Leveraging Cooperative Learning Strategies NOTE: This strategy is part of the self-paced Spark Collaboration Course Cooperative learning strategies, often called Kagan strategies, are low-lift and low-risk ways for students to engage with each other while learning. They are structured ways to break up a direct instruction lesson and ask students to collaboratively process information.…

Helping Learners Teach Each Other NOTE: This strategy is part of the self-paced Spark Collaboration Course Leverage cooperative learning strategies in which learners teach each other something. In these learning experiences, each learner has a unique piece of information that they share with a group. This helps teach collaboration skills, especially active listening and…

Lead Guided Discussions NOTE: This strategy is part of the self-paced Spark Collaboration Course Guided discussions are group conversations that use a structured protocol and usually a variety of sentence stems to support learners with the conversation. These build collaboration skills that can be used in larger group projects. Bright Spots Gain inspiration from…

Strategically Group Learners for Collaborative Learning Experiences NOTE: This strategy is part of the self-paced Spark Collaboration Course When assigning group work you can assign groups to learners or allow them to choose their own groups. Research has shown motivation is higher when students select their own groups, and many students prefer this method.…

Create Group Roles NOTE: This strategy is part of the self-paced Spark Collaboration Course When learners are working in groups, they need to have clear roles and expectations that support the group’s success. In smaller collaborative learning experiences such as a group discussion, those roles may include timekeeper, scribe, reporter, facilitator, etc. In more…

Create group working norms with learners NOTE: This strategy is part of the self-paced Spark Collaboration Course Creating group norms as the outset of any collaborative learning experience supports learners to work well together and provides the teacher with an anchor for providing feedback to learners on their collaboration. These norms should be co-created…

Make Group Progress Visible NOTE: This strategy is part of the self-paced Spark Collaboration Course Create a way to display group progress during collaborative work blocks to keep track of progress as a class. A few ways that you might do this include: Create a physical or digital timeline and plot student groups using…