Transcript CL - Tool for Online and Offline Language Learning

Collaborative
Language Learning
in Class and Online
Rada Balan
Cem Can
Introduction:
18th century, George Jardine
employed collaborative learning (CL)
methods for his philosophy classes at the University of
 the late
Glasgow.
...the teacher should
move to the perimeter of the
action...and allow the students freedom
to...learn from one another” (Gaillet, 1994).
 He came to believe that“
Introduction:
 However, it is only recently, with the
advent of the
new technologies, that many academics and
instructors have become interested in exploring
possible alternative methods of course
design and delivery.
individualvs. collaborative:
 Individual learningcan be pretty effective, but it is well known
that the involvement of students in collaborative activities
contributes to knowledge acquisition (Dillenbourg, 1999).
 Collaborative activities can facilitate the development of
student’s personal and social skills which might not be so
strengthen when learning individually, such as making ideas
explicit, communicating with others, reasoning, arguing, negotiating,
etc.
 They reduce the potential
isolation of students learning
through the Web, and supports the communication among
them to exchange ideas, doubts, knowledge and so on (Barros, 1998;
Muehlenbrock, 1999).
Collaborative Learning
two or more people
learnorattempt to learn something together
• a situation in which
(Dillenbourg, 2003)
CL: academic benefits
promotes critical thinking skills
involves students actively in the learning process
improves classroom results
models appropriate student problem-solving
techniques
CL: social benefits
develops a social support system for students
builds diversity understanding among students and
staff
establishes a positive atmosphere for modeling
and practicing cooperation
 encourages individual and group accountability
through the assignment of specific roles/tasks
CL: psychological benefits
 can increase students’ self esteem
develops positive attitudes towards teachers
 helps bring students to the proximal zone of
development due to its very nature of collaboration
CL: areas of concern
 cultural expectations of appropriate roles of teachers
and learners
 individual learning styles or preferences
 over-reliance on the first language
 exposure to imperfect language models and incorrect
feedback
 problems of evaluation
Project work in CL
 encourages learning by doing
 promotes co-operation and team work
 empowers students
 develops learner autonomy
 enhances students’ feeling of ownership
 combines process and product (process as important as
product)
 Enhances creativity, imagination
 helps personal development
CSCL: introduction
ComputerSupported Collaborative Learning (CSCL)
 In the 80s, a new area of research emerged:
(Slavin, 1980).
CSCL, if implemented appropriately, can provide an
ideal environment in whichinteraction
among students plays a central role in
the learning process.
CSCL: theories
 Some of the theories used in CSCL are:
the Sociocultural Theory (Vygotsky, 1978)
the Constructivism Theory (Bruner, 1966), and
the Situated Cognition Theory (Brown et al, 1989) .
 They all assume that individuals are active
agents that are seeking and constructing their
knowledge within a meaningful context.
Benefits of CSCL
 CSCL can be at least as great as those within a classroom.
 In an asynchronous environment, students do not need to meet
at a regular place at regular times, so “missing a session”
assumes less importance.
 Fruitful and constructive discussion and dialogue can take place
at any time of the day or night, whenever inspiration or
enthusiasm strikes.
 Good ideas are less likely to be lost, and thoughts can be
followed through without regard to the normal time constraints.
 Opinions can be considered on their merits, without some of the
stereotypical assumptions that may be superimposed in a faceto-face environment based on the speaker’s gender, physical
appearance, or mannerisms.
Benefits of CSCL
 Employers - whether private or public corporations,
government organizations, or small business - are today more
than ever ranking generic skills at least as highly as subjectcontent knowledge when they select graduates. Among the
most frequently listed and highly prized of those generic skills
are computer literacy and the ability to work effectively
in a team environment. If introduced appropriately
into the curriculum, CSCL has the potential to provide
students with both.
CSCL: difficulties
 “Redesigning an education system is a relatively
easy exercise. Changing one’s own method of
teaching, especially when it has been acclaimed
as successful by all the old standards, is very
much harder.”
Bruffee (1999)
CSCL: difficulties
 Salmon (2000) suggests that in any computer-supported
session, the instructor might need to be a chair, host,
lecturer, tutor, facilitator, mediator of team
debates, mentor, provocateur, observer,
participant, co-learner, assistant, community
organizer, or some combination of these.
 The skills required on the part of the instructor are more
complex and diverse than those required for a face-to-face
lecture. Thus, instructors need to be prepared for the
different roles they will have to assume.
CSCL: difficulties
 The students coming to CSCL courses for the first
time can be apathetic or sometimes openly hostile.
This might stem from the “CS,” or the “CL.”
 The solution to both of these problems is to ensure
that students are computer-literate and used to
the idea of working in teams prior to the
commencement of the course. This can be best
achieved by having computer skills and teamwork
introduced as core components of an introductory
course.
Instead of conclusions
“Societies would not exist, exchange goods and
services would not take place, entertainment
would not be possible, occupations would not
be available, education would be unheard ofcomplete anarchy would exist without
cooperation.”
( Johnson & Johnson, 1994)
Thank you!
[email protected]
[email protected]
two or more
 may be interpreted as
 a pair,
 a small group (3-5 people),
 a class (20-30 people),
 a community (a few hundreds or thousands of
people),
 a society (several thousands or millions of
people) . . .
 and all intermediate levels
learn something
 may be interpreted as
 "follow a course",
 "study course material",
 "perform learning activities such as problem
solving”,
 "learn from lifelong work practice", etc.;
together
 may be interpreted as different forms of
interaction:
 face-to-face or computer-mediated,
 synchronous or not,
 frequent in time or not,
 whether it is a truly joint effort or
 whether the labor is divided in a systematic
way
the Sociocultural Theory
 Learning awakens a variety of internal
developmental processes that are able to
operate only when the learner is
interacting with people in his/her
environment and in cooperation with
peers.
Vygotsky, 1978, p. 90
the Constructivism Theory
 learning is an active process in which
learners construct new ideas or concepts
based upon their current/past knowledge.
The learner selects and transforms
information, constructs hypotheses, and
makes decisions, relying on a cognitive
structure to do so.
Bruner, 1966
the Situated Cognition Theory
 emphasizes that in educational settings,
students should be given authentic tasks
that have a real-world focus. They complete
these tasks by working together as a team,
sharing problems, and acquiring knowledge
that will be beneficial in the real world. Thus,
the situation allows them to link the context
with the knowledge learned, which can be
applied in other situations.
CSCL promotes critical thinking skills
 Panitz (2001) suggests CSCL develops:
 higher level thinking skills;
 stimulates critical thinking;
 helps students clarify ideas through discussion and debate;
 enhances skill building and practice;
 develops oral communication skills;
 fosters metacognition in students;
 and improves students’ recall of text content through
cooperative discussions
CL involves students in the learning process
 CL:
 creates an environment of active, involved, exploratory learning;
 encourages student responsibility for learning;
 involves students in developing curriculum and class procedures;
 provides training in effective teaching strategies to the next
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generation of teachers;
helps students wean themselves away from considering teachers the
sole sources of knowledge and understanding;
fits in well with the TQM and CQI models of effective management;
promotes a learning goal rather than a performance goal;
fits in well with the constructivist approach;
and allows students to exercise a sense of control on task.
CL improves classroom results
 Panitz (2001) suggests that CL:
 promotes higher achievement and class attendance;
 promotes a positive attitude toward the subject matter;
 increases student retention; enhances self management
skills;
 increases students’ persistence in the completion of
assignments and the likelihood of successful completion of
assignments;
 helps students stay on task more and be less disruptive;
 and promotes innovation in teaching and classroom
techniques
CL models problem-solving techniques
 CL:
 fosters modeling of problem solving techniques by students’
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peers;
allows assignment of more challenging tasks without making the
workload unreasonable;
can help weaker students improve their performance when
grouped with higher achieving students;
provides stronger students with the deeper understanding that
comes only from teaching material;
leads to the generation of more and better questions in class;
provides a safe environment for alternate problem solutions;
and addresses learning style differences among students
CL develops a social support system
 promotes student-teacher interaction and familiarity;
 develops social interaction skills;
 promotes positive societal responses to problems and
fosters a supportive environment within which to manage
conflict resolution;
 creates a stronger social support system;
 fosters and develops interpersonal relationships;
 and helps students to develop responsibility for each other
CL builds diversity understanding
 builds more positive heterogeneous relationships;
 encourages diversity understanding;
 fosters a greater ability in students to view
situations from others’ perspectives (development of
empathy);
 and helps majority and minority populations in a
class learn to work with each other (different ethnic
groups, men and women, traditional and nontraditional students)
CL establishes a positive atmosphere
for modeling and practicing cooperation
 helpsto model desirable social behaviors necessary for employment situations that utilize
teams and groups;
 fosters team building and a team approach to problem solving while maintaining individual
accountability;
 creates environments where students can practice building leadership skills;
 develops learning communities;
 provides the foundation for developing learning communities within institutions and in
courses;
 helps to promote social and academic relationships well beyond the classroom and individual
course;
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and helps teachers change their roles from their being the focus of the teaching process to
becoming facilitators of the learning process (they move from teacher-centered to studentcentered learning).
CL can increase students’ self esteem
 group learning can help to reduce anxiety;
 enhance student satisfaction with the learning experience;
 promote a mastery attribution pattern rather than
helpless attribution pattern;
 and encourage students to seek help and accept tutoring
from their peers
CL develops positive attitudes
 can create a more positive attitude on the part of
students towards their instructors;
 and create a more positive attitude by instructors
toward their students;
 and set high expectations for students and
teachers.
CL encourages individual
and group accountability
 individuals are held accountable for the success of each
of the other members
 self -evaluation of their participation, of the value of
their contribution and their attitudes and actions
towards the other members is included
Cultural expectations of appropriate
roles of teachers and learners
 teacher centered / teacher-directed classes vs
student –centered /student- directed classes
 possible abrogation of responsibility on the part
of the teacher
 the matter of appropriateness of individual
responsibility and competition in education
Individual learning styles
or preferences
 the amount of time students wish to spend in
individual experimentation or reflection, or
group discussion and processing may be
affected
 personality differences may be so great that a
member of the group needs to be re-assigned
Over-reliance on the first language
 members speaking the same first language will
tend to shift to first language interaction
Exposure to imperfect language
models and incorrect feedback
there are voices claiming that
 learners may provide poor models for each
other
 the inadequate knowledge of the language
could result in either inappropriate or
insufficient feedback
Problems of evaluation
 the group accomplishment of the task makes
individual assessment difficult
Project work in blended learning
Project work in class
Writing collaborative
activity exercises
Collaborative writing in class