Element 3: Collaboration

There are 5 Elements to an Agile Classroom. This post will describe the third element, Collaboration. Collaboration is the process in which learners work together in achieving their goals. Collaboration can be viewed as type of scaffolding in itself, as learners support one another towards deeper knowledge. As learning challenges grow more complex, the more diverse and collaborative the interactions of learners need to be in order to solve them.

The Collaboration Dial

An Agile Classroom uses four degrees of collaboration. Like a dial, you can adjust these levels of collaboration based on the challenge, capacity, and goals of your classroom.

DEGREES OF COLLABORATION
DEGREE
DESCRIPTION
1. Connect
• Learning Goals: Individual responsibility and accountability
• Learning Activities: Individual responsibility and accountability
• Grouping: None
• Duration: a few minutes
• Interaction: Inform others
2. Cooperate
• Goals: Individual responsibility and accountability
• Tasks: Individual responsibility and accountability
• Grouping: Informal/Ad-hoc. Usually Pairs/Triads
• Duration: a few minutes to entire class period.
• Interaction: Inform others with light consultation
3.  Coordinate
• Goal: Group responsibility, individual accountability
• Tasks: Individual responsibility and accountability.
• Groups: Formal group; usually 4-5 members.
• Duration:Semi-permanent; length of an assignment/project
• Interaction: Inform and consult one another
4. Collaborate
• Goal: Whole group responsibility and accountability
• Tasks: Whole group and accountability
• Groups: Base teams; usually 4-5 members
• Duration: Permanent; throughout the course
• Interaction: Shared ownership, highly supportive

Turning the Collaboration Dial of Deeper Learning

To help you choose the dial in the appropriate level of collaboration for learning, we can map these levels to Webb’s Depth of Knowledge. The deeper you go, the more important collaboration becomes.

Thanks to John Walkup, PhD at the Standarsco.com for his research in this area.

Collaboration Card Deck

For your creative use, you can download the Collaboration Card Deck . It is useful for planning your collaboration levels, making the level of collaboration visible, and playing Collaboration Poker (a future post) with students to reach consensus on the desired collaboration level.

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