Beyond Mere Breakout Sessions: Ensuring Productive Cooperation in Online Learning

Productive cooperative learning strongly relies on interaction. This and other fundamentals of designing cooperative learning sceanrios have been well-known long before the pandemic. Still, utilizing them in a productive fashion seems to have been difficult in these last three semesters. Now that people are generally more used to digital settings, we should explore learning and teaching options that go beyond the mere assignment to breakout sessions.

In this workshop we want to experience one or two different well-established methods for cooperative work and evaluate in how far they can be implemented in a digital environment using easily accessible technology. The methods can be used in every subject and independently of group size.

Together we will find out, in how far the digital execution of these methods enables a strong promotion of interaction, a good sense of digital competencies and a productive learning environment. We will evaluate the pros and cons of using digital tools compared to non-digital tools and generate checklists and criteria that help us designing such scenarios in the future.

We will discover which steps we need to take in order to ensure successful learning. Insofar, the workshop itself is highly interactive. In the spirit of open learning you will not be required to install any software but using a regular laptop instead of a smaller device will facilitate the work we will do immensely. Also, for communication purposes, using a functioning microphone is essential while using a camera is optional.