March 1, 2013 | SharkAdmin [image 1]The nation’s leading researchers on cooperating learning, Roger and David W. Johnson, were on campus March 1 to share their knowledge and skills with NVC instructors. The brothers and fellow professors of the Cooperative Learning Institute at the University of Minnesota travel extensively nationally and internationally to promote cooperative learning. “We work with a lot of community colleges, and Northwest Vista College is one of the top five implementers of cooperative learning,” said Roger Johnson. [image 2]He added one reason for that high ranking is because NVC President Jackie Claunch is such a great advocate for the collaborate learning classroom environment and NVC is serious about training adjuncts and full-time faculty in these proven techniques. The Johnson brothers train teachers, administrators, the U.S. Navy, colleges and even organizations, such as the Disney Corp., how cooperative learning is effective in classrooms and in the work setting. They are experts in the field and have published numerous books and conducted tons of research in cooperative learning. [image 3]More than 60 attendees attended the event, which included full-time and part-time instructors. They were exposed to collaborative learning topics including active learning, practice learning, jigsaw activities, role assignments and cooperative base groups, to name a few. Stipends were offered to adjunct faculty who attended the training in an effort to provide training to all instructors. [image 4]“Because of the Title V grant, we are able to help part-time adjuncts get this training and we won’t have gaps in the classrooms—everyone gets the opportunity to attend cooperative learning training,” said Melody Crenshaw, who is a part of the NVC Cooperative Learning team that was trained in Minnesota by David and Roger, in order to bring more peer training to NVC instructors.
