Social Learning Theory & Cooperative Learning

Social learning is a learning theory that focuses on the importance of working together to achieve a learning objective.  “Students actively engage in constructing artifacts and conversing with others” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).  

Cooperative learning was a prominent instructional strategy utilized in my classroom often.  “Cooperative learning is defined as students working together to “attain group goals that cannot be obtained by working alone or competitively’” (Orey, 2001, para 7).  There were many ways that cooperative learning was applied in the classroom. 

Technology allows for many cooperative learning opportunities.  It creates an anytime, anywhere form of cooperative learning that otherwise would not be available.  Students don’t have to be within the same classroom, the same building, or even the same state to work together for a common goal.  That common goal can be a final project or presentation, or it can just be creating an engaging discussion where everyone walks away with a better understanding of the topic being discussed.

I posted yesterday on my blog, as lesson that was done utilizing Skype.  The connection that was made was with a gentleman in the United Kingdom.  Without the availability of this technology, my students would never have been able to have this connection.  By working alone, students would never have gotten the inspiration or emotion that Mr. Jon Tait shared with them about his experience of carrying the Olympic Torch in the 2012 London games.

“Cooperative learning provides an environment where students can reflect upon newly acquired knowledge, process what they are learning by talking with and actively listening to their peers, and develop common understanding about topics” (Pitler, Hubbell, & Kuhn, 2012, p 73).    The most recent example I have was from my own experience of learning.  I recently attended some webinars provided by Simple K12.  Those attending the webinar used Titanpad to take notes together and share experiences.  I found this so useful because as the speaker was presenting,  I would reflect and come up with ideas of how I could put different things she said into lessons or activities.  I would share these ideas and others would then elaborate on key elements I may have missed in the webinar or ideas they had that I hadn’t even thought of.  The end result was a fantastic cooperative learning experience where we all walked away with reflections and ideas that could help us put personalized learning into practice.

The fact is that cooperative learning helps to create a more meaningful and engaging experience for all that are involved.  Whether you are using this instructional strategy with your students or even participating in a cooperative learning activity on your own, the point is that you walk away with an artifact or knowledge that you might not have had if you chose to explore the topic on your own. 

Here are some other tools that I utilize often with students for cooperative learning:

• Google Apps (Sites, Drive)
• Edmodo
•  VoiceThread – example All About Penguins with first grade
• Bookemon – example Collaborative book on Insects with Kindergarten
• Mindmeister
• Blogger
• UClass
• Padlet
• Today’s Meet

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program eight: Social learning theories [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2^nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.