Overview

There is significant research to show the benefits of collaborative learning. Some of the benefits of collaborative learning include:

• Supporting the development of a range of skills such as teamwork, communication and leadership.
  
  
• Can increase student retention by helping to build a sense of community and belonging with peers and tutors.
  
  
• Exposes students to more diverse perspectives.

Collaboration approaches

Collaboration in higher education can be difficult to implement effectively and needs careful curriculum design. There are a range of established approaches to learning and the curriculum that can support a collaborative approach. All of these approaches are more than simply doing group work, they require a different approach to curriculum design and teaching strategies. In addition to supporting student collaboration, all of these approaches emphasise active, relevant, and meaningful learning.

Team-based learning

Team-based learning (see Sibley and Ostafichuk, 2014) is a collaborative pedagogy based on the flipped classroom. Students learn key concepts before class and are then tested on them. Mini-lectures help clarify concepts that students are struggling with and then students work in teams to apply the concepts to problems.

An introduction to team-based learning is available via this video and via this Team-based learning website

Problem-based learning

In problem-based learning (see Savin-Baden and Howell Major, 2004), academic staff create realistic problems requiring the application of discipline knowledge and skills. Students work together to create solutions to these problems. Students undertake a series of structured steps to create these solutions.

The University of York Law School has produced a detailed student-facing guide to problem-based learning [PDF]

Case-based learning

Case-based learning (see Danaher, Bartholomew and Nygaard, 2014) is similar to problem-based learning and is particularly common in healthcare and business disciplines. Students work in groups on discipline-based case scenarios to find solutions to the problems posed in the cases.

An introduction to case-based learning has been produced by Queen's University. If you want to implement smaller-scale changes to encourage greater collaboration then this Advance HE guide to using groupwork for assessment [PDF] is a useful starting point