Professors who try group work without building in the primary elements of cooperative learning usually have experiences that range somewhere between disappointment and catastrophe. Common complaints with group work are 1. These activities do not occur during true cooperative learning. This occurs as students actively teach one another to solve problems and understand concepts. This prevents a member from getting a free ride on the work of others and prevents low quality of work being accepted from an individual by peers in the group.
Processing is essential to insure understanding.
To use cooperative learning successfully involves the development of management skills rather than the acquisition of knowledge about learning theory, or the development of enthralling oratorical skills. However, once the skill is acquired, the act becomes exhilirating, and one can cover distances in ways not previously imagined.