Experience Collaborative Learning at Cambridge Advance Online

One of our core priorities at Cambridge Advance Online is social learning – the idea that participants can learn just as much from one another as they do from their instructors. This principle informs every aspect of our courses, from the tools we choose to include in our learning platform to how we structure our learning activities.

Research on collaborative learning and learning communities shows that when learners work together to solve a problem, they learn the material better and explore course content more deeply. As course participants relate their new learning to prior knowledge and experience, they bring forward novel connections and then share this newfound understanding with other participants.

Much like a viral video can connect people from disparate corners of the world, the spread of knowledge from one participant to the next reaches throughout the course, and one person’s gains benefit everyone. How many times have you sorted out a problem or learned a new technique for approaching an issue, just from chatting with a colleague?

At Cambridge Advance Online we take care to craft intriguing prompts to spur on course-level discussion in our moderated discussion forums. We also provide ways to interact collaboratively through our platform-hosted chat function, Pronto, as well as external tools such as the whiteboarding program, Miro, and our social reading tool, Hypothesis.

Finally, we recognise that one of the most essential benefits of professional education is the learning that takes place after the course – when course participants return to their everyday lives and professional workplaces. So, we enhance participant networking through our integrated tool PeerConnect, which means you can carry your new professional connections forward after your time with us is finished.

This emphasis on harnessing your knowledge and insights, and connecting you with others who are working through similar challenges, is part of what sets the learning experience with Cambridge Advance Online apart. Whilst you’re waiting for your course to start, why not check out some useful tips(Opens in a new window) for using Miro(Opens in a new window).