Cooperative Learning Styles
Goal: Designing activities with more balanced participation
Consider this material to…
- …quickly match learning objectives with effective cooperative learning styles
- …differentiate assessment for multiple students working on the same exercise
Styles/Purpose:
Use Think-Pair-Share/Write-Pair-Share for context and familiarity i.e. warm-up, broad terminology
Use Catch-Up to ensure better understanding and break up long lectures for a more incremental approach
Use Fishbowl Debate to support practical application, academic method, and rhetorical proof
Use Case Study for practical application, academic method, and pattern recognition
Use Team-Based Learning for longer projects or series of shorter activities
Use Group Problem-Solving for semester projects and emphasis on group-based learning
Clip source: Examples of Collaborative Learning or Group Work Activities | Center for Teaching Innovation
In an online course, what tools do you have the students use for cooperative learning (Choose all that apply)?
- Discussion Board
- Blackboard Course Groups
- Collaborate Breakout Groups
- Zoom Breakout Rooms
- Other
For example, I need my students to write a paper and use rhetorical terms to analyze the points made in that chapter. Later on, they will use this knowledge applied to a list of subject-specific terms and concepts for use on their main term paper. In preparation I would:
A) Provide them with the terms: i.e. conductive, inductive, reductive (this applies equally to practical application in STEM subjects)
B) Include an example
C) Schedule in-class open discussion (10 minutes)
- Choose a few students to offer their best definition, explanation, or comparison of a term
D) Pair them in pre-set groups in Blackboard
- Use a random grouping option to save time
- Instruct them to use a pair discussion board, logged chat text, or wiki to update notes on their terms
- Direct them to submit their revised answers to the class wiki
After they write the paper, include one or two criteria based on their cooperative work on the terms
This example is somewhat oversimplified but is scalable, up to and including, very sophisticated concepts
