Your Task - Week 1

Activity 1 | Activity 2 | Activity 3

A. Week One -- Discussing the Basic Principles of cooperative/collaborative learning

Before we can learn about cooperative activities in an online environment, we need to find out what we already know about collaborative/ cooperative learning. What is the difference between the two? What do they look like in a face to face classroom? How can they be managed? Why use cooperative activities?

As the anticipatory set for this lesson, and to connect to our prior knowledge about the topic, we are going to share what we already know about cooperative learning on the Nova Discussion Board. Remember the purpose of this activity is not to impress others, but to help us think back to things we may have learned in the past, or activities we may have participated in. No fair cheating... no looking on the internet for facts first. Just write down things you already know about cooperative learning, or things you might have done in a classroom that were cooperative.

In the second thread on the discussion board under Week One, write down what you would like to learn about cooperative learning, either in face to face classes, or the online environment.

I will be copying and pasting your responses into a Word Chart that will be constantly attached to the third thread on the discussion board, so that we will eventually have a KWL chart we will revisit at the end of our class.

Assignment --- Activity #1. What do you know about cooperative learning? Brainstorm on the Nova Discussion Board under our class topic, all that you know about it, or would like to learn.

Due by Tuesday, April 6th!!

Assignment ---- Activity #2. Read the article by Johnson & Johnson (http://www.cooplearn.org/pages/overviewpaper.html ) on Cooperative Learning and its components. Discuss (on the appropriate forum) what you feel are the major components of cooperative learning that SHOULD be included in an online environment.

Due by Thursday, April 8th!!

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Now that we have the same background knowledge, and have discussed how cooperative learning will look online, we need to reach a concensus about what a rubric will look like to evaluate online activities for how cooperative they are. Use the discussion forum to reach that consensus.

A generic rubric form has been posted in the Nova WebDrive, and everyone has been given permission to access it. The file can be added to, passed around, critiqued, changed, etc. in the WebDrive. Be sure that you have access to the drive. For additional help with using the WebDrive, click on the orientation help page.

Suggestion: If you change the file, save it with the same name, but add your initials to the end of the name before the file type. This will prevent overwriting files created by peers. We can always combine what's on the different files at the end.

Assignment - Activity #3. As a group, come to a consensus about what we will be looking for as we evaluate some existing pedagogies for cooperative components. Create a group rubric that measures the major concepts.

Due by Sunday, April 11th!!

Now it's on to Week 2 !