Originally published in 1984, this is an account of a two-year study of four comprehensive school classrooms, where teachers were fostering collaborative learning methods. The authors draw on their joint knowledge and experience as a psychologist and a teacher to give an insight into pupils’ perceptions of their schooling, and a dynamic analysis of the process of education that they experienced. Working on the premise that successful collaboration demands common goals and mutual understanding, the author observed pupils at work, transcribed their talk, and carried out interviews with both pupils and their teachers. They show how individual children can support and learn from each other, document the social and psychological features underlying the use, or non-use, of collaboration, and take the teachers’ own frames of reference as a standpoint in evaluating success. The authors’ findings were intended to encourage teachers to move away from the traditional view of education as the transmission of knowledge to passive pupils. Social relationships within the classroom can potentially be, not merely a source of disruption, but the basis of learning itself. This possibility is particularly significant in the context of inner-city schools where there is often mutual mistrust and hostility across lines of race, class, gender or ability.

As the integration of children with special educational needs into ordinary classrooms progresses, most special needs professionals spend an increasing amount of time in mainstream schools, working with teachers in the classroom on interventions for individual children and with head teachers and senior management teams on whole school policy. Skills in Classroom Consultation is a practical guide to the tools and techniques required to work effectively with colleagues in defining goals, allocating responsibility and formulating strategies. It shows how consultative skills can be used to solve particular educational problems and also how the consultant professional can act in a more far-reaching way as an agent of change within an institution.

Computer Support for Collaborative Learning (CSCL) is a field of study centrally concerned with meaning and the practices of meaning-making in the context of joint activity, and the ways in which these practices are mediated through designed artifacts. This volume includes abstracts of papers that were presented during interactive poster sessions at CSCL 2002. Documenting an extremely heterogeneous, productive phase of inquiry with broad social consequences, these proceedings reflect the current state of CSCL research--particularly in North America and Western Europe.

In this volume, the authors contend that teaching and learning must be viewed as communal work, whether conducted in one classroom, with colleagues at a programmatic level, or when tackled on a university-wide scale. When educators partner with faculty colleagues or students in teaching and learning, it becomes possible to improve the educational experiences of all students, model professional behaviors that students will soon be expected to embrace, and positively impact graduates, peers, campuses, and even communities at large. By intentionally creating collaborative structures for communal work to occur, educators can broaden access to opportunities for students, improve engagement experiences within the community, and improve faculty support and scholarship. Exploring multiple perspectives on collaborative structures in teaching and learning, this volume discusses ways to consider the collaborative structures within education that allow for shared contributions to teaching and learning. It discusses the need for practitioners to view teaching and learning as truly communal work, regardless of the type of setting. This is the 148th volume of this Jossey-Bass higher education series. It offers a comprehensive range of ideas and techniques for improving college teaching based on the experience of seasoned instructors and the latest findings of educational and psychological researchers.

In higher music education, learning in social settings (orchestras, choirs, bands, chamber music and so on) is prevalent, yet understanding of such learning rests heavily on the transmission of knowledge and skill from master to apprentice. This narrow view of learning trajectories pervades in both one-to-one and one-to-many contexts. This is surprising given the growing body of knowledge about the power of collaborative learning in general, underpinned by theoretical developments in educational psychology: the social dimensions of learning, situational learning and concepts of communities of learners. Collaborative Learning in Higher Music Education seeks to respond to the challenge of becoming more conscious of the creative and multiple dimensions of social interaction in learning music, in contexts ranging from interdisciplinary projects to one-to-one tuition, and not least in the contemporary context of rapid change in the cultural industries and higher education as a whole. It brings together theoretical papers and case studies of practice. Themes covered include collaborative creativity, communities of practice, peer-learning, co-teaching as co-learning, assessment and curriculum structures. Chapters illuminate reasons for enabling collaborative learning, and provide exemplars of innovative practice and designs for collaborative learning environments in higher music education. A central purpose of the book is to scaffold change, to help in meeting the rapid changes in society and to find constructive stepping stones or signposts for teachers and students.

Originally published in 1994. Until this book was published, the application of computers to educational practice has received little input from psychological theory. Computers and the Collaborative Experience of Learning locates this topic within the contemporary movement of socio-cultural theory, drawing on the writing of Vygotsky and others. Charles Crook reviews psychological approaches to cognition and learning, in so far as they implicitly direct strategy in respect of computer-based learning. He also takes a novel stance in considering how new technology can enhance rather than undermine the social experience of learning and instruction, and can allow teachers to achieve more in the classroom. He argues that computers can provide the conditions for effective collaboration and enhance the social dimension of education. With its unique blend of theory and practice, from the primary school to university settings, Computers and the Collaborative Experience of Learning will be of interest to educational psychologists, as well as psychologists studying group processes, cognition and development.

Leadership, collaborative learning, and student achievement – discover what works! This resource-rich book provides a straightforward, strategic path to achieving sustainable communities of collaborative learners. Research-proven inquiry techniques, vignettes, case studies and action-oriented protocols help you build strong learning relationships for high-impact student achievement. System leaders, principals and teachers learn to: Integrate diverse views and perspectives Build trust and hear every voice Leverage key resources and processes Build students’ cognitive, interpersonal, and intrapersonal skills Use “Assessments-in-Action” to improve, monitor and sustain progress Build a collaborative culture through learning together Use this go-to guide to transform your school from a place of ‘good intentions’ to a center of intentional practice today!

The Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) conference has become an internationally-recognized forum for the exchange of research findings related to learning in the context of collaborative activity and the exploration of how such learning might be augmented through technology. This text is the proceedings from CSCL 2005 held in Taipei, Taiwan. This conference marked the 10th anniversary of the first CSCL Conference held at Indiana University in 1995. Subsequent meetings have been held at the University of Toronto, Stanford University, University of Maastricht (Netherlands), University of Colorado at Boulder, and the University of Bergen (Norway).Just as the first CSCL conference was instrumental in shaping the trajectory of the field in its first decade, the conference in Taipei will play an important role in consolidating an increasingly international and interdisciplinary community and defining the direction of the field for the next 10 years. This volume, and the papers from which it is comprised, will be an important resource for those active in this area of research and for others interested in fostering learning in settings of collaboration.

This book discusses activity-based collaborative active learning (CAL) approaches in connection with the learning and teaching of STEM and non-STEM disciplines. It also covers feedback and assessment activities as learning activities supported by learning technologies and applied in appropriate learning spaces. The contributing authors discuss in detail the implementation and facilitation of activity-based CAL strategies, the problems encountered and corresponding mitigation measures. In addition, all activities are developed in a blended mode, making them suitable for readers at any level of education who are interested in trying out CAL. Covering both STEM and non-STEM disciplines, this book offers comprehensive guidelines for lecturers who are interested in active learning.