Cooperative Learning in Latvia
Indra Odina
Latvian Association of University Lecturers for Cooperation in Education
indraodina@hotmail.com

Cooperative learning principles correspond to the current educational policy of Latvia and its aim to develop students’ all-round personality, to promote so­cia­li­zation, and to help students become citizens who seek to live and work in a de­mo­cratic society. Cooperative learning is used more and more in different educational institutions in Latvia for different types of courses, e.g., in general, professional, pre-service, in-service, and various qualifying courses.

The implementation of the cooperative learning in Latvia started at the university level. In the autumn of 1997, a project entitled “Developing Skills for Experiential and Cooperative Learning in Latvian Teacher Education” was launched by the Soros Foundation of Latvia as part of a program called “Transformation of Education.” Fifteen university lecturers from six Latvian teacher education institutions participated in the project.

We met twice a year for a week’s studies with lecturers from Teachers College, Columbia University, USA: Lin Good­win (pre-school and primary school pedagogy), Gi­ta Stei­ner-Kham­si (international and comparative education), and Ca­rol An­ne Spreen (assessment and evaluation of teaching objectives). During these two weeks we were exposed to different models of experiential and cooperative learning techniques. We experienced cooperative learning and team teaching and videotaped our experience.

Between these two study weeks, we Latvian lecturers met once a month to discuss our readings, share class assignments, give and receive feedback of video recorded demonstration models, work on our university courses, and utilize e-mail, Internet, and video technologies. Additionally, we continued to communicate with our colleagues at Teachers College. Very importantly, we also implemented cooperative learning courses in our universities. At the end of the project, at a regional conference, we demonstrated the cooperative and experiential learning/teaching skills we had learned to other faculty members, school administrators, and prospective teachers.

The project gave rise to the professional association which we named LAP­SA (Latvian Association of University Lecturers for Cooperation in Education).

What is LAP­SA?

LAP­SA is a professional association, formed on September 11, 1998. It is a non-governmental organization. The association was founded by the university lecturers of Latvia pedagogical institutions (Dau­gav­pils Pedagogical University, University of Lat­via, Latvia Academy of Sports Pedagogy, Lie­pa­ja Academy of Pedagogy, Rezek­ne Higher School, and Riga Higher School of Pedagogy and Education Management).

The aim of the association is to facilitate research and implementation of cooperative learning and other interactive learning methods in education and to promote experience exchange, collaboration and in-service education among university lecturers, students and school teachers.

LAP­SA works in the following directions:

• cooperation (with higher schools and schools, with other associations);

• professional development (in-service courses, workshops, teaching practice, study courses, pro­jects);

• research (conferences, scientific papers, publication files);

• teaching and learning materials (development, translation, publishing);

• information and sharing experience (home page, publications, resource/in­for­mation cen­ters, mass media).

We have:

• published a book “Mācī­si­mies sa­dar­bo­jo­ties”(Let’s Learn Collaboratively). It deals with the basic elements of cooperative learning and gives practical class examples of cooperative learning in different subjects and at different grade levels;

• produced films that depict real classroom life and encourage reflection on learning and teaching;

• built an Internet home page (www.eduinf.lu.lv) in Latvian, where it is possible to learn more about “cooperators”, their accomplishments, future plans, and course proposals;

• designed new pre-service courses for the students of pedagogical universities and in-service education programs for teachers. The participants learn the theory of cooperative learning and other interactive methods and practice them as well;

• taken part in conferences in Latvia, Hungary, Finland, Belgium, England and the USA; 

• organized three conferences on cooperative learning in Riga;

• translated materials on cooperative learning and terminology;

• developed resource centers with books, video films, and students’ works and translated materials on cooperative learning;

• compiled and piloted the teaching practice port­fo­lio that is successfully implemented in Daugavpils Pedagogical University;

• gained cooperative learning experience in the USA – three lecturers studied one semester at Columbia University, Teachers College and seven lecturers visited it for a fortnight studies in 1999/2000.

• Some of the original project participants are working on new projects and joined other projects that deal with the implementation of interactive teaching and learning methods. For instance, several of us (Li­gi­ta Gri­gu­le, Gu­nārs Strods, Ju­ris Grants, Ie­va Gun­da­re, In­ga Be­lou­sa, In­dra Odiņa, Il­ze Miķel­so­ne, Irē­na Ka­min­ska, Žermēna Vaz­ne) participated in the planning, implementation and evaluation of the Soros Foundation of Latvia pro­ject “Open School”. In keeping with another important aim of implementing cooperative learning, the popularization of intercultural education, we’ve begun to collaborate with IAIE (In­ter­na­tio­nal As­so­cia­tion for In­ter­cul­tu­ral Educa­tion).

LAPSA is a member of IASCE (International Association for the Study of Cooperation in Education).

Reflecting on the current situation in pedagogical universities of Latvia and the outcomes of LAPSA’s project “Developing Skills for Experiential and Cooperative Learning in Latvian Teacher Education”, we can conclude that there is still more work to be done. Although student centered teaching and learning methods have a special place in education reform in Latvia, in practice they have not been completely implemented. They are seldom included in teachers’ pre-service and in-service education programs; there is a lack of institutional support and skills for the efficient implementation of new information and ideas.

LAP­SA continues to offer teachers the opportunity to experience new teaching and learning methods “on your own skin,” share this experience, collaborate with colleagues in learning and planning, and learn about new teaching materials and information on the latest evaluation and assessment methods.