4.2 Building Effective Student Collaboration
"Effective collaboration and communication skills are extremely vital to a student-centered, blended classroom where students are able to drive their own learning. Collaborative time is when students are able to apply their knowledge to real-work examples and participate in content-rich discussions. Having a strong collaborative structure and culture allows for opportunities of application far beyond the classroom and builds student confidence in their ability to communicate content both clearly and effectively!"
—Juliana Finegan, Relay GSE Blended Learning Curriculum Designer
Blended Strategies
Blended strategies are named strategies that have been found to support teachers in successful blended implementation. These specific strategies are used to give students opportunities to collaborate effectively, as well as to practice good communcation skills. It is important to make sure that all of the strategies you use to roll out blended match your model, are age appropriate, and match your teaching style in order to be successful.
4 L's: Look, Listen, Learn, and Lend
- Description: When collaborating in a group setting, students are taught to look at each other when talking, then to listen to what the other has to say, learn from this input, and then lend advice
- Rationale: Taking these steps when working in a group allows for effective collaboration because it forces students to listen to each other and truly share ideas and learn from each other's input, as opposed to just talking over each other
Click here Links to an external site. for transcript.
One-In, One-Out
- Description: Students keep one earphone in and one out during class time
- Rationale: Having one earphone in and one out allows students to hear outside noises while they are working on the devices, which allows for easier communication skills between peers and during instruction
Click here Links to an external site. for transcript.
Teacher Techniques
This strategy came from an individual teacher and is currently being used in a middle-school classroom, but can definitely be adapted for all levels.
Green Lanyards
Ms. Cahill encourages students to collaborate by designating leaders in the classroom with green lanyards. Here she describes this technique, why she initiated it, and how it helps with her blended culture and even technical support in general.
Click here Links to an external site. for transcript.
Additional Resources
These resources were collected by BetterLesson's BlendedMTP (Master Teacher Project).