Individualized or Collaborative Learning: Its Effect on Students Performance

Background and Rationale

Learning or instructional strategies determine the approach for achieving the learning

objectives and are included in the pre-instructional activities, information presentation, learner

activities, testing, and follow-through. The strategies are usually tied to the needs and interests of

students to enhance learning and are based on many types of learning styles (Ekwensi, Moranski,

&Townsend-Sweet, 2006). Thus, the learning objectives point towards the instructional strategies,

while the instructional strategies will point you to the medium that will actually deliver the

instruction, such as learning, self-study, classroom, or OJT.

Learning in classroom is product of teaching. Effective learning is associated with different

factors including classroom environment, use of educational technologies, motivation among

students, pedagogical skills and competencies of teachers and instructional strategies. The findings

of different studies (Hussain and Sarwat, 2010; Hussain, 2012) has substantiated the notion, "the

more the students are involved in activities, the more effective learning takes place". Therefore, it

can be said that effective learning is directly related with participation of students in teaching

learning process. Hence, a competent teacher selects student-centered instructional strategies. A

teacher designs and offers activities to students for their active involvement in learning process. A

best teacher diagnosis learning needs of students, selects appropriate instructional strategies

according to potential of students and offers individual or group activities to them.

Effectiveness of classroom instruction is usually determined by students' learning.

Generally, teachers use two famous instructional methods in classroom. These two methods are

different in nature but are exploited to achieve the same objective -students' learning. These are
group work and individual work. Hussain & Sarwat (2010) affirmed effective learning to be an

interactive process involving learners in different activities for accomplishing their academic tasks.

They work on activities individually as well as in small groups to complete assigned task with

mutual cooperation. The learning taking place in small groups of students by assuming activities

and helping each other is referred to as called cooperative learning.

However, in individual instructional strategy each student is treated as an individual learner

and facilitated according to his/her academic potential and learning styles by the teacher. Here

students work on separate and individualized activities and is responsible for his/her own learning.

It is obvious that both of the methods require active participation of learners in learning process

(Brody, 1995).

But according to (Barkley, 2005) students learn best when they are actively engaged in the

processing of information. One way to involve students in active learning is to have them learn

from each other in small groups or teams. Research shows that students working in small groups

tend to learn more of what is taught, retain it longer than when the same content is presented in

other instructional formats, and appear more satisfied with their classes. Groups function most

successfully when mechanisms for individual and group accountability inform group interactions.

This study aims to determine whether individualized or collaborative learning.

Statement of the Problem

Significance of the Study

Each students has different factors to gain knowledge. As a researchers, this study will benefit

specifically to the students and instructors to how they will use strategies and approach to retain

knowledge of the students. Moreover, this research will provide recommendation on how to

evaluate the performance of each students.