Cooperative Learning | Definition, Key Elements, Activities

In today’s classrooms, collaboration is a powerful strategy that fosters deeper learning, promotes critical thinking, and encourages social skills. It transforms the learning environment into a space where teamwork drives success and everyone has a role contributing to higher productivity levels. 

 In this article, we will review everything you need to know about cooperative learning, from what it is to its importance. To delve deeper, we will elaborate on famous cooperative learning models and provide practical implementation tips. So, let’s just get into it. 

What is cooperative learning? 

But, before moving forward, I suggest we shed light on the basics… 

So, what is cooperative learning? In simple terms, it is an instructional strategy comprising small groups of students who work together to achieve shared learning goals. Unlike traditional group work, cooperative learning is structured so that each member is responsible for their own learning and helping their teammates succeed.

The idea behind cooperative learning is to make the process more engaging and effective. At its core, it emphasizes positive interdependence, individual accountability, and face-to-face interaction.

How is cooperative learning different from group work? 

If it emphasizes group work, cooperation, and interaction, then how is it different from group learning? Well, let’s see the actual differences between the two. 

Johnson & Johnson’s key elements of cooperative learning 

To better understand key elements of cooperative learning, I suggest we review what renowned researchers in educational psychology, Johnson and Johnson, proposed. They have a clear model that showcases key elements of cooperative learning, and these are the elements that, all together, ensure the group activities lead to meaningful learning experiences. 

Positive interdependence 

One of the key principles of cooperative learning is positive interdependence. This principle emphasizes that students should perceive their success as linked to success with their group members. The idea is that each member relies on others to achieve common group goals, fostering a sense of unity and shared responsibility. 

Positive interdependence can be structured through shared goals, joint rewards, divided resources, and complementary roles. 

For example, let’s say you organized a group project as part of the assignments for your course. Assuming you are teaching marketing, the project is a marketing boot camp. To foster positive interdependence and avoid one member carrying most of the responsibility for the group, you need to assign each learner a distinct role. 

For example, one of the members can be the researcher, the other a designer, presenter, and so on. Of course, assign these roles or allow students to pick these roles based on their initial skills and what they are best at. 

By fostering positive interdependence, you foster collaborative learning. The group must combine all their efforts to launch a mock product campaign. Everyone's part is necessary for the full presentation to work.

Individual accountability 

Another key element of cooperative learning, according to Johnson & Johnson, is individual accountability. While working collaboratively, each student must be held accountable for their contribution. This ensures that all members are engaged and prevents "free-riding." 

The key here is to implement methods and assessments to evaluate individual contributions to increase the level of accountability among students. Here is how you can do it. 

Let’s say a group just completed a shared pitch in Google Slides. As an online instructor, you can ask each learner to submit a brief voice note or text explaining their contributions and briefly reflecting on what they have learned from the activity. 

Promotive interaction 

Promotive interaction is known as face-to-face promotive interaction. This element involves students encouraging and facilitating each other’s efforts to learn. Through discussions, explanations, and mutual support, students help one another understand concepts and complete tasks, leading to deeper learning and stronger interpersonal bonds.

Instructors often overlook this element, but it shouldn't be. As an online course creator, it is your responsibility to foster a culture of support among the groups. For instance, one of the ways you can do this is by setting up weekly peer review sessions, allowing students to give feedback on each other’s work. 

Encourage them to ask clarifying questions, give suggestions, or share related tools/resources they’ve used.

An example of a creator who promoted cooperative learning is transformative coach Simone, who hosts regular group coaching sessions where the participants meet every two weeks for 90 minutes. The coaching encourages personal transformation, however, through the support of the group. The group members are actively involved, support each other, provide advice, and move forward together. 

Social skills

Effective cooperative learning is also about social skills. These include communication, trust-building, leadership, decision-making, and conflict management. It is essential that you, as an instructor, help students build up these skills, as those are crucial for productive group interactions. 

For instance, before group work begins, include a short video or activity on giving constructive feedback, active listening, or resolving disagreements online. Include downloadable “team agreements” that learners can customize to guide how they’ll work together.

Group processing

Also, it is worth mentioning that cooperative learning involves group processing. Group processing is when members are reflecting on their group interactions to identify what behaviors are helpful and unhelpful. 

This reflection process is crucial and allows groups to make decisions that contribute to growth and change, aiming to improve the effectiveness of collaboration. 

For instance, after a collaborative activity, use a guided worksheet or prompt in the course platform (e.g., “What went well in your team’s collaboration? What could be improved?”). Invite them to post highlights or lessons learned in a shared community forum.

Kagan's cooperative learning strategies 

Besides Johnson & Johnson, as someone who wants to implement cooperative learning strategies in the workplace, you must also know about Kagan learning strategies. These include Rally Robin, timed paid share, round Robin, and Rally Coach. 

Rally Robin

In Rally Robin, students work in pairs to take turns and respond orally to a prompt or question you provide as an instructor. 

Here is how it works. First, you, as an instructor, pose a question or problem. Then, students pair up and take turns sharing their responses. Each student listens attentively and patiently waits to speak without interrupting the other. When partner A shares a response, the other one listens, and the same way around, and partners continue alternating responses. 

The benefits of Rally Robin are that it encourages active participation and active listening. It also encourages equal sharing and reinforces patience and collaboration among students. 

Timed pair share

Timed Pair Share involves students pairing up to discuss a topic or answer a question within a set time frame.​ Here is how it works. 

• The teacher announces a topic and specifies each partner's time to share.
• Partner A shares for the allotted time while Partner B listens.
• Roles switch, and Partner B shares while Partner A listens.

For instance, let’s say you are hosting a group session. In your group coaching program for digital marketers, you pose the question, “What’s your biggest struggle with building an email list?” Each participant gets 1 minute to share while their partner listens, then they swap. Set a timer in your breakout instructions or on screen to keep everyone in sync.

Round Robin

Round Robin is a strategy where students take turns sharing responses in a small group, promoting equal participation. Typically, they are grilled in groups of four. 

For instance, let’s say you are a branding course creator. During one of the workshops, you put participants in groups of 4 and asked, “Share one brand that inspires you and why.” Everyone goes in order, and there is no repeating until all have spoken.

Round Robin encourages equal participation, giving every participant a chance to speak and preventing more dominant students from overtaking the session. It also encourages diversity of thoughts and supports idea generation, as everyone must contribute something new, which sparks creativity. 

Also, Round Robin creates a safe environment. Since everyone has a turn, it reduces the pressure of jumping in or competing to speak, which is especially helpful for introverts in group settings.

Rally coach

Rally Coach pairs students to alternate between solving problems and coaching each other, enhancing understanding through peer support. Here is how it works. 

First, you need to assign students and assign themes and specific roles. For example, one can be the problem solver while the other is the coach. The problem solver works through a problem while the coach provides guidance and feedback. Then, after each problem, the roles switch. 

For instance, in a session on overcoming limiting beliefs, one partner reads their belief aloud (“I’m not good enough to charge high rates”), and the other coaches them. Then they switch roles. 

The main benefits of Rally Coach include active collaboration. Learners practice explaining and supporting, reinforcing understanding for the doer and the coach. It also allows for peer-to-peer learning. The coaching partner often provides relatable tips, making the content feel less intimidating and more digestible.

It also promotes accountability and confidence among learners, encouraging more cooperation. The one taking action feels supported, while the coach builds confidence in giving constructive feedback.

Why implement cooperative learning? 

Now I know what cooperative learning is, the key elements, and some activities to incorporate, but why would I do that? Here are a number og benefits. 

• Active participation

Cooperative learning encourages active participation from all learners. This is especially powerful in online sessions, where engagement can otherwise drop due to distractions. In an environment where each student is an active participant instead of a passive listener, learning thrives. 

• Stronger communication and social skills 

By working together to solve problems or discuss topics, learners naturally improve their ability to listen, ask questions, express ideas clearly, and collaborate respectfully. These skills are critical in nearly every real-world scenario. 

• Fosters a supportive learning community

By building trust and connection between participants to foster a supportive learning community. When people share ideas, offer feedback, and celebrate each other’s progress, they feel more emotionally invested in the program. The sense of community also keeps learners coming back and referring other students, such as their friends, to take the courses you offer. 

• Reinforces understanding 

One of the best ways to internalize knowledge is to explain something to someone else. During cooperative learning, many activities are designed to achieve this specifically, such as Rally Coach. These deeper learners' comprehension. Also, cooperative learning reinforced understanding by increasing accountability participants have for one another and encouraging active listening. 

• Increases motivation and engagement

Group-based strategies like Rally Robin or Timed Pair Share add energy to your sessions. Instead of long lectures, learners talk, move (even if just switching roles), and interact regularly. This keeps the momentum high, prevents disengagement, and makes the learning experience feel dynamic and alive.

Conclusion 

Well, in this article, we have outlined what cooperative learning is and dove deeper into famous frameworks such as Johnson & Johnson as well as Kagan. Whether you decide to incorporate specific activities such as Rally Coach or develop your own, incorporating key elements of cooperative learning from Johnson’s framework, it is essential that you consider incorporating it into your online courses. 

Cooperative learning is an excellent initiative to help students learn, collaborate, and reflect. It helps you provide comprehensive learning experiences that not only engage students more but also contribute to higher knowledge retention rates among the participants. 

If you are looking for an excellent platform that will not only support your course creation business but also support cooperative learning initiatives, then you are in the right place. Uteach is an all-in-one LMS platform that comes in handy with everything you need to grow your online teaching business. 

The main features of the platform range from website & course builder to built-in marketing tools and a mobile app. But, most importantly, the platform is scalable, comes in handy with Live functionality, and also offers a mobile app to make learning more accessible. Learn more by scheduling a free demo call with our team.