Collaborative Learning in the Fourth Industrial Revolution : Implications for an African Renaissance

This study argues for new technologies which are appropriate in a collaborative classroom because collaborative learning classrooms are an ideal environment in which learners can obtain maximum support from their peers and the teacher through collaborative and discovery learning. Working together collaboratively is the best way of acquiring knowledge in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Collaborative learning, which is associated with the social constructivist theory, was used as the theoretical framework for this paper. Collaborative learning contexts, with more emphasis on co-participation; group work; cooperative learning and joint learning in which a teacher brings existing knowledge to learners by co-constructing it with them was used in this study. This is a desktop study that used document analysis to interrogate contemporary literature on the significance of collaborative learning in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The researchers' main finding is that the most significant element in the classroom is neither the students nor the technology but the teacher who uses new technologies interactively and creatively.