Elements of the collaborative approach

• It promotes meaningful learning by using real-life situations.
• Learners' previous knowledge bases are added to with newly acquired information.
• The content and direction of the project is determined by the learners, with the teacher as facilitator. Group members should discuss how well they are achieving their goals and maintaining effective working relationships. Groups need to describe what member actions are helpful and unhelpful and make decisions about what behaviours to continue or change.
• A positive learning environment is created. Each group member's efforts are required and indispensable for group success. Each group member has a unique contribution to make to the joint effort because of his or her resources and/or role and task responsibilities.
• Learners learn by doing - through finding information and making decisions. Learners need to do real work together in which they promote each other's success by sharing resources and helping, supporting, encouraging, and applauding each other's efforts to achieve.
• Learners are encouraged to assess their own learning. The group must be accountable for achieving its goals and each member must be accountable for contributing his or her share of the work. Individual accountability exists when the performance of each individual is assessed and the results are given back to the group and the individual in order to ascertain who needs more assistance, support, and encouragement in learning.⁴¹