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From both of experts’ explanations above, especially Orlich and Kessler, they have same ideas
in dividing the students’ roles. They only use different terms to elaborate it.
On the other side, Johnson and Johnson have divided the students’ roles into six roles as stated in Muijs and Reynolds’s book. Those roles are:
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a. The summarizer, who will prepare the group’s presentation to the
class and summarize conclusions reached to see if the rest of the group agrees.
b. The researcher, who collects background information and looks up
any additional information that is needed to complete the task. c.
The checker, who checks that the facts that the group will use are indeed correct and will stand up to scrutiny from the teacher or other
groups. d.
The runner, who tries to find the resources needed to complete the task, such as equipment and dictionaries.
e. The observertroubleshooter, who takes notes and records group
processes. These may be used during the debriefing following the group work.
f. The recorder, who writes down the major output of the group, and
synthesizes the work of the other group members. Based on those roles belong to Johnson and Johnson above, the writer
thinks that those roles are recommended for higher grade such as students of Senior High School and college. It is because the elaboration from each role
has reached higher level of thinking like doing presentation, taking notes, and synthesizing. Those activities are not appropriate for students of Junior High
School because their level of thinking has not reached it.
4. The Advantages of Collaborative Learning
There are many advantages of collaborative learning which has taken place in the education field. Many experts have stated those advantages based
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Muijs and Reynolds, op. cit., p. 54-55.
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on their experiences and researches in the past or in recent years. Lodge and friends summarize the advantages of collaborative learning, the list covers:
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a. Improved learning and achievement: higher level thinking skills,
student satisfaction with the learning experience, positive attitude towards the subject, less divergence between learners’ achievement,
learning orientation rather than a performance orientation, critical thinking and dialogue.
b. Improved skills: oral communication skills, empathy skills, social
interaction skills, self-management skills, leadership skills of female students.
c. Improved engagement and responsibility: active involved exploratory
learning, student responsibility for learning, student retention. d.
Improved relationships: responsibility for each other, the classroom as a community, positive race relations, diversity understanding,
student-staff interaction and familiarity. In addition, Muijs and Reynolds state that collaborative learning can
develop students’ social skills, which means students can have more emphatic abilities; collaborative leaning can allow students to understand others’ ideas,
which means students can be aware that each student has strengths and weaknesses; and collaborative learning can find an answer to a case in a
group, which means students can gather all their knowledge to solve the case.
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Furthermore, Orlich and friends summarize some of the important points about small groups, the list covers:
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a. Increased depth of understanding and grasp of course content.
b. Enhanced motivation and greater involvement with the course.
c. Positive attitudes toward later use of material presented in the course.
d. Problem-solving skills specific to content of the course.
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Lodge, Watkins, and Carnell, op. cit., p. 100.
41
Muijs and Reynolds, op. cit., p. 52-53.
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Orlich, et. al., op. cit., p. 259.
