COOPERATIVE LEARNING & GROUP WORK

Often we think of group work and cooperative learning as being the same thing (because a group is involved). There are some differences between these two concepts.

WHAT IS GROUP WORK?

• Task oriented - Main objective is the completion of given task
• there is limited opportunity for leadership roles
• traditional group work is not carefully planned to assure a complete learning experience.

WHAT IS COOPERATIVE LEARNING?

• A comprehensive learning experience
• Develops individual and group skills through: positive interdependence, individual accountability, face to face accountability, interpersonal and small group social skill
• Ensures each member’s responsibility for task achievement
• Prevents competition among participants
• Facilitates each other’s learning while achieving a given task
• leadership is shared by all

DIFFERENCES

• Group work focuses on task achievement while cooperative learning on the learning experience.
• Group work often encourages competition while cooperative learning promotes equal opportunity and learning.
• Cooperative learning promotes individual accountability while group works tends to have one leader in charge of work.