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This course consist of 30 hours of online assignments and activities. Educators will receive 3.0 CEUs after the completion of this course. CEUs are issued by The North Mississippi Education Consortium. We can deliver this course online or onsite**. The cost for the online delivery is $65.
Cooperative Learning, sometimes called small-group learning, is an instructional strategy in which small groups of students work together on a common task. The task can be as simple as solving a multi-step math problem together, or as complex as developing a design for a new kind of school. In some cases, each group member is individually accountable for part of the task; in other cases, group members work together without formal role assignments.
Cooperative learning changes students' and teachers' roles in classrooms. The ownership of teaching and learning is shared by groups of students, and is no longer the sole responsibility of the teacher. The authority of setting goals, assessing learning, and facilitating learning is shared by all. Students have more opportunities to actively participate in their learning, question and challenge each other, share and discuss their ideas, and internalize their learning. Along with improving academic learning, cooperative learning helps students engage in thoughtful discourse and examine different perspectives, and it has been proven to increase students' self-esteem, motivation, and empathy.
Some challenges of using cooperative learning include releasing the control of learning, managing noise levels, resolving conflicts, and assessing student learning. Carefully structured activities can help students learn the skills to work together successfully, and structured discussion and reflection on group process can help avoid some problems. –TeacherVision
This workshop requires educators to implement new or improve current cooperative learning strategies for your current classroom. All teachers will participant in peer classroom observations for learning and improving current practices. You may need a colleague or administrator to complete some parts of this workshop.
This workshop includes activities for creating your own S.M.A.R.T. goals. Teachers are strongly encouraged to participate in this activity as part of workshop. Discussions and chats are available for all educators to further engage in this activity. We also provide a PLC tool for teachers to use in their school. The PLC and the S.M.A.R.T goal tool is available for use after the completion of this workshop.
Each workshop has teacher workload information and activity. This discusses the need for balance of teacher workload. It is meant for teacher encouragement and accountability. The workloads of teachers is something that can be addressed through consistent team collaboration. Team collaboration is strongly encouraged in all workshops.
The coursework involves reading assignments that aides in thoroughly understanding the learning objective. Teachers are required to submit a lesson snippet of the learning objective. This is for the implementing the learning objective in real time. The workshop provides a peer observation activity to further ensure the learning objective is being used. It is the intent that all the activities, discussion and assessments help the educator achieve the needed outcome(s).
This workshop will focus on the following areas:
UNIT/WEEK 1
Learning Objective:
Positive Interdependence | How can you represent the idea of Positive Interdependence in your instruction? Getting students to work together is difficult given the dynamics of the ever-changing world outside of the classroom. Making them see the value in each other is important. Teachers are more successful when they create student awareness within instruction. (1) Does your classroom support Positive Interdependence? (2) Explain how you lay the foundation for Positive Interdependence? (3) If you have used Positive Interdependence, discuss strategies used in Special Education areas? (4) Describe your working relationship with Special Education teachers in this area.
UNIT/WEEK2
Learning Objective:
Face to Face Promotive Interaction | Students can become committed to each other during projects and other schools related tasks. These interactions can expand out of the classroom. Decision-making becomes easier because the activities promote cognitive interaction. Attempting to solve problems and students supporting their group members learning is key in this strategy. (1) Describe your experience in modeling and setting the stage for Face to Face Promotive Interaction. (2) How does the lack of social skills play a role in limiting progress? (3) What are some challenges to this component of Cooperative Learning?
UNIT/WEEK3
Learning Objective:
Individual (as well as Group) Accountability | (1) How often do you use CL when new content is being covered? (2) How do you ensure that students "carrying their weight"? (3) How do most of your students respond to being responsible for there part and how they can affect their group? (4) Please share some successes and failures!
UNIT/WEEK4
Learning Objective:
Social (or Interpersonal) Skills & Group Processing | (1) How do you promote interpersonal skills? (2) What strategy do you use to group students? (3) Share your experiences of social or interpersonal activities. (4) Do you know how other teachers at your school handle this issue?
Extended Activities
Create Plan of Action using the following:
- S.M.A.R.T. Goals
- Specific (simple, sensible, significant)
- Measurable (meaningful, motivating)
- Achievable (agreed, attainable)
- Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based)
- Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive)
To make sure your goals are clear and reachable, each one should be:
Extended Activities
Components of Action Plan:
Identify task
Gather data
Develop strategies
Implement plan
Some References:
- First, you must Register on our online course system. Click the Register button below.
- After you created an account, login and select the course and pay ($65 per course).
