Collaborative Learning Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty

by Elizabeth F. Barkley

Engaging students in active learning is a predominant theme in today's classrooms. To promote active learning, teachers across the disciplines and in all kinds of colleges are incorporating collaborative learning into their teaching. Collaborative Learning Techniques is a scholarly and well-written handbook that guides teachers through all aspects of group work, providing solid information on what to do, how to do it, and why it is important to student learning. Synthesizing the relevant research and good practice literature, the authors present detailed procedures for thirty collaborative learning techniques (CoLTs) and offer practical suggestions on a wide range of topics, including how to form groups, assign roles, build team spirit, solve problems, and evaluate and grade student participation.

Genres: Education, Teaching, Nonfiction, Research

429 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 8, 2004

Reviews

[LSC-University Park SLRC]

Read it through Lone Star College's EBSCO Ebook Collection.

[Peyton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading and re-reading. I've read this a few times over the last 10 years. I had the earlier edition and my college bought us each a copy. I think when you use this book with Classroom Assessment Techniques (Angelo/Cross), you're pretty much set. Adjuncts have how to assess learning and how to teach stuff in the class. Both are indispensable to me. I'm lucky to have had a college program that bought us both books. Also, these books would work in high schools as well. They are lists of the best techniques for teaching. CoLTs has dozens of tried-and-true techniques clearly laid out. You could pick one or two a week and immediately use them in class. I feel like a lot of my research has been done on what works and what doesn't. 5-stars for sure!

[Anyeliz]

This book is a great primer and handbook on incorporating collaborative teaching techniques in higher education. It includes a brief theoretical framework on the value of collaborative learning and several techniques with explanations and examples of its implementation in different teaching scenarios (from large lectures to online education). I do find, however, that it falls a bit short in terms of its explanation of grading procedures for collaborative learning, which is at times somewhat vague and general.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me by a teaching colleague. Honestly, I was not overly interested as I incoprorate group work in my classes already. However, I found many useful ideas, not only for my face to face classes but also for my online classes and workshop presentations. I will no doubt be re-vamping all year long. I have already recommended it to another colleague as we work on developing a hybrid training.