Customer Reviews

Cooperative Learning for Higher Education Faculty (American Council on Education/Oryx Press Series on Higher Education)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've purchased hundreds of copies of this book for my faculty over the years and recommend it as a "must-own" reference for college teachers. When one searches the web, page after page referencing this book appear. I find it odd there are no reviews of this book on Amazon. Certainly, several published reviews exist, such as at the IASCE site (see http://www.iasce.net/Newsletters/2001_Summer/2001_summer_6.shtml).

The volume is readable, but also encyclopedic. If one wants to learn about any aspect of cooperative learning, this is probably the best single resource. Further, it goes beyond the drawing upon the power of student groups for learning to innovations not explored by other sources such as student groups taking responsibility for classroom management and course assessment.

When I first read this book a year after its publication, I particularly appreciated the exhaustive search that these authors undertook to bring together information on a variety of classroom cooperative techniques. To do a good job of this is not always easy, because many effective techniques created by individuals more interested in teaching than publishing never appear in a reviewed journal. While a source that merely presents the techniques in a "how to do it" format and connects with the easily discovered indexed resources might certainly suffice, Millis and Cottell seemed to make unusual efforts to compile techniques they learned through their extensive contact with others and to provide proper credit wherever possible. This ranges from citing of materials they discovered in informal workshops in universities to authors' campus-published manuals that readers/teachers would not discover with the usual searches. As a person who appreciates both the ethical commitment and the extra labor required to achieve this degree of citation, I found their book particularly useful and personally satisfying for this reason. The result is delivering great ideas and practices that would otherwise remain local to a large audience.

I do have a quibble, but not with the book or the authors. Since the Greenwood Publishing group picked up this book, the publisher's actions seem better designed to kill this fine book than to distribute it. The price increased rapidly at the same time buyer access to find the volume was being made nearly impossible. Today, private dealers are demanding and apparently getting over $90 for a single copy of this small paperback. Although it's worth the price to own one if you don't have a copy, that price is not practical for class and workshop materials. Further, it is not necessary and results in a disservice to the intended market. I'd like to see an updated edition of this volume produced by the authors and taken on by a publisher that will give this book the marketing it deserves.

I have practiced cooperative learning in Elementary Statistics for sophomore prior to read Millis and Cottel's book. The book confirms the best practices for that subject particulary in chapter seven. What can be suggested is to include more one way of team formation: use Kolb's Learning Style Inventory. It actually does work. Details like the extra topic or extension activities for groups that work more rapidly than others demonstrate that the authors have practical experience about some problems to overcome.