From the Web

1.        This recent issue of the newsletter of a subgroup of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) is devoted to CL.   You can find it at: http://www.jalt.org/teach/articles/Newsletter_files/Summer2003.pdf.

Here are the details:

 JALT Teacher Education SIG. (2003, Summer). Explorations in Teacher Education
Newsletter: Special issue on cooperative learning, 11(2).

Articles:

a.    Kagan Structures for Active Learning and Educational Equity (pp. 2-9) by Jane Joritz-Nakagawa

b.   You can do it, too! Cooperative Learning in a Japanese Junior High School (pp. 10-20) by Toshiko Suzuki

c.    The “Three C’s of Communication”: Applications in the EFL Classroom (pp. 21-25) by Jane Lightburn

d.   Cooperative Language Learning: A Teacher's Resource Book. Kessler, C. (Ed.) (pp. 26-28) by Robert Croker

2.   Richard Felder and his colleagues have done a lot of work on the use of CL in engineering. One of their most recent efforts deals with designing and teaching courses to address the (relatively) new outcome-based engineering program accreditation system in the U.S. They describe how judicious use of both cooperative learning and problem-based learning can facilitate development of both the "hard skills" and the "soft skills" specified as required attributes of engineering graduates. You can find the paper (note in particular Appendices D and E) at: http://www.ncsu.edu/felder-public/Papers/ABET_Paper_(JEE).pdf

3.   Elizabeth Cohen will be a keynote speaker at the 2004 IASCE conference in Singapore. Along with Rachel Lotan and her other colleagues at Stanford’s Center for Complex Instruction, Liz has long been a leader in viewing CL from a sociological perspective. Recently, the Center launched a new Complex Instruction web site. There is a public page at www.complexinstruction.org  that has been available for some years. In addition, they have now revised and expanded their Membership section, so that people with a wide range of interests and knowledge can participate. Newcomers can profit from access to questions and discussion of students and the responses from more experienced complex instruction teachers as well as experts.

Another feature is the Curriculum Warehouse which will have two sections. One is for “tried and true” curricula. These are curricula that have been extensively field-tested and have undergone revision in response to those tests. Members will be able to download the activity cards, resource cards, and any accompanying artwork or audiotapes. The other section of the Warehouse will be for new curricula, presently under development. There is an automated procedure for members to provide information about their curriculum (age group, subject matter etc.) along with directions for uploading in PDF format.

Also on the Complex Instruction website are two papers honoring Liz at the time of her retirement:

·         Reflection on Cohen's contributions to Sociology of the Classroom by Dr. Morris (Buzz) Zelditch

·         Reflections on Cohen's contributions to Sociology of the Classroom by Marlaine Lockheed.