CURRICULUM
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING
WHAT IS COLLABORATIVE LEARNING?
In collaborative (or co-operative) learning, students work together to learn concepts or skills they might not understand on their own or in competition with one another. Te primary purpose is to develop under- standing and deepen learning by working together and learning from each other.
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING
What is Collaborative Learning?
In collaborative (or co-operative) learning, students work together to learn concepts or skills they might not understand on their own or in competition with one another. The primary purpose is to develop understanding and deepen learning by working together and learning from each other.
CASE STUDY
Frustrated with the results of the group work she was assigning, Lori was looking for a bet- ter way to have her students work together. In her experience, group work resulted in a few students doing all the work, or students doing the work independently and then just putting it all together to turn in.
ABOUT THIS RESOURCE:
ETFO’s Assessment for Learning series is designed to support members in gathering evidence of student learning through conversation and observation. Te series explores how assessment for learning can take place through a variety of practices, with a focus on personal communication tasks that offer moments of connection between teachers and students, resulting in more personal, descriptive feedback.
Find the full series at
members.etfo.ca.
Aſter attending a professional learning session on collaborative learning, Lori realized she had been using group work to have students complete a task or project instead of using it as a learning opportunity. Te next day, Lori placed her students into random groups of three and sent them to white boards to work through a prompt to help them develop stronger reasons when asked to “explain” something. Te prompt they were given was: Explain why selective logging is a sustainable practice.
Students had previously co-created the success criteria for the skill “explain” and knew they needed to try and come up with a reason that was relevant and specific to the prompt. Although students were creating persuasive reasons for why selective logging is a sustainable practice, the purpose of the collaborative learning was to develop the skills to explain.
As the groups were working, Lori circu- lated throughout the room listening and
offering feedback. Each group then had an opportunity to share their thinking during consolidation. Lori noticed that the learners were much more successful during their independent practice aſter participating in this collaborative learning task.
Te days of being frustrated when marking group projects that were mostly done by one student became a thing of the past for Lori. She now uses collaborative learning in a way that benefits all her students.
ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING
Collaborative learning supports assessment for learning by allowing students to practise a particular skill and use the success criteria to monitor their improvement. Collab- orative groups, especially when meeting at white boards, also provide an opportunity for educators to gather evidence of learning and give timely feedback.
For more information about assessment for learning please visit
etfoassessment.ca.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT AND RESPONSIVE ASSESSMENT
Collaborative learning allows students to learn from and with one another while developing deeper cultural competence – the ability to effectively interact, work and develop meaningful relationships with people of various cultural backgrounds. Collaborative learning also allows students to communicate and share their thoughts through a variety of methods depending on their strengths (e.g., written, verbal, images, etc.) and to understand the learning in a way that better aligns to their identity and learning needs.
34 ETFO VOICE | FALL 2025
Assessment for Learning
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
