Lesson 13

COOPERATIVE LEARNING WITH THE COMPUTER

The creativity of the teacher would have to respond with the situation, and so cooperative learning will likely be the answer to the implementation of IT supported learning in our school. But the situation may not be that bad since there are motivational and social benefits to cooperative learning and these can compensate for the lack of hardware that educators face.

Cooperative or collaborative learning is learning by small groups of students who work together in a common learning task. It is often also called group learning but to be truly cooperative learning, 5 elements are needed:

1. common goal

2. interdependence

3. interaction

4. individual accountability

5. social skills

Cooperative Learning and the Computer 

Researchers have made studies on the learning interaction between the student and the computer. The studies have great value since it has been a long standing fear that the computer may foster student learning in isolation that hinders the development of the student's social skills.

Now this mythical fear has been contradicted by the studies which show that when students work with computers.

REFLECTION

The computer is a natural learning vehicle for cooperative learning. It promotes cooperation and collaboration within the students working on the same tasks, also it develops enthusiasm and sense of belonging between individual within a group who shares common goal. Every individual is given a sense if responsibility to do his part in achieving the goal.