Collaborative Learning Advantages

In recent years, collaborative learning (CL) has increasingly gained currency in learning approach at university. With the increasing number of CL theory, research and practice with positive results, collaborative learning has become one of the most efficient methods in learning. That is the reason why it is widely used and applied at schools and at universities all over the world. It is difficult to come to the conclusion that collaborative learning is better than individual learning, but it is undeniable that the benefits of group work bring to the students. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to emphasize the prevalent advantages of group work: help student to be confident; develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills and develop

Group work is considered as a convenient environment to help learners face to challenges or problems which require them to work together to find out solutions through the ways how they think about the problems. In addition, when a student recognizes the difference between her understanding and what she hears from the other members in group discussion, this helps her take the understanding into consideration by restructuring her ideas to correspond to the group, so the learners are able to improve their thought. Similarly, Johnson (1971) cited by Laal and Ghodsi (2011) showed that problem-solving skill is also developed through formulating ideas, discussing them receiving immediate feedback and responding to questions and comments by their partner. For example, when students are given a set of problems to solve, each person is responsible to be problem-solvers and listeners respectively. One suggests the first solution by explaining the reason why they choose this one. The others listen and try to understand what their partner is saying and provide suggestions if needed. Then they switch roles to find out more solutions for the given

It is mentioned that working in a group creates a comfortable and relaxing environment, so the students are provided more opportunities for face to face interaction, for negotiation, and for students to build social relationships. Ezeanyanike (2013) said that students working together are participated in the learning process instead of listening in a passive way to the teacher presenting or reading information for them. For example, in pair discussion, one is listening and the other is discussing questions given by their teacher. This encourages their interaction through discussing them, receiving feedback from their partner and responding to questions together. Interaction is well promoted in group learning activities. However, the students have more opportunities to interact with the others when they are in a small group due to the fact that each member is to participate in the group discussion. Consequently, the use of collaborative learning in groups encourages the learners to interact more comfortably and freely and take part in actively in learning process.
As mentioned above, collaborative learning is of three main advantages for students at university: help student to be confident; develop social interaction skill and develop critical thinking and problem-solving skill. With a pleasant learning atmosphere, students feel more confident inasmuch as they have many talking, discussing and negotiating