cilitates students' acquisition of critical thinking skills and meta-cognitive learning strategies, such as self-monitoring and learning how to learn. Smith (1986) found that, in higher education settings, collaborative procedures (student-student interactions) are related to higher levels of critical and active thinking and lower levels of rote memorization.
Collaborative learning procedures have also been found to be more effective than traditional instructional methods in promoting student learning and academic achievement. Additionally, collaborative learning procedures have been found to enhance student satisfaction with the learning experience. These and other research findings have led to a growing interest in use of collaboration learning in higher education as a viable and effective instructional strategy in a distance education scenario (Cooper, Prescott, Cock, & Smith, 1990).
Organization and Structure of Distance Education
Aiken, Bartelt, Hoffman, Marino, and Schleye
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