Image source:http://macd1214y.wordpress.com/2012/10/14/collaboration/

In yesterday’s OUP webinar we dealt with collaborative techniques for CLIL lessons and some collaborative web 2.0 tools were presented.

Collaboration in the classroom means that learners have to work together to achieve a common goal. In collaborative activities everybody has a clear role to play and the roles are interdependent, in a positive way. In order for a group to succeed they all must do their part, which means that everybody feels important. The benefits of collaboration for learning are countless. Among the most important ones mentioned in the webinar we have the follow

Collaboration…

• Contributes to the development of higher order thinking skills
• Promotes interaction & develops social interaction skills
• Builds self-esteem in students
• Develops communication skills
• Promotes understanding and tolerance
• Allows for active, exploratory learning in a safe environment
• Stimulates critical thinking
• Takes into account different learning styles
• Fosters and develops interpersonal relationships
• Develops leadership skills
• Students become responsible for own learning and for each other’s

( From: 44 benefits of collaborative learning http://www.gdrc.org/kmgmt/c-learn/44.html)

One of the reasons why collaboration belongs in the CLIL classroom is that it promotes interaction and communication, which are fundamental to learn both content and language.

Here are some of the collaborative strategies presented in the OUP webinar:

In Think, pair, share, the teacher asks an open question or poses problem and gives students time to think individually; then, they get in pairs to explain and share their ideas and to think together; finally, they share their responses with the teacher, a bigger group, or the whole class.

Here is an example of an activity which could be done using the technique Think, pair, share: Explain the meaning of this sentence: ” Reproduction guarantees the survival of the species” (from Natural Sciences. Oxford CLIL. ESO 1, Unit 8: Earth, an inhabited planet).

Jigsaws are one of the most popular collaborative techniques. Here is the example I showed in the webinar.

Project: The metal Age (from: Social Sciences. Oxford CLIL. ESO 1, Unit 8)

• Let’s make groups of 5
• Each member of the group chooses an aspect of the Metal Age to be investigated:
  • What was the natural environment like?
  • What did people live from?
  • Where did they live?
  • What did they believe in?
  • What was society like?
• Let’s make groups of experts and investigate
• Return to your original group & share the information
• Create the final product

Dictogloss consists in recreating a text collaboratively. It is a good way to start a CLIL unit when you choose a text which has to do with the topic, as an activation activiy. These are the steps to be followed:

• Choose a short and meaningful text
• Divide the class into groups
• Read the text aloud. Students write down key words.
• Provide students with pictures to help them remember the story.
• Students, in groups, recreate the text
• Groups edit their texts and present them.
• Students compare their texts with the original.

Finally, we saw how to use the Snowball technique to co-construct a definition. (From: Social Sciences. Oxford CLIL. ESO 1, Unit 3)

These are the steps:

1. Students write key words individually
2. In paris, they agree on the key words  and then write a definition, in a way that they enrich each other contribution.
3. Two pairs together, they create a new definition.

What about technology? What’s the role of technology when it comes to collaborative activities? How can it help?

Well, web 2.0 is collaborative by definition. Its essence is collaboration and communication, which are two characteristics we all want in our CLIL (or not so CLIL) lessons. Our students are millenials who are used to using tech and mobile devices in their daily lives to look for information, to interact  with others, to network in order to share and exchange ideas, info, materials… Technology is an integral part of their lives and whenever they cannot use it in the classroom they may feel like they are powering down , not just literally when they turn their devices off but also in terms of learning and thinking.

Some of the collaborative tools presented in the webinar are the following:

• Glogster and Popplet to create multimedia posters and presentations and Dipity to create interactive timelines.
• Podcasting tools such as Voxopop (audioforums) and Ivoox to create podcasting episodes (a radio programme, for instance). Voicethread to create collaborative presentations which include audio and/or video recordings.
• Infographics with Piktochart and ly
• As collaborative writing tools we mentioned Google Drive and wikis (Wikispaces and PBworks)

We discussed the convenience of using a bookmarking service to save and tag our favourite websites for easy access anytime from any computer or mobile device. Examples of social bookmarking sites include Diigo and Delicious (among others).

We saw how to save a bookmark to Diigo using the Diigolet tool (browser extension) added to your browser bar.

Social bookmarking sites are also a great way for your students to network and share resources when doing a project, for example. Also, you can provide a bunch of bookmarks as an outliner for them to search for information.  Other sites which can be used to save bookmarks in a more visual way or to curate content are Pinterest and Symbaloo.

Collaboration in the classroom is essential and we, teachers, should practice what we preach and collaborate with one another, co-create and design things together, exchange ideas and resources and network in a way that we enrich each other and keep on learning and growing professionally. When it comes to adding technology to all that, it is necessary to keep an open mind and to be willing to try out new things. Risk it! It’s well worth it.