What is collaborative learning?

Collaborative learning is a situation in which two or more students learn or attempt to learn something together, in one group. Unlike individual learning, students engaged in collaborative learning capitalize on one another's resources and skills (asking one another for information, evaluating one another's ideas, monitoring one another's work, etc.).  It makes the learning more effective and active.

Currently, it is widely utilized in American and European schools. Teachers like this model of teaching as it makes the students interactive and positive between team members. It stimulates the thoughts and open the mind for students because they can learn from other mates simultaneously.

How to exam the effects of collaborative learning?

Usually, teachers test the results of collaborative learning by conversation analysis and statistical discourse analysis.

Thus, collaborative learning is commonly illustrated when groups of students work together to search for understanding, meaning, or solutions or to create an artifact or product of their learning.

Teachers & Students relationship under collaborative learning

Collaborative learning redefines traditional student-teacher relationship in the classroom which results in controversy over whether this paradigm is more beneficial than harmful.  Teachers are more likely to be a friend of students. Collaborative learning activities include collaborative writing, group projects, joint problem solving, debates, study teams, and other activities.  For example, to create an social report or market report, to find the solution for global warming etc.

The approach is closely related to cooperative learning.

How is the performance of collaborative learning in higher education?

Encouraging collaborative learning may also help improve the learning environment in higher education as well. Kenneth Bruffee performed a theoretical analysis on the state of higher education in America. Bruffee aimed to redefine collaborative learning in academia. Simply including more interdependent activities will help the students become more engaged and thoughtful learners, but teaching them that obtaining knowledge is a communal activity itself.

The instructor based learning V.S. collaborative learning

The traditional model for learning is instructor based but that model is quickly changing on a global standpoint as countries want to be at the top of the economy. A country's history, culture, religious beliefs and politics are all aspects of their national identity and these characteristics influence on citizen's view of collaboration in both a classroom and workplace setting.

What kind of school furniture is required by collaborative learning?

Different from the traditional lined school desk chairs in rows, collaborative learning student desk and chair should be designed to meet both the physical and psychological characteristics of students. Poorly designed desks and chairs will directly affect young students's health and learning. In order to protect students' health and improve their learning, it is recommended that schools buy ergonomic tables and chairs.

Moreover, collaborative learning requires the furniture to be moveable and foldable. The flexible folding school furniture for 2, 3 or 5 even 8 students joint together as a group to start the collaborative learning. The traditional line-up student furniture are not suitable for this new mode of learning.

That’s why so many schools are changing the furniture into collaborative ones to improve the ergonomic principles of tables and chairs to meet the safety of students, healthy, comfortable and efficient learning requirements.

JS EDUCATION, L.DOCTOR (www.cn-schoolfurniture.com) school desk and chair are ergonomically designed. Its desks and chairs are rich in color, It can inspire students' imagination. Designed in a variety of shapes, tables can be stitched together to help the collaborative learning, for example, HY-0575, HY-0575-1, HY-0336, HY-0359 models. JS EDUCATION is keeping innovating their student desk chairs to be more flexible for collaborative learning for student s around the world.