Free Cooperative Learning Resource

A couple of years ago I ran across a resource on cooperative learning that the author, Alice Macpherson, at Kwantlen University College, elected to freely share with educators. The title of the resource is, Cooperative Learning Group Activities for College Courses: A Guide for Instructors. I have reviewed it and found it useful for anyone who is interested in trying or expanding their use of cooperative learning. I routinely use cooperative learning in my teaching and find it to be a great way to keep students engaged in the learning process.

For those that might not be familiar with cooperative learning, Alice defines it well as:
...part of a group of teaching/learning techniques where students interact with each other to acquire and practice the elements of a subject matter and to meet common learning goals. It is much more than just putting students into groups and hoping for the best. Cooperative Learning is a very formal way of structuring activities in a learning environment that includes specific elements intended to increase the potential for rich and deep learning by the participants. Cooperative Learning models include the following basic principles:
• Group tasks are designed to be suitable for group work.
• Positive interdependence is built in – cooperation is necessary for students to succeed.
• Attention and class time are given to interpersonal/cooperative skill building.
• Participants learn together in small (2-5 member) groups.
• Students are individually accountable for learning and participation.
• The instructor’s role changes from being the "sage on the stage" to the "guide on the side."

In other words, it is not a didactic pedagogy where the instructor stands before the students and showers them with information hoping it will seep in and stick. Rather, it is more like giving the students a lump of clay and asking them to work together and employ critical thinking to shape it into something that has meaning to them as it relates to the course materials that are being taught.

If interested in this free 202 page guide on cooperative learning that is in pdf format (438 KB) and filled with lots of great practical examples, please send an e-mail to me at Mlalopa@fooded.org and put in the subject line the following: "Please send cooperative learning book"