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1. Definition of the four key elements in order to investigate Web BasedLearning. (CSVMontesca)

ACTIVE LEARNING: A METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH..

WHATIS ACTIVELEARNING

Active Learning is an umbrella term describing the teaching approach popularised

by Bonwell and Eison (1991) that refers to several models of instruction that focus

the responsibility of learning on learners. The teaching method is centred on work

seen as the ability/opportunity to interact with the subject studied.

Active Learnings historical origin is in the field of pedagogy and education, in peer

tutoring conceived and applied by Andrei Bell (in India) and Joseph Lancaster (in

London) between the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th. The Bell

and Lancaster methods (Peer Tutoring/Mutual Teaching) used the students that were

better prepared and more intelligent as under teachers giving them, under the

guidance of a teacher, the responsibility for a small group of pupils. It was from the

end of the 19th century with the Active Schools or New Schools movement (from

the French cole active introduced by Pierre Bovet and Adolphe Ferrire) that the

concepts of Active Learning and cooperation till then known only in the

educational field as an answer to a material problem (Bell, Lancaster and their

disciples) that they find a specific cultural connection with the introduction of a new

principle, or better, with an educational scenario no longer centred on the teachers

figure but on the pupils. The rigid and centralised system of the class pivoted on the

figure of the teacher seen as a dispenser of structured knowledge established on

the basis of uniform programmes. This system gave no possibility for dicussion and

learning was a mere transmission of notions assessed from time to time. Now, the

figure of the student is seen as an individual, complex and specific; a natural and

social active subject, an actor of his own training and growth, a privileged beneficiary

and agent of the educational process in which education is seen as discovery,

game and construction. When we refer to Active Learning we think of Adolphe

Ferrire, O. Decroly, E. Claparade and Celestin Freinet.

Bridging Insula Europae134214-LLL-1-2007-IT-COMENIUS-CMP

The action has received funding from the European Commission


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Adolphe Ferrire (Geneva 1879-1960) was the founder in 1899 and director till 1925

of the Bureau International des Ecoles Nouvelles and also one of the three founders

in 1921 of the Ligue Internationale pur lEducation Nouvelle. He was also the

interpreter and mediator of the different concepts inspiring the New School

movememts emerging in several countries, presenting them in a uniform way under

the name of Active Schools borrowing the term from Pierre Bovet. Through the

Bureau International des Ecoles Nouvelles in 1919, the movement published its

theoretical foundations in 30 points from which emerges that within the new

educational plan manual work is key for and complementary to intellectual training.

O. Decroly (1871-1932), a Belgian physician and psychologist was very critical of the

traditional teaching methods of his time for their inability to training students to face

day to day life; he therefore founded in 1907, at Ixelles near Brussels, a school for

young children called LEcole de lHermitage operating on the basis of his theories.

Starting from the idea that Man is basically a biological being with primary needs and

inclined towards social life, the educational and school systems should supply

necessary intellectual tools and develop in the students all those practical skills

needed for the full satisfaction of their needs in a social environment. Schools must

teach how to face life starting from life itself, from experience and active practice

since relating knowledge with survival (satisfaction of ones needs) (theory of the

centres of interest) the acquisition of knowledge becomes interesting and

functional. The Ecole de lHermitage experience is nowadays kept active by LEcole

Decroly near Brussels.

E. Claparde (1873-1940), psychology scholar and professor at the University of

Geneva, together with Ferrire and Bovet founded in 1912 the Institute ofEducational Science J.J. Rousseau of Geneva. Contrary to Decrolys experience,

Claparedes reflections on pedagogy remain only theoretical since he never created a

workshop school; however, his thought will be a conceptual reference point for the

whole movement and will have a key role for its implications in the study

programmes of the Institute J.J. Rousseau and on the psychologists and pedagogists

who followed him (in particular, Claparedes pupil Piaget).




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The Active School, widespread in the Western world, although with theoretical

differences and particular applications deriving from the experience and formation of

the single scholars (C. Reddie and J. H. Badley in England, A. Manjon in Spain, E.

Lietz, G. Wyneken, P. Geheeb, G. Kershensteiner in Germany, W.H Kilpatrick, C.W.

Wasburne, E. Parkhurst in the US, Maria Montessori, the Agazzi sisters, Giuseppina

Pizzigoni in Italy), did not succeed in influencing in a significant way systems and

methods of teaching which were traditional in those times, always falling into the

field of private and somewhat elitist initiatives.

It was against the private and elitist nature of these schools and against the

isolation that the thought and the teaching practices of another supporter of the

movement, Celestin Freinet (1896-1966) were inspired. On the one hand he

continued criticising the traditional institutions and teaching methods recognising on

the other that the thought of Claparede, Ferrire and Cousinet was too theoretical

and sterilised since it reflected the image of childhood with no difference between

children of well-to-do families and poor ones; he therefore exposed the objective

difficulties type and quality of the structures to be used in applying such methods

in a mass or in a marginal context, thus producing in fact an exclusion. Freinets

major effort was in fact to widen the base of operation of the principles of the new

movement and transferring and applying them to the public institutions. In order to

overcome the limitations and difficulties, Freinet transformed the methodological

concept into action going beyond abstractism simplifying the teaching techniques

and adapting them to the school system and training context.

The concepts of cooperation and active learnig are so deeply rooted in Freinets

thought and practices that they have an impact on the whole educational

environment since they are not only instruments applied during the teaching processinside the classroom the life books were printed, distributed and circulated in

schools: a kind of intra-school communication offering the opportunity to start

dialogue and cooperation between students of different schools and classes -.

Freinets action has also a strong impact on teachers professional skills and on

research on education and training C.E.L. - Cooperative de lensegnement Laic (the

Lay Schools Cooperative Society) was founded in 1928 with the aim of creating a

contact between those state school teachers, mainly French, who were interested in




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applying and implementing the new method and in proposing techniques and

methods alternative to the traditional ones -. Freinets activity did not stop at

teaching: after WWII international congresses were organised in Europe, in Asia and

Latin America. In 1951 the CTS (Cooperativa della Tipografia e Scuola) was founded

in Italy changed in 1956 into M.C.E. Movimento di Educazione Cooperativa

(Movement for Educational Cooperation), still operational supported by Ernesto

Codignola (Scuola Citt Pestalozzi, Florence) and with representatives throughout the

whole of Italy. In 1958 Freinet founded the F.I.M.E.M. (Federation Internazionale des

Mouvements de Ecole Moderne). On the same lines of Freinets international activities

immediately after WWII, the Movement for Popular Culture was founded in Brazil

supported by the reforming action in the field of education of Paolo Freire (1921-

1997). Even though Freires motivations as well as his political and existential

implications were very strong education coincides with emancipation, freedom for

the oppressed and is the engine for action and transformation of history tha basis

and the foundations typical of Freinets thought can be found in the action of the

Brazilian educator, while at the same time the concepts of collaboration and

cooperation are central in education activities: No one educates anybody, no one is

self-taught, men are educated together through the mediation of the world.

The traditional methods are once again strongly criticised traditional education is

depository teaching characterised by long-winded lessons and by methods judging

peoples conscience, by assessment through reading, by distance between teachers

and students, by passing up criteria, by historiography, in other words by everything

being digested and where individual thought is prohibited. The traditional method is

recognised not as the opportunity for real personal growth and maturity, but as an

instrument of control and domination by the ruling class. Depository education

prepares to be passive, to be instructed, to obey orders and enact them. Againstnotional knowledge and a system which, as in the case of elite schools, is only a

tool of control and power, man is placed in the centre, freed from his social status

and at the same time divested of any abstract connotation, immersed in real life in

order to make his/her on experiences: removing students from an individual level to

collectivity, an educational process in which the dialogue between teachers and

students and students between themselves is enacted as a freedom practice in

contrast with traditional teaching and with the teacher/students dichotomy.




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With Frenets European experience and the contribution by the J.J. Rousseau

Institute if Geneva and Freire in South America, the concepts of collaboration and

active learning are the key points of the movement for the renewal of teaching

methods as privileged in teaching and learning practices.

After WWII and particularly in the 1970s studies and efforts are intensified in order

to define the dynamics and mechanisms of active and cooperative learning to create

a teaching organisation oriented in that direction, borrowing methods from

psychology (Kurt Lewin, Piaget, Vygotskij) as well as from sociology (Deutsh).

ACTIVELEARNINGSEENASLEARNINGBYDOING

DEFINITION OF LEARNING BY DOING

If we limit our study to the interaction concept in a practical and material

dimension, the term Active Learning may be associated to Learning by doing

defining the latter as a learning method enacted through doing, operating and

action.

Learning by doing is based on the Discovery Learning pedagogic movement born

in the 1960s with Jerome Bruner. Bruner maintains that Practice in discovering for

oneself teaches one to acquire information in a way that makes that information

more readily viable in problem solving" (1961). Discovery Learning is a method

through which students are encouraged to interatc witn their learning environment,

explore and manipulate objects guided by pre-arranged problems to which solutions

must be found.

Active Learning/Learning by doing is also decribed as a combination of techniques

and strategies aiming at creating the real participation of each single student in the

learning process. Although interaction can be achieved both individually and through

group work, Active Learning privilidges nowadays the latter aspect introducing it in

professional and asdult training vis a vis the school and young peoples educational

world.




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The following are some of the techniques and strategies implemented by the

method:

PEERTEACHING/COOPERATIVE LEARNING (SEESPECIFICPARAGRAPH)

PROJECT WORK: this is a professional project implemented by the trainees at

the end of the teaching cycle. The students, under the guidance of their

teachers, are divided into groups and must independently develop a project

by applying and coordinating the techniques, knowledge and competences

acquired during the course expressing new potentials, new resources and

skills.

ROLE PLAYNG: Role games used to envisage real situations thus giving the

students the chance to confront with the real world (the term is very similar

to Simulation/Goal Based Scenarios) and to take somebody elses role, the

result being the acquisition of new knowledge and the outlining of group

behaviour and individual creativity. Role Playing is generally divided into

four steps:

Warming up: through specific techniques (sketches, interviews,

debates etc) to create a relaxed and constructive state of mind in

the participants.

Action: the students must identify themselves in different roles and

try to find solutions to the problems posed to them.

Cooling off:the students step out of their roles and the game

Analsys:analysis, comments and debates on what has happened

SIMULATION/GOAL-BASED-SCENARIOS; a real life situation is artificially created. The

students can practice and take realistic decisions and pursue a professional

objective through knowledge and skills functional to its achievement. The

aim of the simulation should be chosen to motivate the participant who

would then use all his/her already acquired competences thus creating an

ideal situation in which old and new knowledge would integrate one

another.

DRAMA: STAGINGAPROPERCONTEXTUALISEDTHEATREACTIVITY.




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This type of competition creates a strong team spirit thus intensly living the

experience so that the difficulties the group is facing may be overcome. Two

teams challenge one another improving situations suggested by the teacher

or by a facilitator (tutor) in the presence of a referee who decides the length

and nature of the improvisations. Another more simple form is the selection

of short literary extracts from a management text which will be read by the

actors. All texts will be selected according to the subject to be treated:.

BRAIN STORMING: this is a technique used to bring to the surface ideas of the

members of the group that are then analysed and reviewed as follows:

define and break-down the problem

outline the type of intervention according to the solution required:

creative or traditional

produce new ideas

decision and evaluation of ideas (for these last two steps the groups

should not exceed 6/10 individuals and be as mixed as possible)

a report where the ideas are assessed in terms of feasibility,

convenience and compatibility with the company which is the object of the

simulation

PROBLEM SOLVING: is the process through which problems are analysed,

confronted and positively solved.

ACTIVE LEARNINGAS COOPERATIVE LEARNING

DEFINITIONOF COOPERATIVE LEARNING

According to Johnson, Johnson and Smith (1991) Cooperative Learning is a

teaching/learning method directly involving the students through work carried out in

small groups in order to reach a common goal in conditions including the following

elements:

1. Positive interdependence. Members are encouraged to establish a type of

relationship which does not allow individual success and the aim is achieved by




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the whole group and therefore each participant takes care of his own and

everybody elses work. In fact, if the work carried out by one is not satisfactory,

everybody else would suffer the consequences.

2. Face-to-face promotional interaction. Although part of the work can be assigned

and done individually, a certain amount of it must be carried out through the

interaction of all participants by an exchange of information, challenging other

members conclusions and, above all, by teaching and encouraging each other.

3. Responsibility and individual assessment. All group members are responsible for

the work assigned and for learning whatever there is to acquire the knowledge of.

4. Proper use of social skills. Students are encouraged and assisted in developing

and practicing cooperative competences such as communication, establishing

mutual trust, shared leadership, ability in problem solving, all of which must be

properly taught and learnt.

5. Control and revision of group work. The participants set the objectives

periodically assessing the work in progress and deciding on the future changes to

improve the groups efficiency.

If we accept this definition, the term Cooperative Learning does not simply single

out a group of students working together but a learning method which includes the

aforesaid elements.

Models and characteristics of contemporary Cooperative Learning.

The best known models are the following:

1. Learning Together

2. Structural Approach

3. Group Investigation

4. Student Team Learning

5. Complex Instructions


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6. Communities of Learners

7. Cognitive apprenticeship

Each method is different from one another since it focuses on specific aspects, such

as:

R.E. Slavins Student Team Learning emphasises the importance of extrinsic

motivation;

S. Kagan and M. Kaganos Structural Approach is based on the principles of

simultaneous interaction, equality and participation through positive

interdependence and individual responsibility;

Elizabeth Cohens Complex Instruction aims at changing the educational

prospects of teachers and students by overcoming their prejudices and the

assignment of different roles in carrying out more complex tasks also to prevent

the risk of favouring the more able students as it might happen in small groups;

Group Investigation has developed mostly in Israel.

LEARNING TOGETHER

This method was conceived in the US by David and Roger Johnson (University of

Minnesota, Cooperative Learning Center) and was included in the 'Circles of

Learning'. The concept of cooperation/collaboration is applied as a process through

the creation of work groups of 2 to 6 students who work together sharing the

resources and mutually helping each other. The method includes also a reward

system with rewards and bonuses according to the work carried out by each group.

'Learning Together' is based on the awareness and knowledge of three dynamics in

which the class work can be presented and organised which are linked with the

three psychological processes in learning outlined by the authors:

1. individual learning/individualistic form

2. competitive learning/competition form

3. cooperative learning/cooperation form


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1. THE INDIVIDUALISTIC FORM

This is formed by the following elements:

each students works individually;

the classroom is organised with separate workstations running along the room

perimeter;

clear explanation of the tasks: content, activity, objectives for each single

participant, awareness that the work carried out is in no way connected with

that of the other students.

2. THE COMPETITIVE FORM


the groups are formed by classification, from the more to the less proficient

students; they are mixed groups so that each one has a student who can

compete with colleagues of equal skills from other groups;

the competition takes place between members of equal skills belonging to

different groups so that the final assessment is obtained by adding up the

score of all members belonging to the initial groups;

the groups are separated from one another;

the material is structured in a cooperative form when the groups work

separately, and in a cooperative form when they are in competition;

clear explanation of the task: group work and work for the competition; the

other group is the rival to beat, therefore if each individual will be the best in

each group in the competition also the cooperative group to which he/shebelongs will come out the best since the scores will be summed up.

3. THE COOPERATIVE FORM


groups composed of 3 to 6 students, preferably mixed.

accommodation in a semi-circular classroom so that the participants may

share the materials, look at each other and speak in a low voice;




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a copy of the material is given to each group so that the students are forced

to work together;

clear explanation of the task: objectives, contents, activity, assessment

criteria, stressing on the shared responsibility in the achievement of the

objective by the students;

role distribution: e.g. one student takes notes, another reads the final

elaboration etc.

work must be carried out according to established rules.

The Cooperative form is also based on five key elements, according to D and R.

Johnson:

1. Positive Interdependence, where the students are committed to theimprovement of the performance of each individual member since individual

success is impossible without collective success;

2. Face-to-face or constructive interaction;

3. Individual and group responsibility, the group is responsible for aimachievement and each member is responsible for individual contribution;

4. Accomplishment of specific social skills necessary for the

interpersonal relationship within the group, the students operate in their

roles required by the work creating a climate of collaboration and mutual

trust;

5. Group assessment, the group assesses the results achieved as well as its

modus operandi and sets improvement objectives.

1. Formal Cooperative Learning. Students work together from one hour to a few

weeks to achieve the learning objectives and making sure that each individual within

the group carries out successfully the assigned task. Each learning task, for each

discipline and in every curriculum can be structured in a cooperative model. Any

discipline can be structured in a form type of cooperative learning and the teachers

will:

decide before the lessons begins;




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specify the lessons objectives;

explain the task to be carried out and the type of interdependence which will be

used;

check the students learning level and mediate within the group to supply

assistance and to improve the groups interpersonal skills;

asses the students learning level helping them in reviewing their groups

learning.

2. Informal Cooperative LearningAny kind of encouragement can be used to help the students to work together in

order to achieve a learning objective. The groups are formed ad hoc and last for a

few minutes to a whole lesson. Informal groups help the teacher to ensure that the

students become proficient in work organisation, know how to explain topics,

summarise and integrate the material inside the conceptual structures already

acquired or learnt during the lessons.

3. Cooperative basic groupsThese groups are always mixed and they can last a whole school year. They allow

the students to establish continuous relationships thus supplying support, help,

encouragement and assistance to accomplish the work more efficiently, progress in

the studies, learn the appropriate ways to develop cognition and socially helpful

skills. These groups meet every day in elementary schools and about twice a week

in other grades. The members interact informally every day within and through the

class, discussing about their work and helping those in need with their homework.

Group work improves attendance, personalises class work and improves learning

quality and volume.

STRUCTURALAPPROACH

Spencer Kagan (1944-), is a professor of psychology and pedagogy at the Berkeley

University and is considered the father of the structural approach theory in a

cooperative teaching system applied both in child and adult education. The theory

and the development of Kagans structures were conceived around the 1980s


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through an experimental research on childrens motivation towards socialisation and

their ability to interact.

Kagans model does not describe the parts of a cooperative learning process (S. and

M. Kagans theory shares the same five elements outlined by D. and R. Johnson:

positive interdependence, face-to-face interaction, individual and group

responsibility) but defines a structure of work in methodological and technical

terms aiming at an effective development of a cooperative learning process and

social organisation of the class.

"The structural approach to cooperative learning is based on defining the use of the

various ways, called structures, to organise individual interaction in the class. The

definition and the analysis of the structures allow the systematic planning of

cooperative learning lessons. The structures achieve foreseeable results in school,

language, cognition an social spheres; they are also combined to create multi-

structure based lessons; new structures are dveeloped and old ones evolve.

The "Structural Approach" is divided into 4 key elements:

elements;

structures;

activities;

lesson planning.

"Elements can be defined as actions having the teacher, the individual or the group

or a couple of people as actors, and one or the other, according to the cases, as

beneficiaries. In terms of cooperative action they can be the individual reflection,debates between couples, sharing with the whole class. A sequence of elements

functional to the achievement of a target forms a structure. Structures can be of

several types and are applicable to different objectives and contents, e.g. forming

of groups or of the class, introduction to a lesson, command of cognitive elements,

good communication skills, reflection or acquisition of specific competences.

Each structure is formed by more elements, that is by cooperative work units

limited in time and to specific activities and tasks. The Structural Approach allows




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teachers to have a whole range of tools which can be modified or widened.

Furthermore, since these structures are independent from content and activity as

they are merely a set of coherent actions once teachers have become familiar

with them they have a range of planning tools which can be easily used for lesson

planning during their curriculum programme. Together with a content they form

an activity. Several activities allow lesson structuring or planning. Structures are

therefore defined as useful tools for lesson planning and are considered

organisation and structuring models for interpersonal relations within a group; they

also obtain or help in the achievement of foreseeable results.

The structures, their variations in answer to different needs and with different

functions are divided into 6 categories:

teambuilding;

classbuilding;

command of knowledge;

cognitive competences;

information sharing;

communication competences.

Interaction between these elements allows efficient cooperative lesson planning.

Giving each of these structures a specific name allows teachers and students alike

to learn and memorise them more easily. For instance, saying Numbered Heads is

more quickly understandable and descriptive than saying Group colleagues who

consult with each other before putting their individual responsibility on the line.

These are therefore 4 good reasons to give the structures a specific name:

- students know exactly what they have to do;

- they are easier to remember;

- a name makes communication among teachers easier;

- structures become quantifiable curricula.

Kagans idea fully recognises and outlines the teachers strategic role




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"... the basic difference between the structural approach and all other methods is

that the latter see teachers planning or using complex lessons, whereas the

structural approach is based on very simple teaching strategies. In using the other

methods, cooperative learning is taught as a subject, whereas with the structural

approach, cooperative learning becomes part of each lesson through the use of

simple structures

The task of a teacher is to fill the structures and the cooperative elements with

contents chosen according to the objectives and level of complexity, as well as

proposing the activities.

Kagan is a supporter of the multiple intelligence theory and therefore suggests

multi-structural lesson planning which include a vast number of structures able to

stimulate the students different intelligence and sensitivity. There must be a

multi-mode input with an impact on the students different senses since some of

them are more inclined to learn through vision, some through hearing and some

through kinetic learning. Kagan insists on the use of simulations, movies,

exhibitions of finished products, provocative questions, contrasting experiences,

interviews to colleagues, presence of experts etc. some of the proposed structureshelp to encourage relations favouring multiple intelligence, others emotional

intelligence and high level cognitive competences.

GROUP INVESTIGATIONThis method was conceived in Israel by Yael e Shlomo Sharanand Rachel Hertz-

Lazarowitz: "It is a teaching method in which students collaborate in small groups

to examine, understand and experiment the subject studied.

Group investigation tries to change the interactive model, according to which the

teacher poses the questions and the student answers them, by redefining the role

of teachers and students assigning to the former the task of answering the

questions more than asking them.

Group Investigation focuses on learning activities based on group research work.

Motivation to learning or wish to know must be stimulated by the presence of a

problem. The teacher presents the problem which becomes the object of research

among the groups thus promoting collaboration.


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The objectives of group investigation are:

create the conditions to allow the students, in collaboration with their

colleagues, to single out the problems, establish the procedures to understand

them and collect the relevant information;

give the students the feeling of being a learning community in which

knowledge is acquired through cooperation;

promote group debate to outline the questions more important for problem

solving; the research is focused mainly on the so called open-ended questions

which allow certainty in the answers and make the students sure that their

questions are well worthy attention;

change the teachers traditional role: their task is no longer to ask questions but

to provoke them;

exploit the emotional sides of learning: students commitment, increased level

of self-awareness, research of personal significance.

Sharan writes: the group is certainly an ideal structure to bring together all personal

needs: anxieties, doubts, students personal desires but is also an unbeatable

instrument to solve social problems [] When working on a research task together

with the group colleagues the single individual becomes aware of the different

viewpoints which allow them to understand who they really are, looking at

themselves projected in other peoples viewpoints.

Starting from:The students carry out a research: learning in cooperative groups

the group research is structured in the following steps:

1. once given the object of research they examine the material, ask the relevant

questions and divide them into categories which become sub-topics. They then

form the research group by sub-topic;

2. the groups plan the research strategies and together prepare the activity

development course; they also decide how the research should be carried out and

assign the task to each member;

3. the groups carry out the research work. The members collect, organise and

analyse the information received from the various sources, report their findings




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and reach the conclusions. The members discuss the work in progress in order to

exchange, widen, clarify and integrate ideas and information;

4. the groups prepare their presentations. Each member outlines the most

significant item emerged from their research, plan how the results should be

presented. The representatives of each group form a guidance committee to

coordinate the projects final presentation to the class;

5. the groups produce their presentations in various modalities (posters, tracing

paper, etc) the audience will assess the clarity of the presentation and the level of

attention raised;

6. Teachers and students will assess the projects. The students will exchange

views on the research and of their personal experience. Teachers and students

will express their joint assessment of the individual, group and class learning.

The Student Team Learning, conceived by Robert Slavin focuses on an incentive and

assessment method involving personal responsibility, mutual help and equal

opportunities of success through the assignment of incentives and rewards in order

to encourage the group to mutual commitment and help. The rewards vary according

to age or situation, but are always a public recognition of the results achieved. Each

member is responsible for the achievement of these results through personal

commitment and the other members help. Interdependence ensures everybody the

chance of success if they all improve on their previous performance. The teacher

organises mixed groups, presents the rewards, draws up and approves the

classification tables.

Slavin outlines a series of different cooperative learning methods entailing

competitions between groups of the same skill level. The stress is put on the

achievement of group objectives but also individual responsibility is considered

important in terms of improvement of personal performance. Also the less gifted

student is encouraged to improve his/her own performance.

The main elements of Student Team Learning are:

1. rewarding the group;

2. individual responsibility, also towards the other members;

3. equal opportunity for success.




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The cooperation techniques in Student Team Learning are five:

STAD (Student Team Achievement Divisions)

The teachers present a new topic then divide the class into mixed groups of four

members each. The members examine the information received and then assist the

other colleagues in the group. Weekly quizzes are assigned and individual scores are

registered. The teachers also write down the score improvements between old and

new tests. The students who reach a given performance level are either assigned a

better classification or given a reward.

TGT (Teams-Games-Tournaments)

The teacher introduces a lesson on a certain subject or carries out a period of

lesson/debate. From this start the students activity; assisting one another, they

review the written tasks based on the information received. Then the students will

take part to weekly tournaments in which groups of the same skill level compete by

answering the highest number of questions put forward by the teacher. Each correct

answer scores a number of points. The groups with the highest score are rewarded.

JIGSAW

The jigsaw method, conceived by Elliot Aronson, uses task specialisation: each

student is assigned a task which contributes to the groups final objective. The

students are divided into mixed groups of 3 to 6 individuals and each of them is

assigned a part of a lesson. Each student works individually to become fully familiar

with that part of the lesson and is responsible for transmitting his/her knowledge to

the other group, as well as having the task to carry out an in-depth study of the

information received from his colleagues. The teacher will assess the groups

knowledge level on the subject as a whole. Individual marks will be assigned after an

examination.

The jigsaw II model conceived by Slavin is more effective when the object of the

lesson consists in concept learning rather than in ability. All students read a passage

or a short story and each one of them, within a group of 5-6 individuals, is given a

certain amount of written information on a different subject. After having read what

has been given to them some of the students, one for each group, meet a group of

temporary experts composed of colleagues who have studied the same subject.




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After a debate has taken place the students will go back to their original groups and

will teach their colleagues all they have learnt on that specific subject. At the end of

this process, an individual quiz including all the studied subjects will be handed out.

Then the teacher will present each group with a certificate stating the improvements

on the basis of the scores obtained by solving the quizzes.

TAI (Team Assisted Individualization)

The TAI model is a maths programme combining cooperative learning with individual

education. The main point of this approach is that less gifted students can improve

their performance without slowing down the more clever ones. This is achieved by

mixing low, medium and high level students in teams of 4-5 members. The process is

divided into the following phases:

o the students undergo a test and are placed in an individualised programme;

o they work and carry out their task independently and each at his/her own level;

o they have group meetings, swap documents and reports, check each others math

skills and help each other;

o complete an assessment quiz;

o once the work has been completed the students undergo a final test. The groups

receive an award based on the average number of units completed by the

members of the teams.

In the TAI approach the role of the teacher is to introduce the more important

concepts by direct teaching before the students begin to work on their individualised

units. Sometimes the teacher holds the lesson to the whole class. Furthermore, the

teacher assigns reality tests to the students. The use of this approach improvesboth self-esteem and math performance.

CIRC(Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition)

The CIRC is a cooperative learning model for reading and composition. Its main

elements are the following:

o Reading . Instead of using a text book, teaching is carried out through group

activity (e.g. the students can help each other in identifying the literary elements




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of an extract; the plot, the characters, the scene. They can also anticipate the

end of the story or can repeat it anew).

o The art of writing/language . Teaching technocal aspects of writing is integrated

with written tasks using a language text. The students help each other in writing

original compositions or stories.

o Cooperation. This implies team work carried out by two students, coming from

different reading groups. They take it in turn to read, check if what is read is also

understood, check the spelling, compile written texts and spread books and essays

on the art of writing. For the assessment the students will have to analyse

appropriate texts when their team colleagues feel ready, and awards certificates are

given on the basis of the average results achieved by the whole group.

COMPLEXINSTRUCTION

The Complex instruction method by Elisabeth Cohen was first started around the

1980s at Stanford university aiming at achieving equality in the class through the

study of causes of social disparities and setting up new educational practices based

mainly on cooperation and capable of bringing to the surface these elements of

disparity (and iniquity). This objective is reachable only if interaction among students

takes place on an equal status basis and to obtain this goal it is absolutely necessary

to introduce a deep change in the bad habits of the school system. Complex

Instruction is a method which stems from acceptance of the plurality of intelligences

(a conquest of great pedagogues such as Gardner, but not yet introduced in Italian

schools) which must be achieved by the re-structuring of relationships within the

class. This model gives great importance to sociological processes, to equality in

educational opportunities, to status dynamics and their consequences when

influencing both school life of single students and that of the class. Complex

Instructions starting point is the acceptance of the fact that the setting up of a small

group favours the best students even if there is the intention by the team members

to help the least gifted, since the subjects enjoying a higher status tend to emerge

and have a strong influence over the whole team although sometimes they do not

possess the competences attributed to them by teachers and colleagues. The mixing

of different levels of students is not a disadvantage but is a growth opportunity both

at cognitive and social level. The method focuses on strategies to be followed in order




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to give all team members the same learning opportunities, and is decribed by the

following steps:

1. review prejudices on teachers and students skills;

2. teach the students how to interact and how to use specific competences to carry

out the required tasks;

3. teachers must define complex tasks requiring the application of a series of actions;

4. organise complex tasks;

5. assess work group in order to improve it.COMMUNITIESOF LEARNERS

In the "Communities of Learners model suggested by Ann Brown and Beatrice

Ligorio the class is seen as a proper community where all actors can play different

roles swapping tasks and responsibilities. The students are all apprentices: they

learn new things by putting their competences on the line, have access to new

information using original communication channels and tools, discuss with the

others already acquired and dubious knowledge, debate over ideas, problems and

questions. The teacher is no longer the only depository and official dispenser ofknowledge even if he/she continue to be useful figure and model, a support and a

facilitator in collecting and assessing information. Students no longer are the

passive subjects in receiving the notions but are considered active subjects in

knowledge acquisition. The most important didactic objective is to allow students to

acquire the command of active learning strategies. Each community member is at

the same time apprentice and teacher and shares his/her knowledge with all the

others. Each member is considered a source to be consulted on information

gathering, answers to questions, reflection and all share their knowledge with the

others. Special attention is given to self control, self orientation and self

assessment skills. The students great introspective power is key for curricula

organisation and for the re-elaboration of the theoretical approach. For instance,

students have a role in the planning and outlining of curricula thus becoming partly

responsible.

From a theoretical point of view an important re-elaboration action sees classes as

a proximal multiple development areas interacting with multiple agents. The


http://www.apprendimentocooperativo.it/?ida=11652http://www.apprendimentocooperativo.it/?ida=11652http://www.apprendimentocooperativo.it/?ida=11652http://www.apprendimentocooperativo.it/?ida=11652http://www.apprendimentocooperativo.it/?ida=11652http://www.apprendimentocooperativo.it/?ida=11652http://www.apprendimentocooperativo.it/?ida=11652http://www.apprendimentocooperativo.it/?ida=10965http://www.apprendimentocooperativo.it/?ida=11671http://www.apprendimentocooperativo.it/?ida=11652http://www.apprendimentocooperativo.it/?ida=10965http://www.apprendimentocooperativo.it/?ida=11671


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subjects interacting with proximal development areas may be people (adults and

children with equal or different competences) or tools (media and artefacts such as

books, videos, movies, scientific equipment, software).

Aim of the project is to encourage the acquisition of knowledge and competences by

all community members. The following is a definition given by G. Trentin: "The

communities of learners have the objective of not only of increasing the knowledge

level but also of transforming students into teachers capable to use learning

strategies and methodologies of higher leve,l that is those typical of people who are

well familiar with a certain subject and are capable to explain it and make it

accessible to others(Brown, in the dossier Irre-Toscana).

COGNITIVE APPRENTICESHIP

The cognitive apprenticeship model, developed above all others by Allan Collins, John

Seely Brown and Susan Newman, stems from the observation of the failure of

traditional schools which do not allow full command by the students of cognitive tools

used in teaching: the solution is found in the integration of formal education with

apprenticeship which was the dominating feature before compulsory education wasintroduced.

Traditional apprenticeship employs four main strategies to promote export

competence:

modelling - the apprentice observes and copies the master who shows him/her

how to work;

coaching - the teacher assists the apprentice continuously, according to needs:

directs the apprentices attention towards a certain aspect, supplies the feedback,

facilitates work;

scaffolding - this is a particular form of coaching: the teacher supplies a support

to the apprentice or encourages him/her, presets the work etc.;

fading - the teacher gradually withdraws support progressively giving space to

more responsibilities.

Cognitive apprenticeship is different from traditional teaching because of the

attention given to the meta-cognitive dimension, to supervision and to context.




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students. This wide concept of distance education can include any text writing/reading

experience lasting a certain length of time and born out of the authors intuition to

educate the public.

In this perspective we could, with a certain emphasis, include a considerable part of

western literary production as examples of Distance education beginning with Hesiods

Works and Days and its technical precepts for agriculture and navigation, moving to

Ciceros Letters and so on to the essays on Ethics and Politics written from the 1700s

to our days.

The passage from generic production of educational textbooks to paper methods of

Distance Training took place with the Industrial Revolution in the XIX century.

The reason was in the increased demand for training outside the usual school channels

and the new economic and material conditions ensuring the effectiveness and

convenience of distance communication giving it an ever increasing social relevance. In

fact, beginning in the mid 1800s the progress in printing techniques and in railway

transport made possible even at considerable distance the production and distribution

of printed courses and lectures, questionnaires and all other forms of printed matter

forming the didactic material which was used for a long time by the Correspondence

School, particularly in the Anglo Saxon countries.

The first known Correspondence School, the Sir Pitman Correspondence College, was

founded in England in 1840. During the same period Charles Toussaint and Gustav

Langenscheidt founded in Berlin (1856) a Correspondence School for Foreign

Languages. In order to bring education to populations spread over vast territories and

reachable with great difficulty, in 1889 the Queensland University of Australia started a

series of correspondence courses and between the end of the 19th century and the

beginning of the 1990s the Saskatchewan University of Canada offered a range of

training courses over a good part of the Northern Territory.However, the higher level of diffusion was reached in the US where in 1874 the Illinois

Wesleyan University of Bloomington organised university courses completely by

correspondence. This initiative was followed in 1883 by the foundation of the

Correspondence University at Ithaca (New York). In 1890 the American Society for the

Extension of the University teaching was founded in Philadelphia with the objective of

extending education to the more disadvantaged classes and, the following year,

correspondence university courses began in the University of Wisconsin.




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A crucial moment was when the discoveries in telecommunications such as the

telephone and the radio could be used alongside the printed production thus

enormously increasing the possibility of didactic interaction.

Since 1927, in Great Britain the BBC organises radio programmes integrating the

normal school courses. During the following ten years a number of similar initiatives

were launched: in 1935 the Farm Radio Forum of the Extension department of the St.

Franois Xavier University in Canada, soon followed by many private radios, launched a

series of learning courses for workers such as the Revil Rural for farmers; in 1939 the

Iowa University (US) offered a telephone tutoring service to those students who had

difficulty in attending the lessons. Soon after WWII, thanks to the economic boom in

the Western countries, the invention and development of audio-visual media and the

mass diffusion of radios, record players and household appliances in general, brouight

about the passage from the first generation distance training to the second - also

called multi-media generation since sound and visual recording became available side

by side with the printed production (in the 1970s and 1980s with the invention of the

computer specific programmes became available).

The number of users of correspondence courses increased rapidly; in some countries

institutions such as the British Open University (1969) completely dedicated work to

Distance Learning. The Open University model was exported in the whole world (the

Nordisk Korrespondance Institutt in Norway, the Hagen Fernuniversitat in the Germany

Federal Republic, the Universidad Nacional de Education a Distancia in Spain, the

Research and Training Centre at the University of Helsinki).

Even though the second generation Distance education based on the estensive use of

didactic material (traditional printed courses for lectures, videorecording,

didactic/multimedia software) represents a further step forward from the first

generation it was limited to being only a provider of the service: teachers and

studenrts remained isolated from one another and so was for studentas and students,

apart from occasional face-to-face meetings (when programmed). Learning was

therefore still an andividual process and not a social one. The third generation (E-

learning) is instead based on computer and telecom techniques, thus transforming

learning into a social process.




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Through the use of tools such as the Comnputer Mediated Communication or the

Computer Conferency System (email, chalines, forums, video-conference etc) there is

active interaction between users bringing about experience sharing and the acquisition

of new comptences (this is the moment of connection between Thrid generation

Distance learning and Cooperartive learning).

The technological progress of the last ten years has given simulation a place of great

importance in the FaD strategies; the high level of interactivity has increased the level

of learning without the mediation of language. However, owing to the high degree of

innovation and sophistication of technical supports and of software, these experiences

are still very limited and used on an experimental level.

The link between third generation Distance learning, Cooperative Learning and Active

Learning is established by the online use of simulation/Goal Based Scenarios/Role

Playing and Social Learning Networking under the modelling form.

Main interaction tools in E-learning

- Synchonous tools

These allow simultaneous communication between two or more people and have the

advantage of ereasing distances (also trans-oceanic ones) and of reducing costs.

Synchronous tools are:

Internet rely chat - this allows real time conversation amongst users far away

from each other by text messages sent via computer

VideoConference

Synchronous Forum - this is smilar to the rely chat. Conversations are

structured and organised by specific topics and interest groups

Live web assistant - this is an interface system communicating with the users

and answering their questions in real time

- Asynchronous tools

These allow non-synchronous communication between users and are:

E-mail (electronic mail) - all post messages sent via internet.

Document sharing, electronic-repository and file/sharing - digital spaces in

which files can be added, consulted and read.




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Asynchronous Forum, similar to the Synchronous Forum - message sending

is not subordinated to established times, users have free access and can

exchange information or consult the space if the subject treated is of interest.

Messages are open to anyone and contributions can be added just like with a

note board. A Forum is not just a space were messages are exchanged but is a

proper meeting point based on interaction.

E-learning and the evolution of the Internet: the WEB 2.0

Web 2.0 or Internet 2.0 is an evolution of the Internet (in particular of the World

Wide Web), compared to the 1990s Web 1.0.

Web 2.0 includes all online applications allowing high interaction between users and

between users and website (blogs, forums, chat lines, Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook,

Myspace, Gmail etc). Web 2.0 is above all a philosophical approach to the Web

emphasising its social dimension and not only its mere use. It uses the same

technology as Web 1.0 (TCP/TP) and the same tools but the innovation is that it is

focused on contents, information and interaction. It is a space based on co-presence

where the users can create or change the various multimedia contents

ACTIVELEARNINGASSOCIALLEARNINGNETWORK

FROMSOCIALLEARNINGANDSOCIALNETWORKTOSOCIALLEARNINGNETWORK

SOCIALLEARNING

From the theory of social learning to cognitivism

The social learning theory represents one of the very first observations on this subject

by the Canadian psychologist Albert Bandura (1925-). He has noted how the learning

process in individuals is not exclusively related to the direct relationship subject/object




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but also to in direct experiences developed through the observation of behaviour and

actions of other people.

Bandura used the term modelling to define the learning process of an observing

individual that changes according to the behaviour of another person acting as model.

Bandura has carried out studies on aggressive behaviour in children observing a model

(the Bobo doll experiment).

The identification of the learner with the model is considered key for observative

learning and the higher is the level of identification the more effective will be the result.

Banduras reflections on perceived self-efficacy i.e. the individuals belief in his skill to

organise and carry out the actions necessary to reach a given target marks the end

point of the theories on social learning and the standing point of the Social Cognitive

learning theory (1997).

Bandura detatches from his first behavioural approaches to define and build an approach

towards the cognitive processes and to the study of the individual in the environment.

The concept of percieved self-efficacy is strongly linked to human agency recognising

it as the ability of the individual to actively work in a specific context. Agency is a human

function regarding both single individuals and groups, and it can be decsribed as the skill

to generate specific actions in order to gain a result. In evaluating the role of

intentionality Bandura separates the ways an individual uses to achieve a result from the

effects these produce.

Agency is considered a function related to intentional acts, regardless of their outcome.

The study of this process is based on the assumption that it is possible to have an effect

on events.

Banduras approach accepts that human behaviour is mainly determined by many

interacting factors such as the following:

1. interior personal factors. Cognitive, sentimental, biological;2. behaviour arising from particular situations;

3. environmental factors determining individuality and behaviour.

Human actions are determined by a number of interdependent causes involving the

three factors described above. The influence of those factors varies according to the

individuals activity, circumstances and the length of time necessary for an element to

develop its effects. Bandura theorises that a central value determining change and




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development in human behaviour is the social system and that therefore actions are

influenced by social and structural circumstances.

In this situation human beings are at the same time the producers and the product of

the social system determining their behaviour, in fact the social structures having the

scope of organising and regulating human activities have been established by the same

people who are part of them.

These structures set up obligations and supply resources for the development of

individuals and groups belonging to them a s well as a series of shared practices

whereas within their guidelines there is wide space for free will in their application.

Bandura also noted that individuals more inclined to action know how to take advantage

of the opportunities offered by social structures and how to circumvent their restrictions

whereas inefficient people are less able to exploit the resources and become discouraged

when faced with problems created by the social system.

DEFINITIONOF SOCIAL NETWORK

A Social Network is composed of any group of people (social actors) connected by social

links (definite relationships) ranging from casual acquaintance to work and family. The

term is used as a category or interpretative metaphor in social studies such as

sociology, psychology or cultural anthropology. The online version of Social network is

one of the most evolved forms of Web communication.

Through the Internet and its technology the network of social relations we build up day

after day almost casually can be organised, consulted and enriched by new contacts.

The phenomenon of online Social networks was developed in the US around three main

themes: profession, friendship and love, and has since developed exponentially thanks

to websites like Friendster, Tribe.net and LinkedIn. From then onwards the most

important search engines have started to develop and implement their own online

networks: Google launched ORKUL in January 2004 and the Spanish/Portuguese

language KIBOP began in the same year, the first Italian portal with its own social

network was Supereva. According to the article How Netlog Leaps Language barriers

published on the Wall Stree Journal the 1st November 2007 the most clicked on social

networks are Myspace and Facebook with 107 and 73 million users respectively.

Further steps forward have been made by semantic social networks which connect both

individuals and weblogs such as StumbleUpon and Funchain.




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In these cases the web is a kind of hybrid between a social network and an aggregator

i.e. a website allowing blog authors to publicise their posts. The use of social networks is

becoming widespread as an evolution of online radios.

The websites do not propose only music in MP3 format, they interpret also the tastes of

the users in this way new artists and their music can be discovered. Through websites

such as Pandora, lastfm and musicovery.com it is possible to create communities inviting

ones own friends to join in and share other users taste in music.

Social networks can be businesslike too or develop around a certain specific territory

such as those about culture, free time and a specific town.

Social networks and community networking are creating a new way of working towards

a sustainable growth.

Social network analysis

Social Network Analysis (SNA) is a theoretical and methodological study of social

networks (also called net work theory) and is a branch of network analysis. It is a recent

method of analysis of social relations born and developed out of two main lines: the

anthropological school of Manchester founded by a group of researchers around 1940

(C. Mitchell, J. Barnes, E. Bott, V Turner) associate members of the Rhodes-Livingstone

Institute of Lusaka in Central Africa established in 1938, directed by Gluckman between

1941 and 47, which studied in situation processes; the second line is the American

structured analysis, developed in the 1970s at Harvard University by a group of scholars

(Scott, Granovetter, Burt, Wellman, Berkowitz) lead by Harrison White whose priority

interest was in the network society, considered an extended and structured relationship

network. The basic assumption is that every individual (actor) relates with the others

and this kind of interaction moulds and modifies the behaviour of both. Main aim is to

define and analyse the ties between individuals (nodes). There are several classes

available in literature regarding the study of network properties (cohesion, centrality),the research on specific sub-nets (groups, egonet) and on similarities among the

networks (structural equivalence, automorfica and regular).

DEFINITIONOF SOCIAL LEARNING NETWORK

Social network identifies a group of people, constantly interacting with one another,

pursuing a common objective. The online Social Learning Networks are the latest

generation of digital platform and interfaces (web 2.0) in possess of all the key web




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tools for communication and interaction usable only for education purposes. An example

is the open source ELLG system having specific functions typical of online social

networks such as a third generation learning space:

1. management of personal and users community blogs (weblog function). Other basic

functions are a personal web space usable for reflections and story telling, an automatic

aggregator of other personal blogs; supports for podcasting/video/photosharing;

2. file organising and sharing (file repository) set up as a personal record office freely

shareable;

3. creating and managing of Internet communities (Social networking); possibly for

users to set up own contact network as well as create own open or closed communities.

ELLG is equipped with a tagging system and a structure allowing access to its contents

by specific authorisation. Each new online resource is available through a RSS feed.


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