Abstract:

The processes brought about by the social and economic changes at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century most certainly led to an increased focus on the idea of using cooperative learning in the classroom. Reform pedagogy designed to renew the then current pedagogical thinking and practice and to support children’s autonomy and help them recognize their individuality sought to address these socio-economic changes. Pedagogical reformer Ellen Key’s influential book ‘The Century of the Child’ marks the beginning of the reform pedagogical movement, which is sharply critical of the structures and practices of traditional schools as well as traditional teaching styles. Cooperative learning, considered to be an experience-based learning method, is different from group work in the traditional sense not only as regards the division of labour among students in the group but also as regards learning environment conditions as well as the planning and organising of the learning process. In the cooperative learning-teaching process based on constructivist pedagogy, the primarily responsibility of the teacher is limited to creating a complex learning environment and coordinating the pre-planned learning process. In this process, students, as participants in competence-level knowledge organisation, process tasks related to a part of the material together (teamwork). The educational process enables students not only to acquire factual knowledge but also to acquire and develop their cognitive and communication skills through interaction aimed at furthering cooperation. Simultaneous interaction and effective task completion to reach common goals are skills of great value to society and the labour market; public and higher education institutions play a key role in acquiring and developing these skills. The research on ‘Use of Cooperative Learning Techniques and Tools in Public Education and Higher Education’ was based on the assumption that transversal competences acquired through cooperative learning play a pivotal role in obtaining a high-quality job and adapting effectively to the continuously changing needs of the labour market. Against this backdrop, this qualitative descriptive study, based on my teaching experience, focuses on the use of the platform Symbaloo—designed to support computer-assisted cooperative learning—in public education and higher education through the methodological processing of Hungarian contemporary short stories. The reconsideration of the relation between cooperation and pedagogy, forms and methods of organising cooperative learning—in particular the examination of creative activities and task types that can be applied effectively in public education and higher education—played an important role in developing the theoretical framework. The cooperative learning techniques covered in the paper were mainly used in the literary club ‘Variations on Hungarian Contemporary Literature’ of Hungarian-Language Private Secondary Vocational School in Dolné Obdokovce and in the teaching of the students of the Faculty of Central European Studies of Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. On the university course ‘Innovative Methods of Teaching Literature’, students of the study programme ‘Teacher Education in Hungarian Language and Literature in a double major’ became familiar with cooperative learning activities, including activities that effectively improve transversal competences.

Keywords:

Cooperative learning techniques, public education, higher education, Symbaloo.