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How to Prepare for the Challenges of Collaboration

• Groups should be set according to interest. If students are interested in the topic, they are less likely to “free-ride.”
• Groups should also take into consideration common free time. If the group members share time available to meet outside of class, it is more likely that all members will show up.
• Groups should allocate different roles/tasks among the members. This should guarantee equal contribution and will help the instructor’s grading process (Yamane 380–381).
• The best and most effective way to introduce students into collaborative work is to have them work in peer response groups (Smit).
• Students should practice working together to unlearn competitiveness.
• Teachers should initially reduce the stakes of collaboration in order to help students become comfortable with it.
• Groups should negotiate and explore what each individual is willing to contribute.
• Issues like personality differences, text control, and flexibility all need to be directly addressed.
• Collaboration is most successful when the students are already familiar with each other (Yin 30–32).
• Class time should allow writing that will prompt immediate conversations in the groups (Hillebrand 74).
• Teacher-guided computer collaboration is just one way to help basic writers see computers as more than just “fancy typewriters” (Ellis 63).

Challenges for Teachers in Collaborative Classrooms

Students are not the only ones in the classroom affected by collaborative learning—the role of the teacher shifts as well. Hillebrand points out that teachers’ responsibilities in a collaborative classroom change because they are no longer teaching from the front of the classroom. The teacher then takes a role similar to that of a director of a play—being an “omnipresent but seldom obvious force” (72). This role also demands that teachers acquire more knowledge of theory and practice on the subject (72). However, Ruth Mirtz reminds us that “if it turns out to be more work, it’s the kind of more work we need in order to be good teachers. Not more paper work or grading, but more interaction with students which lets us learn more about them and about writing and learning processes” (182).

Yin draws attention to the fact that if teachers only focus on text production, they are not concerning themselves with how and why people learn; and, in fact, text production undermines the basic assumption of collaborative learning (35). The ultimate goal of collaboration is to help students navigate their way around the writing process as a group; the product of this collaboration should be—at least when introducing collaborative activities—a secondary concern.

One may question the teacher’s role in the classroom that is set up as a critique to the teacher-centered, traditional class. Collaborative learning can be seen as emphasizing process while at the same time challenging the teacher’s authority. Stewart describes the teacher-centered class as one where “authority is vested in a teacher who disseminates knowledge to students,” whereas in a collaborative setting “authority is vested in the subject and in the social interaction of the learners” (60). Teachers are invested in who sets the values and controls the groups; this fear can lead to tighter control by the teacher, which goes against the original intent of collaboration—to put learning in the hands of the students (Roskelly 144).

Hillebrand believes that many collaborative issues teachers are faced with can be dealt with early on with carefully designed assignments. She writes, “Assignments, therefore, should “explicitly invite” students to investigate, to question, to think—in the company of others” (73). Even though most versions of collaboration don’t include collaboration with teachers, Yamane suggests that teachers involve themselves directly with the groups because they can facilitate progress and make suggestions to the students (381). Mirtz points out that having students collaborate in class can benefit teachers as well because it gives them an opportunity to join in with the groups and just be a writer for awhile—just like the students.

In the event that conflicts arise in collaborative groups, Mirtz offers three suggestions to help get the group back on the right track:

1. Modeling: The teacher becomes a member of the group and models ways to better deal with conflict. For example, the teacher can show the students how humor can help ease tension.
2. Self-Monitoring: The teacher has each member of the group write a letter to each other about how they think the group is progressing and what they think the group could use work on. This may be helpful to students who do not understand how their behavior has been affecting the group.
3. Intervention: The teacher should intervene in extreme cases where a student is out of line. This would require the teacher to step in and take over leadership of the group for awhile. The problem student should not be allowed to not participate, however; this kind of intense instruction from the teacher on how to work positively in groups is exactly what this student needs (174–75).

Challenges Bibliography