The Learning Ability of the Students Also Correlates Perception

Question: Discuss The Learning Ability Of The Students Also Correlates Perception? Answer: Introducation: Group learning is considered as an excellent approach to enhance the learning process of the students. The university students are provided with the opportunity to engage in their classes by participating in small groups and completing group projects. However, group learning raises several social issues in the learning process. The students often have negative experiences with the group experiences. The group tasks produces anxiety and formation of pressure to accomplish task which creates a negative impact on the learning process. Teachers also do not possess formal training regarding how to facilitate the group learning process among the students. In this regard, the present essay will explore the challenges in group learning process for the students (Hillyard, Gillesie Littig, 2010). In the recent years, the higher education institutions are frequently using small groups for active engagement and building higher order cognitive skills such as critical thinking and problem solving. The Cooperative or group based learning is considered as an active learning strategy. Group learning is considered as an essential learning method as it increases the motivation to learn, increases the retention of knowledge and depth of understanding. Although group or collaborative learning is a beneficial for the learning process, students are not aware of the benefits of the group learning approach which makes them privy of group learning methods. In the group learning process, there are several common sources of dissatisfaction such as it focuses on interpersonal skills. The students also remain unaware about the value of learning through group projects. The major source of dissatisfaction occurs when the formed groups were very large, had several class presentations and little time for in-class meeting. Other sources of dissatisfaction were the poor workload distribution and management problems (Azer, 2005). The teachers can support group learning by facilitating group discussions and collaborative behavior. In the successful group discussion, the teacher should concentrate on the group facilitation process rather than the content. However, changing the teaching style accordingly is quite challenging for the teachers. Due to the lack of formal training, the teachers are unsure about the strategies or the role they can play in the group learning process. It can be critiqued that group learning is in itself a learning process. The students acquire high cognitive and interpersonal skills. Therefore, the teachers should implement strategies for easy and convenient process which facilitates group learning. Another role of the facilitator is to keep the group focused on task and guide them to achieve their goals. With the changing times, the learning environment is also changing which is increasing the significance of the facilitator and group learning (So Brush, 2007). In the contemporary times, a large number of students are preferring distance education due to geographical distances. However, a typical learning environment comprises of interactions between the learner and instructor or learner and learner. They are essential components of the learning process but due to the physical distances, the educators implement different strategies like group learning to facilitate the learning process. In the collaborative or group learning process, the major source of dissatisfaction were tight timelines, workload, poor interface, slow access and asynchronous communication between the communicators. The collaborative learning environment can be enhanced by providing emotional support to the students who demonstrate dissatisfaction with the learning process. Other strategies can be implemented to increase the familiarity and reduce the students sense of distance with each other. In distance learning, it is important that the teachers or the facilitators implement different strategies to foster small group interaction. Interaction with the peers is an important part of the learning process and the students who do not engage in it face different learning challenges. Cooperative or group learning can be used to enhance positive interdependence and individual accountability. While working in groups, the students are often assigned different tasks, some of them can be ill-structured and open, whereas other tasks can be highly structured or closed. The learning of the students and their perception towards the efficacy of group learning is dependent upon the structure of the group tasks . The students have a negative perception of the closed tasks and the groups were not productive in this case. On the other hand, the open groups were open to multiple perspective and solution in flexible approaches. It can be critiqued that in highly structured task, group discussion was not necessary whereas in the unstructured task, collaboration and group discussion was necessary. It built positive perception among the students (Lou, Abrami d Apollonia, 2010). Moreover, the learning ability of the students also correlates with the perception of the students for the group learning. The lower ability students learnt more in heterogonous groups whereas the medium ability students learn more in homogenous groups. It is due to the reason that the low and high ability students try to give explanation to certain phenomenon whereas the medium ability students do not share their learning experience (Dolamans Schmidt, 2006). Although, collaborative and positive learning is beneficial for certain groups, its benefits varies with the characteristics of the programs such as type of program, feedback, learner control, computer experience and task structure. It can be concluded that group learning is an effective approach to teach students theoretical concepts and cognitive learning. However, most often, the students find the process of group learning difficult due to several reasons. Collaborative learning is essential for the students as it assists the participants to reach a common goal, share responsibilities and reach an agreement through open interaction. In group tasks, the students learn to collaborate which is not defined as the shared division of labor but refers to the mutual interaction and shared understanding of problems which is essential in professional development of the students. The group learning methods are commonly used in the problem based learning as the common goal of the group based learning is to obtain a better understanding of the subject through self-directed learning. In the group based learning, the students get a shared understanding of the subject as they are encouraged to ask exploratory questions regar ding the topics that need clarification. However, in the successful collaborative learning, the students need to demonstrate prior knowledge, recall of information, cumulative reasoning, theory building and cognitive conflicts. In order to mitigate these challenges, the teachers can adopt several policies such as experiential designs, observation studies, questionnaires and focus groups. The group learning facilitators should also use perform observations to identify rich and authentic information regarding the cognitive and motivational effects of group learning and adapt their teaching strategies accordingly. References Hillyard, C., Gillesie, D., littig, P. (2010). University students attitudes about learning in small groups after frequent participation. Active Learning in Higher Education, 11(1), 9-20. Azer, S.A. (2005). Challenges facing PBL tutors: 12 tips for successful group facilitation. Medical Teacher, 27(8), 676-681. So, H.J., Brush, T.A. (2007). Student perceptions of collaborative learning, social presence and satisfaction in a blended learning environment: Relationships and critical factors. Computer and Education. Lou, Y., Abrami, P.C., d Apollonia, S. (2010). Small Group and Individual Learning with Technology: A Meta-Analysis. Review of Educational Research 71(3), 449-521. Dolamans, D.H.J.M., Schmidt, H.G. (2006). What Do We Know About Cognitive and Motivational Effects of Small Group Tutorials in Problem-Based Learning? Advances in Health Sciences Education 11, 321-336.