Jonathan Lake

Internet Marketing is an ideal small home based business which could satisfy the income needs of many mature people. People who have been in employment for a number of years are usually more used to working within teams or group situations. Why could the learning of diverse skills of internet marketing be put into a cooperative learning situation. Older people are generally less competitive and more willing to share experiences towards a mutually beneficial goal.
Cooperative learning is not a new idea. Basically it is a group working together to achieve a goal which is beneficial to all members of the group. In cooperative learning situations there is a positive interdependence among students' goal attainments; students perceive that they can reach their learning goals only if the other members of the learning group also reach their goals. Basically this method of learning satisfies the Golden Rule of Magnetic Marketing.
In contrast to cooperative situations, competitive situations are ones in which people work against each other to achieve a goal that only one or a few can attain. In competition there is a negative interdependence among goal achievements; People perceive that they can obtain their goals if and only if the other students in the class fail to obtain their goals (Deutsch, 1962; Johnson & Johnson, 1989).
It would be foolish to think that words such as cooperate, form a team would be enough to create a cooperative effort among team members. By no means are all groups cooperative. Individuals within a group can become competitive, although a controlled amount of competition amongst members can result in a positive mutual and individual goal achievement.
The most important factor in creating a group is positive independence. They must believe that they will succeed or fail together. A successful group understands that the input from each group member is important and indispensable for success both for the individual and the group as a whole.
Group members must be able to meet together and with their sponsor or mentor. Ideally this should be done at intervals on a face to face basis but can now be achieved by the use of VOIP such as Skype or MSN etc. The size of a group is variable. Three is an ideal number though as many as five is possible so long as they have easy access to each other.
The whole positive aspect of cooperative learning groups is that they are economic in terms of mentoring time. It is possible to monitor the progress of more people at a time to ensure a positive outcome. There is group support which can lead to a positive outcome where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.