The need for collaborative learning was felt by
practitioners in various professions such as medical, engineering, agriculture, and education in response to the global changes, knowledge economy, and information
technology in the late 1980s so the
pace of change in society required a shift in approach to learning.
Practitioners thought that communities need to apply a required approach to
learning experiences by discarding obsolete ideas to ensure a flourishing
future. The term learning communities was used for collaborative learning and
problem solving within groups after Senge’s vision of learning organization in the early 1990s. In contrast, Retallick and Datoo (2005) linked learning
communities with Dewey’s philosophy of education in the early twentieth century
which advocated
learning that was active, student-centered, and involved a shared inquiry.
The idea of learning communities was used as a
significant curricular design in educational institutions. In larger
universities such as the University of Oregon and the University of
Washington, various models
of learning community including residential, virtual, and Freshman Interest
Groups (FIG) formed an expanded industry of information particularly in general
education curricula (Williams, 2000).
The private sector in the United States
of America paid more attention to creating learning communities that business and
private industry managers used cultural factors to bring changes in the
performance of their staff. Nurturing and recognition of each staff member maximized
their involvement in cooperative activities such as decision making, problem
identification, goal formation, and problem resolution.
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