SECIII, Dortmund, July 21-26, 2002Report of the Working Group on

COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

Members : J. Andersen (Denmark), B. Cornu (Chair, France), Y. Cortelazzo (Brasil), D. Draheim (Germany), A. Karpati (Rapporteur, Hungary), R. Messner (Germany), G. Rosling (Germany), A. Strehler (Rapporteur, Australia), T. de Vries (The Netherlands)

Observation of Current Practice

• Collaboration intensifies the human aspect of learning. It increases our learning potential and empowers us with the knowledge of others.

• It is an ancient educational model much studied today (e.g. constructionism, cognitive apprenticeship, CSLE)

• Collaboration is democratic by nature but require careful organisation of knowledge, monitoring and scaffolding.

• ICT may support but also hinder collaboration. Face-to-face encounters are crucial to motivate learners and increase their social as well as learning skills. (Good examples e.g. Knowledge Forum, SEMIK, KOLUMBUS, La Villa Media)

Assessment Issues

• Collaborative learning requires suitable assessment methods that value team work. If individual achievement is valued, group members will compete.

• Personality of the learner and teacher contribute hugely to the success of collaborative learning.

• Learning areas allow for different collaborative methods –some knowledge items, skills and abilities require frontal or individualised approaches.

• ICT supports accurate and detailed assessment of the collaborative process, but privacy needs to be protected and too much control avoided.

Suggestions for Action• Collaboration as a learning activity should be encouraged

at all levels of education and professional life. Present educational environment is not supportive.

• Mental models of learners and learning models should be conceptualised before instruction design.

• ICT acts as a catalyst, evaluator and moderator for collaborative learning Face to face teaching and tutoring should still remain at the core of collaboration.

• Human aspects of collaboration in an ICT- supported environment should be carefully studied.

• Broadly used ICT-based learning tools and environments should be assessed to find out if and how they support contemporary educational paradigms.