In some of my business education courses I use cooperative learning which “focuses on having students interact with each other in groups in ways that enhance learning” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007, p. 139). I often tell my students that they could be the smartest person in the world but if they cannot work cooperatively with others they do not stand a very good chance of being successful in the business world. Almost every job out there requires people to work together. “To be prepared for the fast-paced, virtual workplace that they will inherit, today’s students need to be able to learn and produce cooperatively” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007, p. 139).
I often use informal cooperative learning where I have students, think, pair and share. I will pose a question, students will think of an answer, they will turn to the person next to them and discuss their answers and then I ask a few students to share out with the class as a whole. This often allows students to get different perspectives on the issue.
I have students teach each other mini-lessons in my Business Law class. I use this strategy because students have to work together, be creative, and still cover their assigned content. Students are free to make their presentations any way they choose but I do not allow them to use PowerPoint. Many students just fill the slides with information, read directly off the slides, and they go too fast for any content to be absorbed by the listeners. Some examples students have used instead of PowerPoint are Publisher (to create pamphlets), gameboards, podcasts, and dioramas. In the future I will be excited to show students VoiceThread and all the possibilities it entails.
The one instructional technology tool that I would like to experiment with is Moodle. My district has tight regulations on websites visited by students. Because of these restrictions and rules I cannot create a class wiki or blog. I will be very interested to see if Moodle will allow me to use these other tools and if it is more user-friendly then our district websites we created long ago. Does anyone have experience with Moodle that is willing to share the ups and downs?
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
I like how you mentioned that there are different forms of cooperative learning. I have caught myself in the past, thinking that I had to have the students in groups for it to be cooperative learning. Think, Pair and Share works if it is used frequently enough and modeled and reinforced appropriately.
ReplyDeleteI have also used mini-teaching in the past and you are absolutely correct about their use of PowerPoint. VoiceThread could be a really nice addition to those lessons and it will allow the students to build their lessons at home without having to transfer them, because the thread is on the site. Sorry I can't help you much with moodle, other than to mention the obvious that from what I have heard, it can be a really helpful tool. I think it allows you to build in a large amount of teacher resources, from grades, to assignments and posts like a blog.