Talk:Cohort (educational group)

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Education

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I notice that this article has been prodded for original research and lack of verifiability. It seems to be a hot topic in the media right now, and I'm sure there is room for a Wikipedia article on the topic--we should be trying to improve, not delete, this page. From the first couple of pages of a quick Google search, I find the following (not necessarily reliable) sources: http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2009/sessions/63/cohort-based-learning-teacher-education , http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/49/102 , http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ852017&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ852017 , http://sloanconsortium.org/effective_practices/applying-instructor-led-cohort-based-model-corporate-online-learning . Not being an expert in the field myself I'm hesitant to add references (or even much content) to the article. But what's currently on the page certainly isn't original research, and I'm sure it's verifiable if someone with a little knowledge of education can spare some time to look at it. Jowa fan (talk) 08:27, 26 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I too would like to see this develop into a Wikipedia article in its own right, as I think this is an important phenomenon, independently of whether it's a hot topic in The Media. While I acknowledge the upside of encouraging teamwork and collegiality, I believe that cohort-based curricula may have a downside, also. It may preclude self-paced progress, the possibility of needing to repeat a course, part-time attendance (if a full-time program), double majoring, or even taking electives (if a full-time program with a heavy schedule). These factors alone, I think, may have a social filtering effect, as some students may have special needs which may include part-time enrollment, maybe a fine arts elective in which to blow off steam, or inability to exhibit the level of social functioning expected within the cohort. Also, keeping the student heavily scheduled and narrowly focused would seem to discourage multidisciplinary exploration, akin to putting on the blinders, encouraging the student to keep their eyes on the prize (which is probably an artificially scarce credential) and not be distracted by organic intellectual interests. I wonder whether the stated or unstated reasons for choosing cohort over self-scheduled education might include a heavy dose of enculturation to go along with the instruction; raising questions of enforcement of professional culture, weeding out certain social characteristics, and of course groupthink. Needless to say, this is my POV, and therefore in the present talk page rather than the article page. Not surprisingly, I have difficulty finding research on this subject that looks into the aspects that are of concern to me. Perhaps it's not on anyone else's radar screen. Lori (talk) 14:59, 12 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]