Collaborative learning approaches and effectiveness

¶ … authored by Rebecca Ingalls, she talks about Paul McCartney and John Lennon collaborating on some very famous songs sung by the Beatles. She states that "it was inspiration and creativity that had to happen, or they wouldn't achieve and sustain the success they hoped for" (Ingalls, 2011, p. 123). While such collaboration on the part of college students working on an essay has far less importance to the music industry, inspiration and creativity also have to take place and collaboration has to be a joint effort, or the hoped for results may not be achieved.

Regarding the collaborative effort of the individuals that worked on the essay titled "Drugs and Alcohol" a number of comparative actions took place that can equate to the McCartney and Lennon scenario referred to by Ingalls. She states in the very first paragraph that "these collaborators worked diligently and systematically to create, share, and merge their ideas" (p. 122). And the collaborators on the Drug and Alcohol essay attempted to accomplish those objectives as well. The planning and considerations described by the Ingalls essay helped the involved individuals by providing some insight into what was actually needed in order to accomplish a collaboration.

Each individual involved in the essay project brought something different to the collaboration. The viewpoints, perceptions and thoughts about the seriousness (or non-seriousness) of the drug and alcohol subject allowed for a more complete discussion of the school's drug and alcohol policies, and the ramifications resulting from those policies.

There were a number of manners in which the individuals interacted as a group, some of the ways were negative in nature, others were more positive in nature.

Initially the group got together and discussed the nature of the project, and who would be responsible for each separate aspect. Individual members of the group displayed different levels of enthusiasm for the project which led to a reluctance on the part of some of the members to communicate effectively their ideas or thoughts concerning the project. A more comprehensive and effective organization would have listed the ideas and discussed them first before including them in the overall picture. As it was, the group seemed a little discombobulated and unorganized. Better, and more effective communications would have likely assisted the group in accomplishing the overall goals and objectives as well.