Collaborative work in education: an innovative approach.

To encourage the involvement of their students, many teachers are looking for innovative solutions. Deploying collaborative work via specific tools can be one of these solutions. It facilitates teamwork, which develops essential skills in students. To demonstrate the relevance of a collaborative platform in teaching, in this article we explore the advantages, methods and tools for implementing collaborative work in the classroom.

The advantages of collaborative work in education

A collaborative platform is an excellent tool for classroom work. Indeed, each member will be able to exchange information, feelings and help others solve problems. This innovative approach to education allows develop essential technical skills and social skills.

Development of social and emotional skills

For starters, working collaboratively is ideal for developing specific skills. These will be useful to learners during their schooling, but also in their personal lives and their future professional lives.

This is particularly the case with communication, empathy and better conflict management. By being confronted with ideas and seeking compromises, students acquire strong social and emotional skills

Active learning and student engagement

Setting up a collaborative online workspace and providing students with tools for collaborative work reinforces their engagement. The latter will be more involved, because they appreciate and master digital technologies.

Far from being a source of distraction, they are in the process becoming elements that promote active learning. Some students are more likely to participate and share knowledge online only face-to-face.

In addition, the emulation created by a collaborative solution is ideal for strengthen their commitment. This will help to better understand the concepts, as students will be more focused on the course and will communicate with their peers via instant messaging or add comments via a virtual whiteboard.

Preparation for professional life

Adopting collaborative tools is also prepare your students for the reality of the world of work. No company today can do without digital solutions, let alone tools based on collective intelligence.

Skills highly sought after by recruiters are strengthened through the collective work of students. This is the case of team spirit, adaptability to the unexpected and knowledge of project management.

What methods and strategies should be put in place?

Of course, before deploying such tools for exchange and teamwork, it is necessary to put in place an adapted strategy. You should also identify the methods that you will use to achieve your educational goals.

Pedagogical techniques

You can opt for three complementary teaching techniques that are perfectly adapted to collaborative work.

Project-based learning

As in a business, offer your students the opportunity to work together on realistic and meaningful tasks. They themselves must succeed in achieve their goals and exchange for success. Your role is then to facilitate teamwork by guiding them.

Problem based learning

Another approach is to present them with a complex problem. The subtlety here is that they have the opportunity to work on this problem together. This exercise is very useful for Help them collaborate, develop critical thinking, and be innovative.

Cooperative education

Finally, you can choose to form several small groups. Students need to achieve common goals. Within each group, each member is both responsible for its own learning, but also for that of the other members. This original approach promotes mutual aid and positive interdependence.

The distribution of roles and tasks

Assigning clear roles allows for effective collaboration. Within your group of students, you must therefore properly distribute the roles and responsibilities of each student.

In particular, three roles are essential:

• Group leader: This student will set goals, coordinate other students, and ensure that the team stays on track.
• Scribe: Her role is to take notes and document exchanges and decision-making. It will facilitate exchanges between students.
• Resource coordinator: Finally, this student will have the task of finding and managing the necessary resources. This may involve information, hardware, or even expertise.

Student assessment and follow-up

Of course, even if the approach is fun, collaborative work must enable the acquisition of know-how and must be able to be evaluated. Fortunately, there are appropriate ways to do this.

Formative assessment

This form of assessment takes place throughout the project. The idea is toidentify areas for improvement and provide each student with constructive recommendations. To assess students, you can then use diaries, individual interviews, or group meetings. Note that once again, one of the goals is to get closer to the reality of the labor market.

Summative assessment

On the contrary, this evaluation takes place at the end of the project. You can assess and measure learning outcomes on your own or with students. Figure out what goals were achieved and how to do better next time. This type of evaluation can include presentations or written reports as well as final projects.

Feedback from other students

A very interesting approach is to give students the opportunity to judge themselves. They can then Evaluate each other and share their thoughts on collaborative work. They will then be more autonomous in the evaluation process. This is an important point if you want to improve their thinking and teamwork skills.

What tools should you use to work in a team?

The ideal way to deploy such a pedagogical approach is to use collaborative platforms. These last incorporate all the features you may need such as instant messaging, sharing files and documents, creating thematic channels, tracking tasks, etc.

Your students will be able to work on a document as well as carry out brainstorming sessions as well. In addition, if necessary, it will be very simple to switch to working remotely with your students.