various social groups we belong to; and our worldview is often shaped by our communities and the society at large.

Even formal learning can be a social activity. Exchanging ideas, sharing knowledge, adding their expertise and skills to that of the group can be of benefit to students. In addition to ultimately gaining a greater understanding of whatever topic is being discussed, students also hone certain soft skills that are necessary in today’s workplace.

Often, students are reluctant to engage in group work in their college courses. There are many reasons why that may be. Some of the most common reasons are as follows:

• The scope of the assignment or how each person should contribute were not clearly defined or explained.
• Collaboration was not monitored or graded.
• The activity did not discourage free-riding.
• Some partners took the activity less seriously than others and did not engage in the activity fully.

All these issues can be addressed by making sure that the following criteria are met:

• The activity has a clear scope, purpose, duration, and expected outcome(s).
• The activity is not only interesting but also relates to course learning objectives and skills.
• Evaluation rubric is provided where individual participation is emphasized (even for a formative assessment it is important to set certain requirements).
• Collaboration is monitored by the instructor and the instructor facilitates discussion for a few minutes with each team to demonstrate how facilitation should be done.
• Teammates are assigned roles, whenever possible, to ensure that all are invested in the activity.

Short in-class or synchronous collaborative activities

Introduction

Having students work with partners or in small groups during class sessions can serve several important purposes:

• It can help to break up class time (taking a break from a lecture).
• It can help more shy students to participate.
• It can help students share their knowledge and understanding of the material.
• It can put more pressure on some students to come to class prepared, because they don’t want to be the only one in their group who has not studied the material.

Worksheets

Students can be asked to work with their partners/teammates to complete a short worksheet geared toward: testing their understanding of the assigned material, ability to do a close reading, or collaborative problem solving.

Adding a time limit or other gamified elements can make the activity more challenging and engaging.

Asking students to present their finding can help to create an extra sense of responsibility for completing an ungraded or low-stakes assignment and can foster a more meaningful class discussion.

Argument-Counterargument

One particular interactive collaborative activity that an help students sharpen their critical thinking and communication skills is argument-counterargument. The purpose of this activity at its most fundamental level is to have students work together to articulate an argument for or against an idea.

The activity itself can be structured in a variety of ways, from asking students to provide two-three reasons in support of or against an idea, to having some student teams sketch out an argument supporting an idea and pass it to another set of teams who would have to critique or rebut those arguments.

Adding a class discussion to examine some of the arguments and/or reasons supplied by different teams would also be a worthwhile activity.

Role-playing

Students can practice different professional skills relevant to their occupation or course subject matter via a simulated practice activity. These could include in-character debates or letter writing exchanges, moot court or mock trial activities (though these should probably be graded), product/project pitches, mock business plans, etc.