Cooperative learning in postgraduate lectures: possibilities and challenges

Scherman, Vanessa; Toit, Pieter Du

doi:10.4314/sajhe.v22i2.25795

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Other authors highlight barriers to reflection and action such as procrastination and resistance, and Garcia and Roblin (2008), and Scherman and du Toit (2008) seem to imply that changes or improvement to practice are made through academics' reflections on teaching approaches, as well as the obstacles faced and how they are navigated. Harland and Staniforth (2000) find that the hurdles that prevent the academics from engaging include their perception that research is a time-consuming activity and that they themselves have already completed their professional learning (2000).…”

Section: Institutional Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Literature review on the use of action research in higher education

Gibbs

Cartney

Wilkinson

et al. 2016

Educational Action Research

113

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This literature review considers the use of action research in higher education. It specifically looks at two areas of higher education activity. The first concerns academic teaching practice and includes a discussion of research and pedagogy practice, and staff development. The second considers student engagement. In both these core features of higher education, action research has proved to be a central approach to the investigation, reflection and improvement of practice. Each of these main foci includes a discussion of the limitations of the literature. The review illustrates the extent and range of uses to have benefited from an action research approach.Keywords: higher education; action research, literature review; reflective practice 2 Literature Review on the Use of Action Research in Higher EducationThe centrality of students as fee paying customerts, besides based on the value of their fees, has focused UK Government policy in the higher education sector on the importance of the quality of teaching and rates of retention. On 1 July 2015, Jo Johnson, UK Minster for Higher Education, confirmed the second of his party's election pledges concerning teaching in higher education: secondly, delivering a teaching excellence framework that creates incentives for universities to devote as much attention to the quality of teaching as fee-paying students and prospective employers have a right to expect. (Johnson 2015) The justification for such a scheme is as follows:to meet students' high expectations of their university years and to deliver the skills our economy needs, we need a renewed focus on teaching. (ibid.)A process was put in motion that seeks to enact changes to put teaching at the heart of higher education policy. The extrinsic value of teaching, or its value for money, is thus established as a metric of the level of skill, inferred from its calculative value: as a professional activity -as a vocation -higher education is undermined. Whether this exposes the essence of higher education provision is contentious, but the rebalance of emphasis from research to teaching in our mass participation higher education system clearly has intrinsic merit, and certainly possesses political leverage. Amid the development of lecturers' capability to teach and facilitate learning is the enhancement of pedagogical practice through reflection and research into practice (Gibbs, Angelides and Michaelides 2004). In this context, the importance of action research (AR) as a method of revelation, instruction and improvement, and as the realisation of technical skill and facilitation of learning, is hard to overemphasise. Informed practice removes the consumeristic notion of lecturers as emotional labourers, intent on satisfying students' consumerist desires, and balances the edifying mission of higher education institutions. This literature review is undertaken to contribute to this aim. It attempts to reflect AR from a number of perspectives and to consider its implications and limitations in regard to generating the...

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Section: Institutional Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Literature review on the use of action research in higher education

Gibbs

Cartney

Wilkinson

et al. 2016

Educational Action Research

113

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“…Challenges, however, have been seen in cooperative learning groups. For example, there are students in the group who may not contribute to group discussions (Scherman & du Toit, 2008). In terms of EFL learning, different English levels between students may also cause unequal contribution when sharing ideas.…”

Section: Cooperative Learning: Definition Benefits and Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untitled

Barbee

Capati

Cook

et al. 2022

PIE MG

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This article describes a set of lessons used in a university EFL course and presents empirical, classroom-based research. The set of lessons, Page to Stage, was designed to teach English through the use of drama, dramatic activities, and theatre production-more specifically: dramatic adaptation of Japanese folktales, playwriting, readers theatre, and the rehearsal, memorization, and performance of original, student-written plays. At the end of the lesson and course, students were surveyed on their beliefs regarding the lesson's effects on their motivation, level of English, use of prosody, and confidence when speaking in public. The students' enjoyment of certain aspects of the lesson as well as the lesson as a whole was also surveyed. Results showed that the students saw self-improvement along all points, while they feel that their motivation and use of prosody improved most. Regarding enjoyment, students most enjoyed (from most enjoyable to least enjoyable) watching other students perform, working together in groups, using Japanese folktales as reference for the playwriting, the readers theatre, the final performance, and playwriting.Students least enjoyed memorizing the scripts in preparation for the final performances. Based on the results, a case is made for the benefits of drama, readers theatre, and theatre production in the EFL classroom. Feature ArticlesOzaki, Y. T. (Ed.). (1970). Japanese fairy tales.

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“…Moreover, within the positive aspects that cooperative learning strategies have, some research studies found that there are some drawbacks during implementation as well (Deiglmayr & Schalk, 2015;Hänze & Berger, 2007;Hsiung et al, 2014a;Johnson & Johnson, 1999;Kshetree, 2019;Mesfin, 2015;Pescarmona, 2011;Sabah & Du, 2018;Scherman & Du Toit, 2008;Stiles, 2005). The researchers proposed some of the solutions to avoid the obstacles towards implementation, which includes both instructors' expertise and institution follow up in order to make sure that CL strategies are socially and culturally fit with the norms, structured well, and are going well.…”

Section: Critique On the Research Findings Of Cooperative Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Attitudes of Tertiary Level Students Towards Cooperative Learning Strategies in Afghan EFL Context

Katawazai

Saidalvi

2020

IJLTER

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Educators use various active learning strategies over the last decades in different educational contexts globally. The current study aimed to investigate the attitudes of Afghan tertiary level students towards cooperative learning strategies in the Afghan EFL context. The current study used a questionnaire as a primary instrument for collecting the data employing a descriptive survey design for data collection and analysis. The participants were 165 undergraduate students from the Department of English, Languages and Literature Faculty, Kandahar University. The findings revealed that participants have positive attitudes towards cooperative learning strategies, and several reasons were pointed out for positive changes to take place. Cooperative learning strategies have also been considered as useful teaching and learning techniques that increase classroom participation from the perspectives of students. Thus, it is recommended for Afghan teachers to adopt cooperative learning strategies due to the positive effects on students’ attitudes and classroom participation. The findings of the current study will help educators to incorporate cooperative learning in their courses. The result will be a guide for curriculum developers to include cooperative strategies in designing curriculum and textbooks.

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Cooperative learning in postgraduate lectures: possibilities and challenges

Cited by 7 publications

References 19 publications

Literature review on the use of action research in higher education

Literature review on the use of action research in higher education

Untitled

The Attitudes of Tertiary Level Students Towards Cooperative Learning Strategies in Afghan EFL Context

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