Collaborative online learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Collaborative online learning - Essay Example The purpose of collaborating online is to enable learners to interact with each other, to help them share knowledge, and to facilitate them in exchanging thoughts through using online portals (Geiss & Roman, 2013). Online learning incorporates collaborative learning which is recognized as a great and worthwhile opportunity, not only in terms of allowing access for fellow students, but also in giving them chances to work together so to make theor learning take place online more effectively, as compared to the traditional face-to-face class (Tsai, 2011). Generally, collaboration is now recognised as one of the most essential skills that are necessary for learners to function effectively within an online community. It is necessary that we know how students learn, communicate, and how the increasing functionality of technology is raising the bar of communication and collaboration (Sulisworo, 2012). By definition, collaborative learning refers to certain environments in which learners engage in a common and authentic task and the methodology applied therein, and in which each peer is dependent on and accountable to the others in the group or team (Tsai, 2011). Bouroumi and Fajr (2014) defined collaboration and cooperation as "teaching strategies that allow students to interact with each other and work together in order to learn more efficiently" (p.66). Cullen, Kullman, and Wild (2013) also mentioned that the practice of collaboration involves "a situation where two or more people learn or attempt to learn something together, and it ha s strong support from a range of theoretical perspectives including motivation, cognition, and social cohesion" (p. 426). Collaborative learning has also been defined as a pedagogy in which learners come together, usually in groups, and grain in their learning as a result of mutual cooperation. In this arrangement, each