Combine Collaborative and Cooperative Learning To Improve Student Outcomes

When collaborative and cooperative learning are blended effectively, students engage more deeply, build confidence, cultivate inclusivity and develop skills that last beyond the classroom.

“The best classroom environments foster a combination of collaborative and cooperative learning, but that’s a really difficult thing to do,” says Michael Strand, global chief revenue officer at Promethean. “Facilitating collaborative learning is easier because you can give a quiz or play a game, but balancing the spirit of cooperative learning with it is harder.”

Thankfully, technology tools are making it easier for teachers to incorporate both modes into their classrooms.

Collaborative Learning Builds Independence

When teachers design collaborative learning experiences, students progress personally while working collectively toward a common goal. With collaborative activities, students organize their efforts and source materials among themselves to complete the activity. Success depends on their individual strengths.

“Collaborative learning depends on and encourages individual progress within the group,” Strand says.

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In classrooms with Promethean interactive whiteboards, the ActivPanel is designed to enable students to take ownership of their own learning when working on laptops or devices, Strand says. When students locate sources or content on their individual devices, they can easily share that content with the larger group. The tool also includes a split screen that allows teachers to flip between sources.

“It’s not just about the front of the classroom; we also want to make it easy for students to source and share materials,” Strand says.

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Cooperative Learning Builds Shared Success

Collaborative learning is like staging a play: In the same way that a theater production requires the participation of every cast and crew member to succeed, cooperative learning involves interdependence. Teachers typically define roles and responsibilities, but they may be up for negotiation, and every participant plays an important role.

“Cooperation theory is all about individuals participating in the greater good,” Strand says. “Each person has some accountability in the quality of the outcome and is supporting the independence of other learners.”

In a typical cooperative learning activity, teachers supply information for students to read and analyze. Teachers also observe, listen and intervene when necessary. At the end of the activity, students submit work for evaluation, and the success of the group depends on the efforts of everyone involved.

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Promethean’s ActivPanel can also help facilitate cooperative learning. For example, it offers multiuser touch-screen capability, allowing touch for up to 15 users for group quizzes, matching exercises or other activities. “Students can engage with each other and simultaneously work from their laptops to the panel,” Strand says. “It allows for complete interactivity.”

The panels also offer an annotation feature, which allows students to directly add notes about a source side-by-side on their split screens. This feature simplifies annotation across various sources and across a cooperative group.

“By making it easy to share information and ideas, we find that the technology really takes the focus from, ‘How do I collaborate?’ to, ‘I want to collaborate,’” Strand says. “When technology removes the hurdles, students naturally gravitate toward sharing responsibility and sharing the learning. When we make it easy, that cooperative piece becomes natural.”

Combining Two Learning Types for Success

Most educators understand the value of group work in the classroom. Students typically learn best when they are immersed in the learning by interacting and applying concepts. A student is more likely to remember something they discover through active participation and interaction with peers than through passively accepting information presented by a teacher.

Just like in the real world, there are various ways to work with others in the classroom — and teachers can better prepare students for their futures by providing opportunities for both collaborative and cooperative learning. By combining both learning types, teachers can help students build confidence, develop crucial social skills, respect differences and improve overall performance. Those outcomes will last well beyond the classroom.

Promethean supports all operating systems to make it easy for instructors to lead classrooms in both collaborative and cooperative learning. 

“We help facilitate group work that can build independence and critical thinking as well as teamwork and shared success,” Strand says.

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