Humans are highly social beings. However, the application of socialization is not strictly for entertainment but serves much larger purposes. In fact, Social Constructivists proclaim that reality does not exist prior to social involvement (Orey, 2001). Cooperative learning strategies can help students to build personal meaning, or reality, by constructing knowledge and conversing with others.
Social learning theories center around the importance of context and culture as vital components in building knowledge of the world at large (Laureate Education Inc., 2011). Cooperative learning brings together a diverse collection of personal knowledge in order to construct a newly fashioned culture of learners. When an educator designs cooperative learning activities in such a way that students feel a sense of obligation to the others in his/her group and a feeling of “positive interdependence” then a successful culture of learning can take place. Cooperative learning groups create varied ways to interact with a “more knowledgeable other” as Vgotsky claimed was crucial to learning (Laureate Education Inc., 2011).
Cooperative learning activities can be easily constructed using educational technology. Multimedia presentations allow students with a variety of talents and knowledge to come together to both contribute their acquired knowledge and learn from the knowledge of others. A variety of roles and responsibilities can be crafted for constructing a multimedia presentation which calls upon a diverse collection of talent (Pitler, Hubbell, & Kuhn, 2012 p 75). Additionally, website creation is an excellent cooperative learning activity made possible with educational technology. Instead of simply gaining “inert knowledge” students can apply what they have learned in a unit by constructing a website with a specific audience and purpose in mind (Laureate Education Inc., 2011). Today’s technology makes building a website very intuitive and convenient using websites such as pbworks.com or ning.com (Pitler, Hubbell, & Kuhn, 2012 p 79). Teachers often struggle with providing students ample online access time within the confines of the school period. These sites allow students to contribute to the group from remote locations outside of the classroom.
Cooperative learning optimizes learning by allowing students to gain knowledge about content through the construction of artifacts and the knowledge his/her peers possess. Cooperative learning allows students to truly become part of a learning community for which he/she contributes the personal meanings his/her life has provided them.
References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program eight: Social learning theories [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1
Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Social
constructivism. Retrieved July 29, 2013: from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that
works
Dina,
ReplyDeleteWhen you mentioned that cooperative learning puts the student in a learning community, I thought about this master's program. We are part of a learning community and we have a lot of social learning going on in our program from all the discussions. This has shown me that I can benefit from social learning when I never thought I was a social learner before. Thanks for leading me to this revelation!
Hi, Dina
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned how cooperative learning allows students to become part of a learning community. Social learning theory is a powerful learning strategy and one that we will use throughout our master’s degree journey. It is also helps family and friends form stronger and deeper bonds. Even in the classroom collaborative learning can help student form friendship bonds. As students become more comfortable with becoming part of a learning community the deeper the learning will be and the stronger the connections will be.
Val