Collaborative Learning: Higher Education, Interdependence, and the Authority of Knowledge

by Kenneth A. Bruffee and Professor Kenneth A. Bruffee PhD

Book Overview

In Collaborative Learning, Kenneth Bruffee advocates a far-reaching change in the relations we assume between college and university professors and their students, between the learned and the learning. He argues that the nature and source of the authority of college and university professors is the central issue in college and university education in our time, and that if college and university professors continue to teach exclusively in...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801859743
• ISBN13: 9780801859748
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Length: 344 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Neuroscience supports many of Brufee's claims

I read this book for a doctoral course on collaborative learning. I argued with it throughout the course and in the process, came around to Bruffee's way of thinking--that learning is indeed a social process. Shortly after this course, I had a major life change that refocused my program away from corporate learning and toward brain-based learning. From all the cognitive psychology and neuroscience courses and reading, the consensus is that external and environmental factors strongly influence the function of the brain--to the cellular level and very possibly the intercellular, genetic level. Keep in mind that Bruffee is an English professor and as such, is not trained as much in a quantitative empirical as an analytical qualitative tradition. Therefore, criticism based on anectdotal vs. empirical evidence doesn't hold much weight. He has thoroughly analyzed and logically argued his thesis, in accordance with rhetorical traditions. The introductory chapters that explain how he came to adopt the views he did are very telling. Recall, that he didn't work in isolation, but in conjunction with other scholars/academicians who applied scholarly traditions to their research. Educators, in my opinion, would do well to learn more about the brain and how it functions related to learning. Yes, we can essentially brainwash students to comply with existing wisdom or we can encourage them to think critically in the course of exposure to the "wisdom of the ages" for the purpose of applying relevant knowledge to their own lives. Almost intuitively, Bruffee echos many lessons learned from empirical study of the brain through careful observation. In other words, there is more than one way to peel a potato and Brufee convincingly argues for one way--a collaborative one in which the boundaries of knowledge groups are negotiated--to do it. The subtraction of a star was due to the lack of "smoothness" in which he states his case. He does, at times, come across as rather preachy and pedantic, rather than warmly convincing. Therefore, I subtracted a "style" point but not for substance or validity of his arguments.

CL under the Aegis of Nonfoundational Social Constructionism

Although I don't agree with the nonfoundationalist point of view, there is much to ponder and learn from Bruffee. If one delves into WHY they don't agree with his thesis, they'll probably come away from the exercise with a far better understanding about their position vis-a-vis education-perhaps they'll even develop their own philosophy of education. However, believers beware: if you agree with the concepts outlined by Bruffee and the nonfoundationalist camp, check the other side of the coin (cognitive, essentialist, traditionalist) before committing.