Module 4: Promoting collaborative learning in distance learning

What is collaborative learning and why is it important?

The development of learning in small groups occurred, in part, because of strong evidence indicating that students working in small groups outperform their counterparts in a number of key areas. These include knowledge development, thinking skills, social skills, and course satisfaction (Barkley et al., 2014).

The benefit of the wide range of approaches is that teachers have multiple forms of group learning from which to choose. The challenge is that there are so many approaches that making a choice can be daunting, and, at times, it can be difficult to make distinctions between the myriad variations of specific group-learning approaches. For those reasons, (the benefits and the challenges) in the last decades, the scientific literature has increased (Davidson & Major, 2014).

Regrettably, the terminology related to group-learning strategies has become intricately intertwined to the point where distinguishing between them has become challenging. The literature on this subject is riddled with unclear and often confusing messages. These approaches overlap to such an extent that their terminology is frequently conflated, interchanged, or perceived as closely related variations. This document aims to provide clarity by categorizing and refining various group work methods within a classroom context and offering guidance for working effectively with students. Our approach aligns with the framework outlined in Davison and Major´s (2014) work .

In the exploration of learner collaboration in online education, understanding the varying degrees of structuring within collaborative learning environments is pivotal. These authors distinguished three primary approaches: Collaborative learning, representing the least structured form where learners engage in open-ended discussions and knowledge sharing; Problem-based learning (and we also include in this approach Project-based learning), offering a moderate level of structuring by directing learners to solve specific real-world challenges together; and Cooperative learning, the most structured approach that organizes learners into formal teams with defined roles and objectives. In the subsequent sections, we delve deeper into each of these collaborative paradigms, shedding light on their unique characteristics, benefits, and best practices in the online learning landscape.