Collaborative Learning

Collaborative Learning – When Otto Benavides suggested computer classrooms for the Instructional Technology and Resource Center (INTERESC) for the School of Education and Human Development at California State University, Fresno, people thought he was talking about computer labs. No, he said, computer classrooms.

That was 1994 and much has changed. Student-centered, collaborative classroom design is exploding across higher education and virtually all faculty today understand the difference between labs of computers and classrooms that feature them. INTERESC has three collaborative classrooms in high demand and plans to design more as soon as there’s money to build them.

The designs put students at the center of instruction, shifting the faculty role to one of tutor or guide.

“This changes the whole way we teach,” Benavides said.

At the School of Education, students benefit from more engaging class periods, as well as the modeling of how to be comfortable with technology as teachers. Their instructors serve as content guides, and they also help solve technical problems that are sure to crop up in the modern classrooms.

At CSU Fresno, faculty from Communications, Art, and English as a Second Language departments have jockeyed for a spot in the classrooms, recognizing the benefits for their students. In New York State, Onondaga Community College recently opened the WhiTn3y Commons, giving business students the opportunity to work in teams and practice the skills they’ll need for workplace projects. MIT offers a range of technology-enabled learning spaces to meet the demands of students and faculty across disciplines.

Some colleges and universities are designing these spaces in new, modern buildings, while others are remodeling existing classrooms and making them work for this next generation of teaching and learning.

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