Collaboration

The article Collaboration Versus Cooperative Learning was very timely for current work our consortium is doing. Teachers have received professional development in aspects of effective lesson design and collaboration. The end result expected is that teachers from Network schools will continue to work collaboratively online to design and provide feedback to their group members. In an online environment, collaboration is critical to establishing a sense of community. Although the structures of cooperative learning can be included in collaboration, the processes are different. A principle of collaborative learning (Orr 1997) is that “working together results in greater understanding than would likely have occurred if one had worked independently.” If the contributions and abilities/knowledge of group members are respected, the bond of ownership for the group task becomes part of the process.