Cooperative open learning

Cooperative open learning (COOL) is a school and teaching development project that is practiced at around 150 vocational middle and higher schools in Austria. In April 2014 the network consists of a total of 67 certified impulse schools, network partners and eCOOL schools (including the first certified school in Germany: BBS Rotenburg an der Wümme). In the previous teacher training courses, 156 teams of teachers were supported in the planning, implementation and evaluation of their school and lesson development projects.

It is a reaction to the increasing heterogeneity in the classes and the demand from the world of work for greater consideration of soft skills in school education. COOL is a pedagogical approach for more independence, self-responsibility and cooperation in the Secondary I and II. The basis for this come from different educational reform movements of the 20th century, and especially from that of Helen Parkhurst in the United States developed Dalton Plan (Freedom, Cooperation, Budgeting time).

Cooperative open learning (COOL) goes back to an initiative founded by teachers Helga Wittwer and Georg Neuhauser in 1996, from which the school experiment "Differentiated learning as an integration factor" at the Federal Trade Academy and Federal Trade School in Steyr arose.

Main features

According to cool.schule.at:

• The teachers cooperate in class teacher teams. This requires regular class teacher team meetings, exams at the beginning of the school year and periodic get-togethers for all COOL teachers.
• The students work with written, often interdisciplinary assignments. In so-called COOL hours (from three units up to a third or half of the teaching time) the student has the freedom to choose when, where, how and usually in which social form he performs the tasks (from at least three subjects) up to the specified Wants to cope with appointments.
• The teacher becomes a moderator, a coach, a companion of the learning process and can thus respond to each individual student and specifically promote him ( individualization of the learning process).
• The permanent evaluation and reflection of the work and learning process plays a central role . Different (also written) forms of feedback are intended, among other things, to stimulate a critical analysis of one's own social behavior.
• Other forms of learning need other forms of assessment. Conventional methods of performance appraisal are supplemented by forms of direct performance submission ( portfolio ).
• The class council , which takes place regularly, is a self-control and self-administration element of the class. In it, the students not only discuss their concerns, but also practice rules of conversation, keeping minutes and moderation techniques.
• COOL needs clear structures and framework conditions. In so-called COOL parliaments or teacher-student forums (according to the delegate principle), common rules for living together and working together in the COOL area are drawn up and cast into "contracts".
• The parents are involved in the school teaching and upbringing work. In regular parents' evenings (open and moderated), suggestions, wishes and fears on the topic are formulated.

Origin and history

Helen Parkhurst and the Dalton Plan

New ideas were sought in order to improve the existing school situation. A team of teachers set out to look for concepts that, with a view to the whole person, allowed the highest possible degree of individualization and differentiation in lessons in addition to a strong socially integrative dimension . This is how one came across the various approaches of reform pedagogy developed at the beginning of the 20th century . In the course of an EU Comenius project, people in Holland became acquainted with the Dalton Plan, an educational concept that focuses on independent learning. The American reform pedagogue Helen Parkhurst (1887–1973), who worked with Maria Montessori but later went her own way, is considered to be the founder of the Dalton Plan .

An idea prevails

The Dalton plan convinced the delegation from Steyr with its openness and its remarkable topicality. Supported and accompanied by experts from the university sector, the Steyr team under the direction of Helga Wittwer and Georg Neuhauser began to adapt the Dalton plan, enriched by elements from other (reform) pedagogical directions, to the conditions of their own school type. This was how the Open Learning Cooperative was born. What began as a simple school experiment at the Steyrer Handelsschule became a teaching model across Austria within a few years in the area of ​​vocational schools, mainly thanks to the support of the Federal Ministry for Education, Art and Culture. Obviously an idea will prevail when the time is right.

The three basic principles of the Helen Parkhurst Dalton Plan

After Parkhurst 1925 f:

Freedom

What is meant by this is the freedom of choice with regard to the sequence of tasks, cooperation, workplace, aids to be used and time management on the part of the students - on the part of the teachers with regard to the organization and preparation of written assignments, the work equipment and time specifications, the form of performance control and ultimately the form individual collaboration with the individual student. Parkhurst always defined her concept of freedom in connection with responsibility - freedom through taking on responsibility, but liberation from restrictive, rigid structures that interrupt the flow of work and hinder the intensity of learning.

Cooperation

This “social” principle of the Dalton Plan contains less the concrete prescription of partner and group work - the decision on the social form of work is largely left to the pupils - than the elimination of structures that hinder communication in school life. In Parkhurst's view, the social dimension of school work unfolds by itself if the competitive situation of frontal teaching is dismantled and learners are given the opportunity to cooperate as needed and at will, even beyond the boundaries of the class community. The experience that not only individual work performance, but also the joint development of solutions can lead to a sense of achievement, should create the decisive basis for later teamwork and collective responsibility.

Budgeting time

This third principle - often replaced by the term self-employment - expresses the importance Helen Parkhurst attached to learning how to plan and organize work independently. This underpinned her claim to effectiveness in the learning process and was sharply criticized by the European reform pedagogues (e.g. by Célestin Freinet ). In so-called “free Dalton phases”, the students should be able to work independently on their written assignments, for which they are instructed accordingly in so-called “special calls” - more frontally structured information and instruction phases for all students in a group or class were.

New teaching role

The basic principle of cooperative open learning is to develop the independence, teamwork and personal responsibility of all students. The role of the teacher is changing noticeably. During the COOL teaching phases, the teacher becomes a moderator, coach, and companion of the learning process and can thus respond to each individual student and promote them in a targeted manner. Promotion of talented students becomes possible, weaknesses of students become visible earlier. The teachers cooperate in class teacher teams. Regular team meetings, exams at the beginning of the school year and periodic meetings of all COOL teachers for the purpose of reflection and further development of the COOL project are essential in order to practice COOL successfully. This type of teaching offers the chance to no longer have to act as a lone warrior in the teaching profession; exchanging ideas and supporting one another becomes everyday life. The role of the teacher is experienced anew, the students experience their teacher as a helping, encouraging and advising personality, not as an instructing power.

eCOOL

COOL + "eLearning" = eCOOL combines the methods of cooperative open learning with the possibilities of e-learning . Specifically: COOL work orders are also worked out offline in different social settings, but all modern technical possibilities are used for optimal communication, e.g. B .:

• Internet forums
• Learning platforms
• Online dictionaries
• Chat rooms
• Weblogs
• Podcasts
• Calendars
• Photo and video editing

For teachers, eCOOL offers the opportunity to largely do without paper and to carry out individual electronic feedback and assessments through the use of learning platforms . Communicative and social elements of learning should not be neglected when working on the computer, they should be included in the preparation of tasks. It is essential that eCOOL is used as a supplement to COOL, but not as a replacement. It would be counterproductive if, for example, the personal exchange in the class council were replaced by feedback in forums. However, it is positive and constructive that the discussions in the class council can be logged immediately on the PC and stored in a storage space accessible to all. In summary, eCOOL is characterized by:

• Use of learning platforms - also in non-notebook classes. The prerequisite for this is of course a corresponding basic technical equipment (at least one or two PCs and internet access in the classroom)
• Use of special eCOOL work orders (enrichment of COOL work orders through e-learning elements) and submission of the results to the learning platform. Electronic deadlines result in increased liability.
• Individual support of the learning processes of the students through formulated feedback in electronic form.
• Minimization of the online phases, but more time for direct communication in different social settings.
• Use of ePortfolios
  • as a collection of materials in all subjects
  • to obtain feedback on individual submission of services
  • as preparation for final exams (collection of material)
  • as an option for an application portfolio
  • to take the data with you to further educational institutions
  • Detailed, written feedback attached to the certificate (addition of insufficiently informative grades)

Teacher cooperation and training

"After closing the classroom door behind me at the beginning of a lesson, I am only responsible for what I do!" Is the philosophy of the lone fighters in the school. The philosophy of Cooperative Open Learning is different: COOL relies on cooperation in every respect . This applies to students as well as teachers. But what about the cooperation of teachers? Why do teachers need to cooperate? A lone wolf can also incorporate open learning into his lessons ... If independent, self-reliant learning is to be effectively implemented, a changed learning and teaching culture is needed in the whole class, in the whole school. COOL development is school development. Traditional systems resist change. Individual teachers willing to change are often at a loss in the class and in the staff room. Only when cooperation is successful do changes become possible and successes visible. However, this cooperation needs structure, organization, continuity, time and space. However, these prerequisites often first have to be created in our schools.

Regular exchange of experiences

The first and most important level of cooperation in Cooperative Open Learning is the teamwork of the class teachers. The regular sessions (which are firmly anchored in the timetable) (from at least three times per semester to weekly) deal with lessons learned and observations, discussing current developments and problems, and planning and coordinating interdisciplinary work. A second level in addition to the cooperation of the subject teachers is the regular cross-subject and cross-class cooperation of all COOL teachers in a school. The meetings, which take place two to three times per semester, deal with topics such as principles, framework conditions (rooms, liabilities, organizational measures), further training, school and teaching development or public relations. The (one to two-day) team exams of all COOL teachers, mostly at the beginning but also at the end of a school year, have proven to be particularly valuable in the practice of Cooperative Open Learning. These are mostly important planning and reflection meetings that are held outside of school, but also valuable team development measures . Investing time saves time. The objections of many teachers that such a communication culture would be far too time-consuming can be countered by the fact that a lot of time and, above all, energy can be saved through the smoother course of teaching, the better working atmosphere and more efficient cooperation. The much-cited burnout among teachers can be effectively counteracted by more enjoyable togetherness.

If teachers in a team continuously reflect on and evaluate their own lessons, then this cooperation already contains an essential piece of training opportunities and development opportunities. Nevertheless, external experience is required. The core of the COOL further training opportunities is the in-house teacher training: It is often carried out by colleagues from other schools or educational institutions, but is always aimed at teams in a school so that the topics covered can be efficiently implemented in one's own teaching and school development. Here the view “outside the box” is of central importance. Joint school and class visits to COOL impulse schools or other innovative schools have proven particularly useful.

School management is required

In connection with the participation of teachers in cross-school, regional, national and nationwide advanced training courses, it is the responsibility of the school management to give greater consideration to aspects of personnel development in matters of COOL. The question of which teaching teams are sent to which seminars and courses must in future be more strongly influenced by strategic school development considerations. In addition to numerous nationwide seminars and conferences, the Impulse Center for Cooperative Open Learning with the Styrian University of Education offers two-year training courses for school teams (two to five participants per school). They consist of block seminars and regional meetings based on PFL ("Pedagogy and Subject Didactics for Teachers", based on the advanced training program developed by Peter Posch), which convey important COOL content: dealing with reform pedagogical fundamentals, creating work assignments, method training, feedback, assessment , social learning. It is important that the content and methods are not only learned about, but also experienced and that their applications are reflected upon. The central point here as well: school visits and internships at home and abroad. "The true business of the school is not to chain the pupil to preconceived ideas, but to set him free to discover his own ideas and to help bring his powers upon the problem of learning ... Let us think of the school as a place where community conditions prevail as they prevail in life itself. "- Helen Parkhurst in" Education on the Dalton Plan, "1922.

See also

• Cooperative learning
• Open learning
• Action-oriented teaching
• Independent work
• Self-directed learning
• Practice research

literature

• Herbert Altrichter , Peter Posch: Teachers research their lessons. Lesson development and lesson evaluation through action research. 4th, revised and expanded edition. Klinkhardt, Bad Heilbrunn 2007, ISBN 978-3-7815-1414-0 .
• Harald Eichelberger (Ed.): An introduction to the Dalton plan pedagogy. StudienVerlag, Innsbruck et al. 2002, ISBN 3-7065-1323-4 .
• Georg Neuhauser: Self-directed learning based on reform pedagogy. In: Austrian Journal for Vocational Training. ÖZB. 20th year, 3-01 / 02, 2002, ZDB -ID 1327120-9 .
• Georg Neuhauser, Helga Wittwer: Evaluation report on the school experiment “Differentiated learning as an integration factor” at the BHAS Steyr. Ms., Steyr 1999.
• Susanne Popp : The Dalton Plan in theory and practice. A current educational reform model to promote independent learning in secondary schools. 2nd, completely revised and updated edition. Studien-Verlag, Innsbruck et al. 1999, ISBN 3-7065-1317-X (also: Passau, University, dissertation, 1993).
• Richard Hölbling, Helga Wittwer, Georg Neuhauser: COOL Cooperative Open Learning. Steyr, undated, http://www.cooltrainers.at/fileadmin/impulszentrum/pdf/Cool_Booklet_120x180_lay1.pdf

Web links

• COOL website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Georg Neuhauser: What is COOL? , Impulse Center for Cooperative Open Learning, cool.schule.at , last seen on December 1, 2008
2. ↑ Georg Neuhauser: Features of COOL , impulse center for cooperative open learning, cool.schule.at , last seen on December 1, 2008
3. ↑ Parkhurst 1925 f quoted in: Susanne Popp: The Dalton plan in theory and practice. A current educational reform model to promote independent learning in secondary schools. 2nd, completely revised and updated edition. Studien-Verlag, Innsbruck et al. 1999, p. 73 f.
4. ^ Helga Wittwer: COOL - The Steyr model . Impulse Center for Cooperative Open Learning, cool.schule.at , last seen on December 1, 2008
5. ↑ Andreas Riepl: Guide e-cool . Impulse Center for Cooperative Open Learning, cool.schule.at , last seen on December 1, 2008
6. ↑ ^{a b} Georg Neuhauser, Helga Wittwer (ed.): Evaluation report on the school experiment “Differentiated learning as an integration factor” at the BHAS Steyr. Ms., Steyr 1999.
7. ^ Helga Wittwer: COOL - The Steyrer Model (target area teacher motivation) . Impulse Center for Cooperative Open Learning, cool.schule.at , last seen on December 1, 2008
8. ↑ Herbert Altrichter, Peter Posch: Teachers research their lessons. Lesson development and lesson evaluation through action research. 4th, revised and expanded edition. Klinkhardt, Bad Heilbrunn 2007.