How To Implement Collaborative Learning In The Workplace

Does your team or division still work in silos or are they not very connected to each other? How about the brainstorming or ideation process, has it produced a solution to the problem at hand?

If the answer is still no, it could be that you are still using the “group work” system. Because the way team members work together tends to be individualistic and unable to come up with new ideas or innovations.

Well, did you know, there is a learning and working system that is almost similar to group work, but is able to produce more significant output! You need to get to know Collaborative Learning.

What is Collaborative Learning

• According to experts, Collaborative Learning is A coordinated synchronous activity that results from continued attempts to construct and maintain a shared conception of a problem. Or in a simpler sense, Collaborative Learning is a knowledge construction process that occurs faster and larger because of the collaboration process in a group.
• Prof. Sanna Järvelä also said that Collaborative Learning is a skill needed in the 21st century in the fields of education, business, politics, health; especially in the post-Covid-19 world
• The difference with group work or Co-operation, the members involved only divide the tasks and then work individually and then combine them into one output. Just like the definition, co-operation is a process where we work together in a group and create a structure for the tasks to be done, then divide the tasks to each member of the group.

This is different from Collaborative Learning which emphasizes collaboration, not just dividing tasks. Here are some definitions of Collaborative Learning that explain the collaboration process in question:

• Collaboration that involves each individual to process and synthesize information and concepts, not just stating facts and figures.
• “Learning is a natural social act in which participants talk among themselves” (Gerlach, 1994)
• Discussing concepts or finding solutions by teaching each other. Members share what they understand to overcome or clarify misunderstandings.

So Collaborative Learning can be analogized with:

1 + 1 = 5

While Co-operation

1 + 1 = 2

So you can imagine that collaborative learning will produce greater knowledge, than co-operation which does not involve a discussion process between individuals.

How to Implement Collaborative Learning in Work

Now if you are interested in implementing Collaborative Learning in the work environment, you must know the learning regulation factors that influence the success of this learning system.

There are 3 factors for the success of Collaborative Learning:

• Self-Regulated Learning (SRL): the process of someone being aware of the need for learning to develop every potential they have
• Co-Regulated Learning (CoRL): a discussion process that ensures each group member builds SRL, which helps everyone be aware of the goals to be achieved
• Socially Shared Regulation of Learning (SSRL): the process of negotiation and adaptation that occurs after everyone has SRL. So that collaboration between ideas and knowledge provided by each person can produce an agreement that is in accordance with common goals

In general, the collaborative learning process will run like this:

• When you want to have a discussion, make sure everyone involved must have the awareness to learn (SRL) and equip themselves with their respective findings.
• When everyone has brought opinions from their sources of findings, we enter the discussion stage to align opinions according to the goals to be achieved (CoRL).
• This discussion process will give rise to collaboration between ideas and knowledge from each individual SSRL). In addition, they can also monitor each other such as clarifying understanding, agreeing on a work system, teaching each other and others.

More specifically, according to Essi Vuopala (2013) collaborative learning will be more effective if everyone in 1 team has:

• Ownership of the topic and team
• Motivation to work for common goals
• Active participation
• Collaboration skills

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