Collaborative Learning (CL) entails working in groups of two or more, mutually searching for understanding, solutions, or meanings. CL represents a significant shift away from the typical teacher-centered or lecture-centered milieu in college classrooms. Laal & Laal (2012) posit that a good way to understand what CL means is to refer to the definitions presented by experts in the field, as follows:

• Collaborative teaching and learning is a teaching approach that involves groups of students working to solve a problem, complete a task or create a product (MacGregor,1990).
• CL is an umbrella term for a variety of educational approaches involving joint intellectual effort by students, or students and teachers together. Usually, students are working in groups of two or more, mutually searching for understanding, solutions, or meanings, or creating a product. CL activities vary widely, but most centre on student’s exploration or application of the course material, not simply the teacher’s presentation or explication of it (Smith & MacGregor, 1992).
• CL is based on the idea that learning is a naturally social act in which participants talk among themselves. It is through the talk that learning occurs (Gerlach, 1994).
• CL has as its main feature, a structure that allows for student talk, in which students are supposed to talk with each other, and it is in this talking that much of learning occurs (Golub, et al., 1988).
• CL is a situation in which two or more people learn or attempt to learn something together. Two or more may be interpreted as a pair, a small group (3-5 subjects) or a class (20-30 subjects). Learn something may be interpreted as follow a course; perform learning activities such as problem solving. Together may be interpreted as different forms of interaction which may be face-to-face or computer-mediated (Dillenbourg, 1999).

In all situations where people come together in groups, it suggests a way of dealing with people with respect to highlight individual group members’ abilities and contributions. It promotes a sharing of authority and acceptance of responsibility among group members for every group action. Lejeun (1999) as cited by Chandra (2015) highlights the main characteristics of collaborative learning as a common task or activity; small group learning, co-operative behaviour; interdependence; and individual responsibility and accountability.

Collaborative learning is like, however not the same as, cooperative learning. In cooperative learning the task is divided in such a way that members work more or less concurrently on different aspects of a project, whereas in collaborative learning the task is divided in a way that members work together more or less sequentially on different aspects of a project (Dillenbourg, 1999).

It is imperative that cooperative learning is distinguished from a well-defined term of art, collaborative learning. Cooperative learning is a structure of interaction designed to facilitate the accomplishment of a specific end-product or goal through people working together in groups. Clearly, collaborative learning encompasses more as it is considered as a philosophy of interaction and personal lifestyle where group members are responsible for their actions, including learning and respect the abilities and contributions of their members. (Paulson & Faust, 2002) cited by Laal & Laal (2012).

Reference List

Chandra R. (2015). Collaborative Learning for Educational Achievement. IOSR Journal of Research & Method in Education (IOSR-JRME) e-ISSN: 2320–7388, p-ISSN: 2320–737X Volume 5, Issue 2 Ver. III (Mar – Apr. 2015), PP 00-00

Dillenbourg, P. (1999). Collaborative Learning: Cognitive and Computational Approaches. Advances in Learning and Instruction Series. New York, NY: Elsevier Science, Inc.

Laal, M., and Laal M. (2012). Collaborative Learning: What is it? Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences 31 (2012) 491 – 495

Smith, B.L., and J. MacGregor. (1992). Collaborative Learning: A Sourcebook for Higher Education. University Park, PA: National Center on Postsecondary Teaching, Learning, and Assessment (NCTLA). 9-22.