Course Overview:
This course covers principles and techniques in cooperative learning. In other words, it will assist your understanding of what is involved in helping students learn from each other as one, but certainly not the only, mode of learning.
Educators at all levels of education use cooperative learning, although they tailor it to their own level. The emphasis in this particular course on cooperative will be on tailoring cooperative learning for students in higher and adult education.
The course is based around the book co-authored by the instructor, A Teacher's Sourcebook on Cooperative Learning. The book has two parts. First is an explanation of eight principles of cooperative learning. Each principle is accompanied by practical suggestions for its implementation. The book’s second part discusses issues and difficulties encountered when implementing cooperative learning and offers responses.
The course instructor has taught cooperative learning via distance and face-to-face modes to educators from many different settings (from elementary school to university to the corporate sector) and from many different countries. He has many years experience teaching cooperative learning and is a leader in the field internationally.
To fit with course participants’ busy and varied schedules, one year is given for completion of the course assignments. Most assignments involve reading and responding to sections of the book or to online materials. In keeping with the course’s overall practical focus, the final assignment is a lesson plan in which course participants show how they can use/have used cooperative learning in their own context. The lesson plan is annotated with commentary on how cooperative learning principles informed the lesson planning. A sample lesson plan and lesson plan template are provided.
Topics to be covered:
- Principles of cooperative learning
- Techniques for implementing cooperative learning
- Issues that arise when implementing cooperative learning in higher and adult education
- Lesson planning for cooperative learning at the higher and adult education levels
Course Objectives:
Upon completion of this course, active participants will:
- Explain principles of cooperative learning
- Effectively use cooperative learning techniques
- Anticipate and respond to issues that may arise in their use of cooperative learning with students in higher and adult education
- Make cooperative learning a regular and significant part of their teaching
- Learn more on their own about cooperative learning.
Individuals registering for CEUs will receive 1.0 CEU upon successful
completion of the course.
Instructor Bio:
George Jacobs, Ph.D., has 15 years experience teaching cooperative learning, including recent courses for Columbia University and Temple University. George is a member of the Executive Board of the International Association for the Study of Cooperation in Education and editor of its newsletter. He has published approximately 75 articles and book chapters on cooperative learning. His first book on cooperative learning is published by Kagan Publications (www.KaganOnline.com) and has been translated into Chinese and Malay. His second book, was published by Corwin Press (www.corwinpress.com) in 2002.
