Collaboration is usually lauded for enhancing an organization’s operations, as well as its overall levels of employee satisfaction. But is it also helpful for employee learning? Or, can it be detrimental to employee learning?
A report by Pearson, as well as a review published by the Association for Psychological Science, indicate the answer to both of those questions is, It depends and it isn’t always straightforward. There are times when teamwork and collaboration can benefit learning and times when it doesn’t seem to work or can, in fact, be detrimental to the learning process.
Continue reading to learn more about when collaborative learning can potentially be detrimental and when it can be helpful.
When Collaborative Learning Is Probably Detrimental or Ineffective
According to the review published by the Association for Psychological Science mentioned above, collaborative learning and group work can hinder an individual’s ability to recall information later on. So, if you want your collaborators to remember what they’re working on in their groups at a later time, you probably won’t want them to collaborate on learning exercises. In other words, if you want your learners to remember objective “right” and “wrong” answers to a problem they’re working on collectively, don’t expect most of them to remember answers if they’re quizzed individually.
Collaborative learning can also be detrimental to a group of learners who have various skills and different levels of education or understanding of a particular subject. So, it’s probably not best for cross-training modules or for individuals who have very different work experience. For example, in a group where you have a nurse, a marketing manager, and a budget analyst trying to collaboratively learn how to present a report on the fiscal impact one of your programs has, you’ll probably get one group member trying to take charge (in this example, it will probably be the budget analyst, who is adept at this type of work), while other group members slack off. Or you might get a mixed understanding of how to approach the learning assignment at all, leading to discord.
When Collaborative Learning Is Probably Helpful
When learners are able to complete work at their own individual paces, while contributing to the overall group, collaborative learning tends to be the most successful. Therefore, social networks and social learning tend to be great for collaborative learning, as it offers learners a chance to post questions and interact with others and their learning materials at their own pace and when it’s convenient for them.
Collaborative learning can also benefit learners who are simply learning how to be a part of a team and who are learning teambuilding skills. It can be great for leadership training and wellness training. And it can benefit groups who are working on challenges and problems that have more subjective answers that don’t need to be recalled later—situations that simply need practice. For example, collaboration on how to deal with employees with low morale in a leadership development program doesn’t seem to have only one objective answer and will facilitate a sharing of different perspectives and teamwork among collaborative learners.
In the end, if you’re interested in including collaboration in your programs, first think about the purpose of the program and the experiences its participants bring to the table.