Collaborative learning is seen as beneficial for students as it an example of active learning, where students actively present, share and test knowledge and ideas with a group of peers. It also has the added advantages of social connectedness and it reflecting workplace demands (Haythornthwaite, 2019).

If students would like to more about the benefits of collaborative learning the following list may be of interest (ezTalks, 2017)

1. Enhances Problem-solving Skills
2. Inspires Critical Thinking
3. Improves Social Interactions and Supports Diversity
4. Aid the Development of Self-management Skills
5. Development of Oral Communication Skills
6. Fosters the Development of Interpersonal Relationships

Below I share a positive experience of collaborative learning that I have used with students many times and received positive feedback from. It should be noted that in the exercise students are given plenty of time for the task and it is not competitive (i.e. it does not affect grading) therefore making it suitable for collaborative learning (Haythornthwaite, 2019).

Collaborative Writing

When I worked as an English (as a foreign language) teacher I wanted my students to understand that writing is a process involving planning, drafting and editing, occurring both separately and simultaneously. In a collaborative writing exercise, students work in pairs or a group of 3 to write one (i.e. the students share a single document, they do not write separate documents) in a particular genre. After raising interest in the topic together as a whole class, students then then plan, draft and edit the text in their pairs (or threes).

It works well as a collaborative activity because students are constantly bouncing ideas off each other, jointly solving issues with the text, while critically analyzing the text at all stages. As mentioned, the key is that students have plenty of time for this. Another important factor is that if there are more than 3 students then collaboration becomes difficult because it is hard for everyone to give input at the same time.

I think collaborative writing tasks could works in all fields of education, not least in higher education. In higher education students could, for example, write a short text (non-graded!) on a particular area, to present to other students. 

ezTalks 2017, Echo Brown, accessed 11 November 2020, < https://www.eztalks.com/online-education/advantages-of-collaborative-learning.html>

Haythornthwaite, Caroline. ‘Facilitating collaboration in online learning’. Online Learning, [S.l.], v. 10, n. 1, mar. 2019. ISSN 2472-5730. Available at: <https://olj.onlinelearningconsortium.org/index.php/olj/article/view/1769>. Date accessed: 11 Nov. 2020.