Overview, characteristics, how does cooperative learning align with our chosen blueprint topic, does it have a place in our interactive learning design,
Cooperative learning allows students to collaborate and cooperate with each other to typically achieve a common goal or end result; it often involves more individual initiation and participation than direct instruction or other learning strategies, but students who actively participate in cooperative learning can learn significantly more, remember information for longer, and develop deeper understandings of material [1].
Cooperative learning can vary from small 5-minute class exercises with specific outcomes in mind, or can even span a 5-year degree, like UVic’s Bachelor of Engineering program. In the BEng program, most courses are theory-based and taught under the direct instruction approach. To help incorporate practical skills useful in real work environments, it is mandatory for all graduating students to complete four 4-month long co-op work terms (alternate between work term and academic term every semester after 1st year) so that students can work better with others, better perform in collaborative work environments and design teams, and merge engineering knowledge with application skills.
For our chosen blueprint topic, which is about COVID19 and how that specific virus impacts the human body from a bio-chemical point of view, it is difficult to imagine a cooperative learning strategy that would work well. Our topic is fairly concise and theory-based, so my thoughts are that a direct learning approach supplemented by visual learning tools (animations, diagrams, videos) is better suited for our topic than a cooperative one. For the same reasons just described, a cooperative learning approach may not be very effective for the upcoming interactive learning assignment either.
References
[1] Carlton College, “Cooperative Learning,” [Online]. Accessed June 13, 2021. Available: https://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/cooperative/index.html.