Collaborative Learning

Benefits of Online Collaboration

Interest in collaboration is a natural outgrowth of the trend in education toward active learning, whereby students become involved in constructing their own knowledge through discovery, discussion, and expert guidance. Collaboration affords students the opportunity to share thoughts and interact with peers, facilitators, and experts in a defined area. Some of the benefits of building effective online collaborative learning environments include:

• Promotes critical thinking skills.
• Promotes creative thinking through social stimulation and sharing of ideas.
• Requires active student involvement in the learning process. Students increase preparation and practice working with one another.
• Provides a safe place for questions.
• Creates more personal environment in large classes.
• Provides a social support system for students.
• Builds diversity understanding among students.
• Allows version control management with the creation of a central folder or location where recent versions are saved.
• Develops team skills used on the job and beyond.