Document Overview

This document discusses several collaborative activities that could be adapted for any of the core courses. They utilize social learning and allow students to practice various hard and soft skills.

Document Purpose

The purpose of this document is to explore various social learning activities.

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 complain about doing 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.

In-Class Collaborative Activities

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.

There are several different ways to incorporate collaboration into the in-class experience of students, whether the class meets in person or online.