Working collaboratively and interacting with others are essential skills that all graduates need to learn and demonstrate. Victoria University specifies ‘working collaboratively’ in Graduate Capability 1 and it is an underlying requirement in the development of all VU Graduate Capabilities and their underpinning concepts.
Integrating large and small group learning and working in teams into your teaching provides students with the opportunities to develop essential collaborative learning and communication skills.
Group learning can occur in many learning situations including lectures (large groups), formal smaller group learning situations such as seminars, workshops, practicals and tutorials, informal learning situations that occur out of class time, and face-to-face or online. However, effective group learning requires serious commitment and understanding by the teacher and quality engagement by the students themselves.
"Group learning is about getting people to work together well, in carefully set up learning environments"
(Race, 2014).