So much stuff about CL on the Internet and so little time to read it all! As usual, when online articles are sited, an asterisk indicates the abstract was specially created. 

1.    The ‘Fostering the Development of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) Co-operative Learning Contexts’ project is a three-year project funded by the Quality Education Fund of the government of Hong Kong from September 1999 to August 2000. The project’s website (http://www.cityu.edu.hk/elt_ar2hk/index.html) has a good deal of information about the project, including progress reports and newsletters, and about CL generally. Of particular interest may be the small collection of lesson plans and the Teaching Resources page of the site. The principal investigator on the project is Gertrude Tinker Sachs of City University of Hong Kong: engts@cityu.edu.hk. 

2.   Service Learning offers a great way for cooperative learning groups to link with the communities where they live. One source for publications on service learning is the website of the National Society for Experiential Education (http://www.nsee.org). 

3.   Also on service learning is this article from College English, available online at (http://www.ncte.org/forums/sles/sles.html). 

Schutz, A., & Gere, A. R. (1998). Service learning and English Studies: Rethinking “public” service. College English, 60, 129-149. [argere@umich.edu] 

* The authors argue that the problems addressed by students’ service-learning projects should be seen not just as situations brought about by individuals to be solved by individuals. Instead, the larger social forces at work also need to be examined and, if possible, addressed. Toward this goal, service learning might best focus less on helping others and more on working with them as equals collaborating for social change. 

4.   Barbara Millis (Barbara.millis@usafa.af.mil) is editor of the Journal of Cooperation and Collaboration in College Teaching (http://www.newforums.com). ‘Using new technologies to support cooperative learning, collaborative services, and unique resources’ is a paper of hers available online at http://www.tltgroup.org/resources/rmillis3.html. Millis concludes the paper by saying: 

As we have seen, cooperative learning and technology are natural partners. When both technology and the underlying pedagogy are supported by collaborative individuals, the possibilities are limitless. Creative use of technology, resting on all we know about human learning, involves human dimensions of caring, community, and commitment.  

5.   Technology is making distance learning more attractive and making it easier to include student-student collaboration in distance learning. Another paper by Barbara Millis available online is ‘Managing—and motivating!—Distance learning group activities’ at http://www.tltgroup.org/gilbert/millis.htm. The paper contains concise tips for how cooperative learning can enhance distance education. Millis concludes by reminding her readers that: 

No matter how carefully you plan, some things will invariably go wrong. Don’t despair: numerous educators have emphasized the value of risk-taking to professional growth. The point is not to give up (“Oh, I tried online group work and it didn’t work at all”). Seek help from knowledgeable colleagues and from faculty development centers where you will find books, articles, and professionals who can offer indirect advice or who can observe your online classes. 

Remember that the research on deep learning is unequivocal. To reach your intended educational outcomes, you must provide students with opportunities for interactions and for active learning. These should occur in carefully structured, sequenced activities that are frequently assessed. The technology is merely a tool to help implement these techniques. 

6.   George, P. G. (1999). Using cooperative learning in the college classroom. The NEA Higher Education Journal, 15(1), 33-38. http://www.nea.org/he/heta99/s99p33.pdf [Email: pggeorge@wpo.nccu.edu] 

* Inspired by the unprompted collaboration she witnessed among her students in Thailand, the author decided to conduct a control group study to investigate the impact of cooperative learning on the achievement and attitudes of students at a US university. Participants in the study were 61 undergraduate educational psychology students in two sections of the same course. The scores of the cooperative learning class were higher to a significantly significant degree on measures of both achievement and of affect.  

The author concludes: 

I am now replacing my professor-centered classroom with a more student-centered one. This shift has not been entirely comfortable for me—I have spent decades on “center stage” in my teaching. But with this new found evidence, cooperative learning methods are becoming my newest teaching strategies. The Thai students’ “homework cartel” helped me to create more effective American college classrooms. 

7.   Schniedewind, N., & Davidson, E. (2000). Differentiating cooperative learning. Educational Leadership, 58(1), http://www.ascd.org/author/el/2000/september/schniedewind.html 

The authors explain why CL can be more than a teaching method in which everyone learns the same material with higher achieving students helping their lower achieving groupmates understand that material. They present and illustrate ideas for differentiating instruction when CL is used: 

·         Within a heterogeneous cooperative group, differentiate tasks by complexity and quantity.

·         Use high-achieving students' work

·         Employ cooperative groups to enhance individualized work

·         Plan peer tutoring that challenges tutors and tutees

·         Add options for enrichment within cooperative learning

·         Design cooperative activities for multiple intelligences

·         Vary criteria for success 

ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) is a great resources with 100s of papers and other resources related to cooperative learning: http://www.eric.ed.gov. Here are two recent ones based on the same study done in Singapore. 

8.   Lim, W. L., & Jacobs, G. M. (2001). An analysis of students' dyadic interaction on a dictogloss task. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 456 649. 

Using a Vygotskian perspective, the researchers investigated the possibility of secondary school second language students providing scaffolding for each other’s learning during dyadic verbal interaction on a dictogloss task. Participants in the study were 19 English as a Second Language students from China, Hong Kong, and Korea who were studying at a girl’s secondary school in Singapore. The researchers examined students’ exchanges for the presence of discourse strategies that occur in the zone of proximal development. To understand the students’ socio-affective responses to collaborative work and the effect of these responses on the quality of their dyadic interaction, data were collected via student journals, questionnaires and interviews. Findings suggest that second language students are capable of providing assisted performance, though in ways different from traditional methods of scaffolding. Further, socio-affective factors may also play a key role in the success or failure of scaffolding. The implications of the study make a case for the validity of student-student interaction as a tool for second language learning, while suggesting the need for collaborative skills to be taught and for students to understand the value of cooperation. 

9.   Lim, W. L., & Jacobs, G. M. (2001). Detrimental behaviours in collaborative tasks. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 457 685.

Using a Vygotskian perspective, the researchers investigated the interaction of secondary school language learners engaged in a dictogloss task that called for collaborative reconstruction of a text. The investigation focused on the students' behaviors that were detrimental to effective interaction and made it less likely that students would be able to provide scaffolded help for the other member of their dyad. Participants in the study were 19 English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learners from China and Korea who were studying at a girls' secondary school in Singapore. Data sources were transcripts of one dyad's interaction, student journals, questionnaires, and interviews. A wide range of detrimental behaviors were displayed by the participants in the current study. However, the overall picture provided by the data suggests that with help from educators, students can become more skilled at assisting one another and more willing to do so. Ideas are put forward as to how educators can supply such help.

Coaching is salesmanship. Coaching is winning players over and convincing them they have to play together. It takes a team conviction to play together to make things work.