Research Guides: High-Impact Educational Practices: Collaborative Assignments and Projects

Collaborative Assignments and Projects

Purpose
Research/Resources

Collaborative learning combines two key goals: learning to work and solve problems in the company of others, and sharpening one’s own understanding by listening seriously to the insights of others, especially those with different backgrounds and life experiences. Approaches range from study groups within a course, to team-based assignments and writing, to cooperative projects and research.

Facilitating Students' Collaborative Writing: Issues and Recommendations by Walter Brown; Cayo Gamber; AEHE Staff; Bruce W. Speck
ISBN: 0787958395
Publication Date: 2002-05-07
Collaboration is interwoven in the writing process in both obvious and subtle ways--from a writer using the language that he or she inherited, to referring to the works of other writers both explicitly and implicitly, to writing together with a colleague. In this book, the author explains that collaborative writing can be a useful pedagogical tool professors can use to help students actively learn about the subject matter and about themselves.

"We're Off to Replace the Wizard": Lessons from a Collaborative Group Project Assignment
This article examines the effectiveness of a collaborative group learning project for teaching a core competency in comparative politics: constitutional structures. We use a quasi-experimental design and propensity score matching to assess the value of a constitutional writing group project and presentation. The results provide strong evidence that these learning tools are highly valuable for teaching abstract concepts. Students who participated in the project scored significantly higher on a short series of questions in final exams given several weeks after the completion of the group project. Somewhat paradoxically, the project increased competency but did not affect student self-reported interest in the subject matter. The challenges and improvements that can be made for the use these types of learning tools concludes the article.
Grouping in the Dark: What College Students Learn from Group Projects
This study explored antecedents and consequences of interdependence development when undergraduates learning in groups are provided with little guidance about how to work together effectively. Previous class group work and out-of-class experiences contribute to development of goal, resource, and role interdependence among group members. Group projects contribute to student's problem-solving, communication, and conflict management skills.
Predictors of Engagement Among Minority Nursing Students: Examining the Use of Collaborative Teams, Project-Based Assignments, Authentic Learning Activities
Engaging racial and ethnic minority undergraduate nursing students with learning is a prerequisite to nullifying the disparities in attrition rates and academic achievement seen in this student population, as compared to their White counterparts. The purpose of this quantitative predictive correlational study was to determine what variability in the predicted engagement scores for racial and ethnic minority nursing students could be explained when examined using Kearsley and Shneiderman's engagement theory framework—use of collaborative teams, project-based assignments, authentic learning activities, and Web 2.0 technologies.