Collaborative Learning in a History Seminar

STUDENT INVOLVEMENT AND LEARNING in my history seminar has increased dramatically since I began incorporating collaborative learning techniques into the course format. Collaborative learning is a generic term, covering a range of techniques that have become increasingly visible in the past 10 years, practices such as reader response, peer critiques, small groups, joint projects, and peer tutoring in centers and classrooms.... By shifting initiative and responsibility from the group leader to the members of the group, collaborative learning offers a style of leadership that actively involves the participants in their own learning.' Whatever the specific techniques used, collaborative learning occurs when students assume some responsibility for the course material, and in the process help themselves and one another to learn. The collaborative learning approach shifts some responsibility from the teacher to the students; they become active participants in their own education. This involvement was my goal when I decided to incorporate collaborative learning into my Seventeenth Century Intellectual History during the spring semester of 1987. (The syllabus is included at the end of this paper.) I have taught this seminar for several years. In past years, I had used a variety of writing to learn techniques because I have been actively involved in the writing-across-the-curriculum program at the University of Vermont. Writing to learn emphasizes the use of informal to help students to explore ideas, to recall information from the reading assignments, to commit themselves to a position on a question for