Abstract :It is obvious that in order for an ideal learning to take place, it is essential that the student and the teacher prepare for and are actively part of the learning process. In particular, if students have prior knowledge of the subject(s) to be covered in class, it will be easier for them to listen to, engage in, and benefit from, the lesson. However, unfortunately, students do not always show a willingness to prepare for the weekly lesson topics to be discussed in class every week. If so, this might even negatively impact their in-class communication and engagement with the lesson. For that reason, the researcher decided to build his weekly lessons upon the principles of cooperative learning. Accordingly, weekly lesson topics were allocated to a group of 4-5 students so that the students would prepare for and present their topics in the form of group presentations during each of 14 weeks. During weekly presentations, each group member was tasked to give a five-minute individual presentation twice, one before and one after the mid-term exam. Student presentations preceded teacher presentations every week, which intrinsically led to increased cooperation and communication among both students and the teacher as well as heightened in-group and in-class interaction and more meaningful engagement during presentations. It also enabled the students to learn more about the very course called “human relations and communication” through pre-readings about the weekly topics and preparations for their weekly presentations. Finally, it did make a significant contribution to the development of their own presentation skills, a skill that they all would need to develop / improve for a more successful personal and professional life in the future. Also, there was an added incentive for the students that this cooperative learning offered. Once a weekly presentation was over, the group in charge was expected to prepare and email a total of five (5) questions related to their overall presentation. The questions prepared by the students were taken into consideration by the lecturer in such a way that they would constitute approximately 40% of questions on the midterm and final examinations, the two main evaluation tools employed to assess student performance over the course of a semester. This meant that the students had a say in their self-evaluation, actively contributing to their overall performance evaluation. At the end of the semester, the students were asked via email to answer a nine-question survey to gauge the outputs, the impact, of this collaborative learning (group presentations). An analysis of the survey questions unveiled that 80% of the female students and 100% of the male students found the cooperative learning method used successful. Keywords : Cooperative learning, Student performance, Self-evaluation, Human Rights and Communication, Presentation Skills
