From the Library of the Literacy & Learning Program

For articles on a particular aspect of teaching and learning, contact LLP Coordinator Elizabeth Renfro (Holt 121; ext. 6319). If you have articles on teaching and learning to share, please send us a copy or full citations so we can add them to the LLP library.
Cooperative or Collaborative Learning?

Group work—team projects, discussion groups, group research—is a popular form of active or student-centered learning. While these activities can help students take more responsibility for their own learning, they nonetheless require a great deal of planning on the instructor's part, including careful analysis of assignment goals and objectives. A group task with an emphasis on consensus and final product (e.g., a report) needs a different structural approach from one aimed at encouraging constructive dissensus and exploration of complexities in an issue. The former is often termed "cooperative" learning and the latter "collaborative." Although there is much overlap in the categories, noting some of the distinctions can help instructors analyze and design group assignments that produce the desired learning outcomes.

Order Form

Fill out and mail to LLP, zip 830.

# of copies Title

(3 max)

_______ "Sharing Our Toys: Cooperative Learning Versus Collaborative Learning."

Analyzes similarities & differences between collaborative & cooperative learning.

_______ "Cooperative Learning in the College Classroom: Three Structures and Seven Activities."

Discusses "grouping policies for designing the teams,… alternatives for grading, [and] options for governing or monitoring and assessing the groups."

_______ "Research on Cooperative Learning: Consensus and Controversy."

Explores researchers' agreements on cooperative learning's effects on achievement and disagreements on the conditions under which the approach is effective.

_______ "Computer Technology and Collaborative Learning."

Focuses on current & future uses of technology in collaborative classrooms.

_______ Bibliography: "Cooperative & Collaborative Teaching and Learning."

Name:__________________________ Dept. & zip:_______________