Collaboration In Collaboration

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Introduction
The term, collaboration, alludes to a group of individuals working together to achieve a common goal or purpose (Dooly, 2008). It involves the merging of thoughts, ideas and resources; with the aim of meeting a predetermined objective. Brindley, Walti & Blaschke (2009), in agreement with this statement, postulated that a collaborative learning environment is one in which knowledge is shared or transmitted among learners as they work towards common learning goals. In this setting, the individuals in a group are usually required to convene for the purposes of pooling ideas and talents to complete a task assigned by the instructor. Learners in a collaborative group setting are active participants in the process of knowledge acquisition. …show more content…

Learning as part of a group - social learning - helps students gain experience in collaboration and allows for the development of important skills in critical thinking, self-reflection, and co-construction of knowledge (Brindley et al., 2009). The learning process generates a bond among the members of a group; as the unit is dependent on the contribution of each participant to achieve maximum results. Participants are responsible for each other's learning as well as their own and reaching the required goal indicates that students have assisted each other in understanding and learning (Dooly, 2008). Collaborative learning processes, therefore, help students to develop higher order thinking skills and to achieve richer knowledge generation through shared goals, shared exploration, and a shared process of meaning making. Participation in these experiences has been linked to greater learner satisfaction and retention of information (Brindley et al., …show more content…

Constructivism focuses on what knowledge is and how bodies of knowledge come to be. Foundation theorists such as Socrates, Kant, Dewey, Piaget and Vygotsky; maintained that students learn based on how they perceive the world and the ability to build on previous knowledge allows for the learning of new information (D'Angelo, Touchman & Clark, 2008). Knowledge, according to constructivist principles, is created and altered by learners based on what is already understood, as connections are made between new and old information. Prior ideas, experiences, and knowledge serve as the foundation for new experiences and interpretations of the surrounding environment (D'Angelo et al.,

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