Collaborative learning, cooperative learning, and experiential learning are innovative instructional strategies that can provide effective learning experiences for commerce students. Collaborative learning involves groups of students working together to solve problems or create projects, while developing skills like communication. Cooperative learning structures students into academic groups where they work interdependently toward common goals. Experiential learning involves learning through reflection on real-world experiences outside the classroom, such as internships or field trips. These strategies encourage active, student-centered learning over passive listening and aim to develop students' higher-order thinking and practical skills.

1. INNOVATIVE STRATEGIES
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING, CO-OPERATIVE
LEARNING AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
NEETHU D
COMMERCE
REG.NO.19014303009
MOUNT TABOR TRAINING COLLEGE
PATHANAPURAM

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INTRODUCTION
Complexity of the business world warrants imparting a wide variety of
learning experience to the students, the traditional approaches of instruction for
commerce education are inadequate for providing the learner centred and
appropriate learning experience. In this situation the innovative modern
approaches of instructional strategies play a prominent role in providing
effective learning experience to the learners regarding, commerce, trade and
industry. Innovative approaches are followed mainly for the transaction of the
curricular material in a controlled learning environment. The innovative
approaches have the ability to apply the principle of activity centeredness of
learner orientation, linkage, effectiveness etc. in their implementation stage.
This will help the learners to take his maximum effort in learning process.
Through that, the learners is responsible for exploring new knowledge and
constructing it.
A commerce teacher can adopt the innovative approaches and strategies
foe effectively transacting the curriculum at higher secondary level. Problem
based learning, meaningful verbal learning, collaborative and co - operative
learning, experimental learning etc. are the major types of innovative
approaches and strategies. All these approaches are motivating the learner to
learn and teacher can acts as a guide to promote reflective learning. Reflective
learning will not only help in through understanding but also will help students
to keep on learning at one’s own pace. It will foster creativity and also result in
metacognition. Thus, the innovative approaches are essential for transacting a
learner centred curriculum.

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INNOVATIVE STRATEGIES
Learning should take place through the interaction between the active
learning environment and the learner. The innovative strategies are the most
powerful tools to ensure effective learning. These activities consider the
learners capabilities and creativity, which is why learning takes place in an
effective way.
The most powerful strategies are:-
1. Collaborative learning
2. Co – operative learning
3. Experimental learning
1. COLLABORATIVE LEARNING
Collaboration is a philosophy of interaction where individuals are
responsible for their action, including learning and respect the abilities
and contribution of their peers. Collaborative learning is an educational
approach to teaching and learning that it involves groups students
working together to solve aproblem, complete a task, or create a product.
According to the Gerlach“collaborative learning is based on the
idea that naturally social act in which the participants talk among
themselves. It is through the talk that learning occurs.”
Collaborative learning is a method of teaching and learning in
which student team together to explore a significant question or create a
meaningful project. A group of students discussing a lecture or students
from different schools working together over the interaction a shared
assignment are the example of collaborative learning.

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There are many approaches to collaborative learning. A set of
assumptions about the learning process under lies them all:
1. Learning is an active process whereby students assimilate the
information and relate this new knowledge to a framework of prior
knowledge.
2. Learning requires a challenge that opens the door for the learner to
actively engage his/her peers, and to process and synthesize
information rather than simply memorize and regurgitate it.
3. Learners benefit when exposed to diverse viewpoints from people
with varied backgrounds.
4. Learning flourishes in a social environment.
In collaborative classroom, the lecturing/listening/note taking
process may not disappear entirely, but it lives along sider other process
that are based on student discussion and active work with course material.
That is the aim of collaborative learning is the shift of learning from a
teacher centred to the student centred.
 Benefits of collaborative learning
a. Develops higher level thinking
b. Increases students retention
c. Promote students faculty interaction and familiarity

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d. Build self-esteem in students
e. Develops oral communication skills
f. Develop social interaction skills
g. Promote positive race relations
h. Encourage diversity understandings
i. Enhance self-management skills
j. Encourage alternate student assessment techniques
2. CO – OPERATIVE LEARNING
Co – operative learning is a learning strategy in which the pupils are
structured into groups of peers who work together towards a common
goal. It is an educational approach aims to organise classroom activities
into academic and social learning experience.
It is defined as “Teaching method wherestudents of mixed levels of
ability are arranged into groups are rewarded according to the group’s
success, rather than the success of the individual member. Co – operative
learning structures have been in and out of favour in American education
since the early 1990s, when they were introduces by the American
education reformer John Dewey. Co-operative learning is sometimes
thought of simply as group work, but groups of students working together
might not be working collaboratively.”

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Elements of Co – Operative Learning
Cooperative learning researchers David and Roger Johnson have
identified five elements that define cooperative learning:
1. Face to Face learning
2. Positive Interdependence
3. Individual Accountability
4. Group processing
5. Collaborative Skills
Cooperative Learning Method
Before collaborative groups are formed, it’s important to each skills of
collaboration. During the lessons, a teacher should circulate around the
classroom to make sure all students participating in their individual
groups. Shy and introverted students might not find the cooperative

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process helpful and should not be forced to be in the group. Some
techniques for cooperative learning are as follows
1. Reciprocal learning: This method is used after a teacher has
presented a lecture or lesson, in a students work in groups of two or
three, where they ask and responsible for and what the group is
responsible for.
2. Group Processing: Students are given a means for analysing their
groups for how well the group has learned, and whether or not
collaborative skills are being used.
3. Collaborative skills: Students learn not only the subject matter, but
interpersonal and how to work in teams. Students are taught skills of
communication, leadership and conflict management during the early
stages of cooperative learning sessions
Advantages of cooperative learning
1. Students develop higher proficiency in critical reasoning strategies
and abilities.
2. Students experience higher levels of intrinsic motivation to learn.
3. Facilitate behaviour based on stronger group interaction
4. Students internalise many of the positive attitudes necessary for
working effectively with others.
5. Develops positive towards attitude towards teachers, principals and
other school personnel as well as towards peers.
Disadvantages of cooperative learning
1. If cooperative learning is not properly planned and designed. It can
allow for “free rider” effect, in which some group’s members do all or
most of the works while others go along for ride.

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2. Possibility of diffusion of responsibility.
Teacher’s role in cooperative learning
Teacher has prominent role in co-operative learning. These
include:-
1. Specifying the objectives for learning task.
2. Assigning adequate learning activities to the students.
3. Observing, analysing and giving proper directions to the students.
4. Clarifying the doubts raised by the students
5. Evaluating student’s performance
Distinction between Collaborative And Cooperative Learning
Collaborative Learning Cooperative Learning
1. Collaborative learning
reflects the philosophy of
working together with less or
no control of a supervisor or
teacher.
2. Collaboration refers to the
whole process of learning
where students teach each
other, students teach the
teacher by asking doubts and
the teacher teaches the
students too.
3. In collaborative learning
more responsibility is shared
among the learners and the
teacher has only less control
over the learning if the
students.
4. Collaborative learning has a
wider scope compared to
cooperative learning.
1. Cooperative learning is the
technique or strategy with a
well - structured form for the
purpose of a particular
objective.
2. Cooperation is a technique
helpful to finish a certain
product oriented task by
working together in a faster
and more effective way.
3. In cooperative learning,
teacher maintains the control
of the group or class even
though the students will be
working together to
accomplish a goal.
4. Cooperative learning has
only a narrow scope related
to a specific task.

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5. In collaborative learning,
time allowed to complete the
work is decided by the
learners themselves.
6. Here the learner have the
freedom to decide the details
of evaluation programme.
5. A fixed time schedule is
given by the teacher.
6. Details of the evaluation
programme are decided by
the teacher.
3. EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
Experiential learning is the process of learning through experience and
is more specifically defined as “learning through reflection of doing”.
Experiential learning is distinct from rote or didactic learning, in
which the learner plays a comparatively passive role.
It is defined as a method of educating through first – handed
experience. Skills, knowledge, and experience are acquired outside of
the traditional academic classroom setting, and may include
internships, studies abroad, field trips, filed research, and service –
learning projects.
The concept of experimental learning was explored by John Dewey
and Jean Piaget, among others. It was made popular by education
theorist David A Kolb, who, along with John Fry, developed the
experiential learning theory, which is based on the idea that learning is
a process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of
experience. It is based on four main elements which operates in a
continuous cycle during the learning experience:
1. Concrete experience
2. Reflective experience
3. Abstract experience

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4. Active experience
Experimental learning cycle
Kolb’s experimental learning cycle
Characteristics of experimental learning
1. Learning is a continuous process grounded process in experiences
2. Learning involves transaction between the person and the environment
3. Learning is a process of creative knowledge
4. Learning is a process involves creative knowledge
5. Experiential learning focus on-
a. How one thinks about the world
b. How one acts in the world
Advantages of Experiential Learning
1. Practical field experience is more productive than any amount of reading
or classroom sessions

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2. Learning by doing is the core essence of experiential learning and this
makes learning more meaningful and purposive.
3. Develop self confidence
4. Results in the development of competence, capability and in capacity
building.
5. Teacher can ensure the active participation of the students.
Teacher’s role in experiential learning
1. Setting a positive climate of learning.
2. Clarifying the purpose of the learner
3. Organising and making available resources of the learner(s).
4. Balancing intellectual and emotional components of learning.
5. Sharing feelings and thoughts with learner but not dominating.
Experiential learning can be effectively used on commerce education at
higher secondary level. It will provide a wide variety of learning experience
to the learner. In higher secondary classes, the teacher can use experiential
learning to supplement the regular classroom feeding.

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CONCLUSION
“The biggest enemy of teaching is the talking teacher”. Because learning
became fruitful only when it provide an opportunity to think creatively.
Innovative strategies provide such an opportunities and make learning as a
meaningful one.
The true strength in our classroom lies on the collaboration of learners,
not the knowledge of one expert. Here arise the significance of innovative
strategies. This strategies stimulates the creative thinking and develops a
wide range of thinking strategies and perceptual skills which are not called
forth by books or lecture. It eliminates the gap between where the learner is
now and where he wants to be in regard to a particular set of competencies.
And also motivating the learner for attaining the peaks of learning. Thus it is
clear that, the innovative strategies are the powerful tool that determine the
quality and effectiveness of learning.

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REFERENCE
 Dr Sivarajan K &Lal E K, 2008, Commerce Education, Calicut
university, Kozhikode
 Retrieved from, http://www.wcer.wisc.edu dated on 23-10-2015
 Retrieved from, http://www.thirteen.org dated on 23-10-2015
 Retrieved from, http://en.wikipedia.org dated on 23-10-2015
 Retrieved from, http://www.learnnc.org dated on 23-10-2015
 Retrieved from, http://www.gdrc.org dated on 23-10-2015