The Para-Universe of Collaborative Group Work in Today-s University Classrooms: Strategies to Help Ensure Success

Group work, projects and discussions are important components of teacher education courses whether they are face-toface, blended or exclusively online formats. This paper examines the varieties of tasks and challenges with this learning format in a face to face class teacher education class providing specific examples of both failure and success from both the student and instructor perspective. The discussion begins with a brief history of collaborative and cooperative learning, moves to an exploration of the promised benefits and then takes a look at some of the challenges which can arise specifically from the use of new technologies. The discussion concludes with guidelines and specific suggestions. Keywords—collaborative learning, cooperative computersupported collaborative learning (CSCL), e-learning, group dynamics