Assessing Collaborative Efforts

In a collaborative learning community, individual implementation should not be the main attraction because all members of that particular learning community should play an active and engaging part in the group assignment. Teamwork should be stressed. The collaborative learning community should plan learning activities together, assign task equally among the community members, put their plans in action, and display a well-organized project or findings as a team. One important viewpoint about collaborative learning community is that each member will bring their different strengths and weakness. In collaborative endeavors, students inevitably encounter difference, and must grapple with recognizing and working with it. According to Siemens (2008), it is important to have a high level of trust, well-connected information sources and external connections to tightly knit groups that will support a successful learning community. Collaboration is a very important part of mastering huge tasks when working as a group.

If you ever manage to experience a student who does not want to work collaborately in your learning community the members of the learning group have to come together and complete the task. Regardless of the student who fails to participate accordingly, the group is still responsible for completing the task in a timely matter. All members of the learning community are responsible for completing a task but that particular student didn’t. It is important that the group report it to the instructor. As an instructor, I will ensure that each student is assessing accordingly, fair and direct. The instructor should also assess each student on their outcome and equitable. Learning communities can be challenging and the best way to get students to participate in a learning community is to ensure students are contributing in a high functioning learning community (Pallof &Pratt, 2005).

Reference

Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating online: Learning together in community. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Siemens, G. (2008). Assessment of collaborative learning. Vodocast. Laureate Education, Inc.