1.3.5.4. Teaching and Evaluating the Collaborative Process

Teacher should teach the collaborative process. At the heart of collaborative skills is the ability to exchange thoughts and feelings with others at the same conceptual level. Some important skills and some of the ways you can encourage them:

Teach how to communicate one’s own ideas and feelings.(Encourage use of I and my to let students know their ideas and feelings)

Make messages complete and specific. (Indicate that there should be a frame of reference, perspective, or experience that led to the content of the message)

Convey an atmosphere of respect and support.

Demonstrate how to assess whether the message was properly received (Instruct your learners in how to ask for interpretive feedback from listeners. Such as, “what do you think about what I said?”, “Does what I said make sense?”

Make verbal and nonverbal messages congruent. (Indicate that voice and body language always are to reinforce the message being conveyed)

Teach how to paraphase another’s point of view (Restate the message in your own words, such as “It seems to me you are saying...”; Avoid any indication of approval or disapproval, such as “I disagree with you”)

Demonstarte how to negotiate meanings and understandings (Sender and receiver each must provide a graceful means for the other to correct misperceptions of what was said or heard, without emotional injury to either)

Teach participation and leadership (Mutual benefit, common fate, shared identity, joint celebration, mutual responsibility)

  1.3.5.5. Monitoring Group Performance

Teacher must observe and intervene as needed to assist your learners in acquiring their group goals to establish a cooperative learning structure. Goals of your monitoring activity;

to identify when a group needs assistance,

to redirect groups (make discussion and debate more productive),

to provide emotional support and encouragement (give confidence to frustrated or unsure group members)

  1.3.5.6. Debriefing

Your feedback to the groups on how well they are collaborating is important to their progress in acquiring collaborative skills. These feedback activities are:

openly talk about how the groups functioned.

solicit suggestions for improving the process and avoiding problems.

get viewpoints of predesignated observers

Some obstacles to debriefing and solutions

There is not enough time for debriefing (Do quick debriefing by asking class to tell how well their group functioned, “Did each group have enough time”; Do debriefing during the cooperative activity)

Debriefing stays vague (Give the group specific written question to be answered about their group’s functioning, identify key events or incidents that occurred during the collaborative process for which students must indicate their comfort or satisfaction)

Students stay uninvolved in debriefing (Use questionnaire that require completion by everyone, ask written report from the group about the strenghts and weakness of their group’s functioning)

Written debriefing reports are incomplete. (Have group members read and sign each other’s debriefing reports to show each has been checked for accuracy and completeness)

Students use poor collaborative skills during debriefing (Assign specific roles for the debriefing, Have one group observe the debriefing of another group and discuss the results)