Really recognizing the value of becoming part of a learning community and experience the benefits of social learning is not always something you think about when you engage in studies. Or an aspect that as a teacher you will consider when having new students starting a course. But there are occasions in my classes when real collaborative learning takes place, that moved my own thinking forward.
For instance, during my french course on “la Françafrique” (the course deals with France and Francophone African countries from the perspective of their joint history and political, economic, cultural, and socio-linguistic aspects) , I give students ( divided into small groups of 3 or 4) a core concept or a theme (in this case, for instance : la colonisation inversée/reverse colonisation, le syndrome de Fachoda/Fachoda syndrom, l’aide au développement liée/development aid linked to french intrests…) and in each group , they have to draw a concept map together, linking ideas with arrows and short explanations.Then one member presents to the class his group’s work on the blackboard using a projector. We always have, then, a prompt debrief together about the connections that they made during the exercise (and now I learned that it’s also a good idea to ask them also about the connections they wouldn’t have thought of alone).This exercise work very well according to my experience, because students see that others bring valuable perspectives and learning deepens when ideas are shared.
Sometimes, but rarely, this exercise fails. It happens that students are not thinking together although they are working together. As Ringer, M., Gordon, R., & Vandenbussche, B. (2022) wrote(1) : “the group’s atmosphere does not feel safe enough for participants to think or speak freely. Despite individual participants thinking useful thoughts, they are not made available to the group. Individual thinking may be creative, but collective thinking is impaired because the thoughts of one member do not become a stimulus for the thinking of others.”
Another example is the written skills course, where a group of 2 or 3 people go over each other’s texts, correcting any errors (spelling, grammar, syntax, etc.) and explaining these errors. If I simply give them their text back with my corrections, and ask them to correct it again, it won’t be the same thing. They will inevitably be missing their classmates’ thoughts or points of view.
The ways of collaborating that we experimented with during this course ONL251, using various tools such as Padlet, Google slide, with the ‘leader’ giving us an overview of the topic, with guiding questions (that every “student” worked out) , and then sharing a padlet board or a google slide document (e.g.) where each person had to post their solution in real-time or later, was a perfect example of what I could do in my class. Collaborating in real-time, adding ideas, resources. This kind of exercise gives deeper understanding of the topic (whatever it is), enhances communication and teamwork skills, should increase confidence in using collaborative tech tools (as long as the teacher masters them and takes time to explain how they work in a relatively easy way) and the students experience giving and receiving constructive feedback from their peers. Something I’m definitely going to try at the start of the academic year with my two distance learning courses.
(1)Ringer, M., Gordon, R., & Vandenbussche, B. (2022) .Igniting the collective spark: The relevance of thinking together
