Cooperative Learning Increasing College Faculty Instructional Productivity

This monograph explores the current use in higher education of cooperative learning, the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other's learning. The opening section sets out to define cooperative learning, and to look at the history of the technique, its basic elements, types of cooperative learning groups, and implications for faculty functioning and the educational institution overall. The next section discusses the five basic elements of cooperative learning: (1) positive interdependence; (2) face-to-face promotive interaction; (3) individual accountability and personal responsibility; (4) frequent use of interpersonal and small group social skills; and (5) frequent, regular group processing of current functioning. The following section reviews the research validating the effectiveness of cooperative learning in college classrooms including research on social interdependence, patterns of interaction, and learning outcomes. The next three sections focus on the instructor's role in using formal cooperative learning groups, informal cooperative learning groups, and cooperative base groups under the titles "The Instructor's Role in Cooperative Learning, ""The Cooperative Lecture," and "Base Groups." The next section examines cooperation among faculty. A concluding section describes two typical cooperative learning class sessions and speculates on the impact this method will have in the future. (177 references) (JB).

A practical manual for faculty who use a collaborative approach to education at the post-secondary level. Overviews the cooperative learning process with discussions of its rationale, research base, value, and practical implementation. Also describes a variety of approaches and complementary movements such as classroom research, writing across the curriculum and critical thinking. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Engaging students in active learning is a predominant theme in today's classrooms. To promote active learning, teachers across the disciplines and in all kinds of colleges are incorporating collaborative learning into their teaching. Collaborative Learning Techniques is a scholarly and well-written handbook that guides teachers through all aspects of group work, providing solid information on what to do, how to do it, and why it is important to student learning. Synthesizing the relevant research and good practice literature, the authors present detailed procedures for thirty collaborative learning techniques (CoLTs) and offer practical suggestions on a wide range of topics, including how to form groups, assign roles, build team spirit, solve problems, and evaluate and grade student participation.

Research has identified cooperative learning as one of the ten High Impact Practices that improve student learning. If you’ve been interested in cooperative learning, but wondered how it would work in your discipline, this book provides the necessary theory, and a wide range of concrete examples.Experienced users of cooperative learning demonstrate how they use it in settings as varied as a developmental mathematics course at a community college, and graduate courses in history and the sciences, and how it works in small and large classes, as well as in hybrid and online environments. The authors describe the application of cooperative learning in biology, economics, educational psychology, financial accounting, general chemistry, and literature at remedial, introductory, and graduate levels.The chapters showcase cooperative learning in action, at the same time introducing the reader to major principles such as individual accountability, positive interdependence, heterogeneous teams, group processing, and social or leadership skills.The authors build upon, and cross-reference, each others’ chapters, describing particular methods and activities in detail. They explain how and why they may differ about specific practices while exemplifying reflective approaches to teaching that never fail to address important assessment issues.

ÔThe International Handbook on Teaching and Learning Economics is a power packed resource for anyone interested in investing time into the effective improvement of their personal teaching methods, and for those who desire to teach students how to think like an economist. It sets guidelines for the successful integration of economics into a wide variety of traditional and non-traditional settings in college and graduate courses with some attention paid to primary and secondary classrooms. . . The International Handbook on Teaching and Learning Economics is highly recommended for all economics instructors and individuals supporting economic education in courses in and outside of the major. This Handbook provides a multitude of rich resources that make it easy for new and veteran instructors to improve their instruction in ways promising to excite an increasing number of students about learning economics. This Handbook should be on every instructorÕs desk and referenced regularly.Õ Ð Tawni Hunt Ferrarini, The American Economist ÔIn delightfully readable short chapters by leaders in the sub-fields who are also committed teachers, this encyclopedia of how and what in teaching economics covers everything. There is nothing else like it, and it should be required reading for anyone starting a teaching career Ð and for anyone who has been teaching for fewer than 50 years!Õ Ð Daniel S. Hamermesh, University of Texas, Austin, US The International Handbook on Teaching and Learning Economics provides a comprehensive resource for instructors and researchers in economics, both new and experienced. This wide-ranging collection is designed to enhance student learning by helping economic educators learn more about course content, pedagogic techniques, and the scholarship of the teaching enterprise. The internationally renowned contributors present an exhaustive compilation of accessible insights into major research in economic education across a wide range of topic areas including: ¥ Pedagogic practice Ð teaching techniques, technology use, assessment, contextual techniques, and K-12 practices. ¥ Research findings Ð principles courses, measurement, factors influencing student performance, evaluation, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. ¥ Institutional/administrative issues Ð faculty development, the undergraduate and graduate student, and international perspectives. ¥ Teaching enhancement initiatives Ð foundations, organizations, and workshops. Grounded in research, and covering past and present knowledge as well as future challenges, this detailed compendium of economics education will prove an invaluable reference tool for all involved in the teaching of economics: graduate students, new teachers, lecturers, faculty, researchers, chairs, deans and directors.

Cooperative/collaborative learning procedures increasingly attract great attention in school and higher education settings. This book has two main purposes: first, to enable educators to make informed decisions and choices about selecting, implementing, and evaluating cooperative learning models with respect for the differences and diversity of goals among professionals in school communities, and second, to consider the goals of teachers' professional development in the context of organizational reforms that foster systemic school change, such as the development of learning communities. The authors encourage professional development that goes beyond inservice workshops to include multi-year development and support for teachers. They advocate that schools be administered under collaborative principles so teachers can "live the experience" that they are trying to create in their own classrooms. Professional Development for Cooperative Learning describes what works for professional development in cooperative learning and how difficult it is to bring about lasting change in school settings. Brody and Davidson focus the dialogue on the nature of professional development linked to systemic changes and the successes, failures, and challenges encountered in the process.