Collaborative Learning

Description In the 21st century modern education is becoming increasingly complex due to the technological environment within which it operates. This new environment offers exciting new possibilities but also raises challenges. Low cost, ubiquity, accessibility and ease of use are all potential affordances, which are making social media technologies an attractive option for transforming teaching…

Description With the rapid growth of technologies and the appearance of social media the potential of technology-supported PBL seems significant, since it can be used to enrich interactions between students and reduce the time constraints of the traditional classroom. Social media tools are used in many institutions for educational purposes in numerous, innovative ways even…

While many instructors across instructional venues integrate collaborative activities that emulate professional realities, collaboration assessments often disenfranchise some contributors. When evaluation hinges on groups producing a cohesive, homogenized artifact, the outcome favors compromise. Homogenized perspectives don’t generally reflect the complementary visions of individuals. This can foreclose on participant satisfaction if the outcome silences or abandons…

Description A Wiki is a website that offers the capability for users to easily create and edit pages collaboratively. As such the Wiki technology has the potential to facilitate and enhance online collaboration and provides Higher Education with new prospects for collaboration, knowledge creation and student interaction. The main feature of a Wiki is the…

Description As we look at wikis in higher education, we can see several possible strategies – informal, formal, and using wikis as a topical resource. The video below highlights UCF faculty and student’s experience using a wiki in the classroom: https://vimeo.com/cdlvideo/review/114565907/4ed9459cb3 Wikis can be used for group projects to foster collaboration and organize content. Instructor…

Description One of the primary concerns reported by online students is feelings of isolation (Abrami & Bures, 1996), and according to Wang et al. (2009), one of the most effective predictors for student satisfaction is their perceived ability to respect students and show genuine interest in their learning. One way to bridge the distance is…

Description Facilitate student-instructor and student-student interactions using collaborative social media technologies. One popular web application is called Voice Thread. A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate slides and leave comments in 5 ways – using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio…

In team-based learning, students work in groups on outcome-based or problem-based assignments. Assessing the work produced by teams, however, presents a significant challenge, and this difficulty is especially prominent in online environments. Developing and implementing a transparent assessment process that both supports and recognizes individual and group learning can generate a powerful combination of interdependency…

Description Working in groups can be challenging if groups don’t take the time to outline each member’s strengths and potential contributions and also the guidelines for how the group will act and react to situations as the project develops. This is especially true for large-size classes. Link to example artifact(s) UCF professor Susan Jardaneh clearly…

Description While students may express a desire for more student-centered collaboration in the discussions, they may not fully understand the responsibility required to achieve it (Kanuka et al., 2007). Along with a thoughtful discussion prompt, facilitation during the discussion is often necessary to support students to engage in critical discourse (DeSmet et al., 2008; Maurino…