Pre-service teachers’ perceptions of collaborative learning at university: A repeated cross-sectional study

Dowling Long, Siobhán; Long, Fiachra

Pre-service teachers’ perceptions of collaborative learning at university: A repeated cross-sectional study

cbd

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Siobhan Dowling Long - Preservice Teachers Perceptions of Collaborative Learning at University.pdf(516.42 KB)

Published Version

Date

2023

Authors

Dowling Long, Siobhán

Long, Fiachra

Publisher

Western Australian Institutes for Educational Research

Abstract

This study explores how a group of pre-service teachers in the second year of a pre-service teachers masters program - the Postgraduate Master of Education (PME) - understood and practised collaborative learning (CL). Conducted over a six-year period (2015-2021), the study used semi-structured interviews (n=14) and surveys (n=100) to shed light on students’ experience of collaborative learning in one 5 ECTS credits module (ED6341), taking account of their previous experience of CL, and their perceptions of CL as it emerged during the group work component of the module. The results indicate that the attitudes of students to CL were largely positive, despite the challenges they recognised. In particular, the study considered students’ understanding of (1) the challenges of CL; (2) the benefits of CL; (3) the authority of faculty members.

Keywords

Collaborative learning , Pre-service teachers

Citation

Dowling Long, S. and Long, F. (2023) 'Pre-service teachers' perceptions of collaborative learning at university: A repeated cross-sectional study', Issues in Educational Research, 33(2), pp. 529-552. Available at: http://www.iier.org.au/iier33/dowling-long.pdf (Accessed 19 September 2023)