Features+of+Collaborative+Projects

=Collaborative Learning=

Before you contemplate making a project collaborative, consider these questions:  v  What is the objective or goal of this assignment or activity?  v  How will that objective be furthered by asking students to work in groups?  v  Is this project complex and challenging enough that it would be impossible for an individual student to complete it alone?  v  Will this project require students to synthesise their work in true collaboration, rather than just complete work separately and turn it in together at the end? Source - [|Collaborative Learning Online] What are the features of Good Collaborative Projects?  v  the problem to be solved is an example of the types of problems found in the real world  v  the solution to the problem requires the use of knowledge, skills and attributes that are part of the curriculum  v  the problem can be solved by a small team of students, none of whom possesses the knowledge or skills to solve the problem alone, yet each of whom is able to contribute to the final conclusion  v  Students practice using higher level cognitive thinking skills to reflect on their own beliefs and their accuracy of previous understanding of the issue Source - [|University of Adelaide - Collaborative Learning]

Students need to be encouraged to
 * learn together with others through discussion, debate, questioning, problem solving.
 * develop their own questions and then to seek solutions
 * share resources in the understanding that all in the group will benefit
 * share in the task, bringing different viewpoints and questions
 * cooperate and not compete
 * tolerate and support many points of view
 * enjoy the differences of each other

Teachers need to be encouraged to
 * develop good group development skills
 * guide the learners
 * set high expectations
 * be a resource provider
 * be an ‘expert’ questioner to help learners formulate their own questions and issues for their group work
 * design quality collaborative projects
 * see the learning potential in the chaos of the learning process
 * support collaborative forms of assessment, both self and peer
 * design authentic assessment
 * foster reflection as an important part of the collaborative process

How do I Start Steps to Developing a Collaborative Project http://www.k12science.org/cyberteacher/collaboratives.html A list of Collaborative Projects from P.L. Duffy Resource Centre, Trinity College WA [|http://www.trinity.wa.edu.au/plduffyrc/teaching/collab.htm