Active Learning Strategies
College faculty have become increasingly comfortable with Active Learning,
which here means any of a variety of strategies or pedagogical projects designed
to place the primary responsibility for creating and/or applying knowledge
on the shoulders of students. For some, active learning means transforming
traditional classroom practices through problem-based learning or collaborative
projects; others move learning beyond the walls of the classroom through
community service-learning activities. Active Learning techniques do not
make the teacher's job easier. In fact, these teaching strategies usually
require a lot of up-front work from teachers (creating effective problem
sets or contacting community service groups, for example), and likewise,
require careful attention from teachers during the process. However, research
suggests that these strategies greatly increase students' retention of both
knowledge and skills.
What is Active Learning?
- Active Learning (Kathleen
McKinney, Sociology)
- Citing Meyers and Jones (1993), McKinney points out that active learning "derives
from two basic assumptions: (1) that learning is by nature an active endeavor
and (2) that different people learn in different ways." Includes a brief
overview of different active learning strategies.
- Active Learning:
Creating Excitement in the Classroom (Charles C. Bonwell & James
A. Eison)
- Bonwell and Eison define active learning as "instructional activities
involving students in doing things and thinking about what they are doing." A
simple Q&A format addresses issues of how to create more "active" classroom
spaces and what barriers teachers should be
aware of.
- Navigating
the Bumpy Road to Student-Centered Instruction (Richard Fedler & Rebecca
Brent)
- Offers suggestions for dealing with resistance from students as teachers
attempt to move their classes from spaces where students only "receive" knowledge
to spaces where students are co-creators of knowledge.
Motivating and Engaging Students
- Examining Student Engagement
at Illinois State (Val Famer-Dougan & Kathleen McKinney)
- Farmer-Dougan and McKinney define engagement, report on empirical evidence
at ISU, and conclude that class format, grade satisfaction, task identity,
computer use, and peer relationships have significant impact on student
engagement.
- Faculty Perceptions of Student
Engagement (Lana Berardi & Tom Gerschick)
- The authors report that faculty tend to share an intuitive definition
of student engagement, and they note that faculty "may incorrectly assess
the relationship among race and ethnicity, social class, gender and student
engagement."
- Strategies for Engaging Students (Val
Farmer-Dougan & Kathleen McKinney)
- Several brief suggestions for making students more active and engaged
participants in their own education, including connecting class topics
with students' lives, offering students choices in their learning, as well
as using writing and various technologies.
Collaborative/Cooperative Learning
- Collaborative
v. Cooperative Learning (Ted Panitz)
- Panitz distinguishes between collaborative learning (which he refers
to as a "personal philosophy" that involves the "sharing of authority")
and cooperative learning (which he defines as a "set of processes" designed
to assist learners in accomplishing a particular task).
- Cooperative Learning:
Increasing College Faculty Instructional Productivity (David W. Johnson & Others)
- Defines cooperative learning as "the instructional use of small groups
so that students work together to maximize their own and each other's learning."
- Issues to Consider and Decisions
to Make When Using Cooperative or Collaborative Assignments (Kathleen
McKinney, Sociology)
- McKinney offers teachers a series of heuristic questions to help guide
them in making up-front decisions that will affect the outcomes of their
forays into cooperative/collaborative pedagogies.
- Stages of Group
Development (Susquehanna U)
- This site covers several aspects of groups working together, including
how to establish effective groups.
- What is
the Collaborative Classroom? (Tinzman et al.)
- The collaborative classroom is a space of shared knowledge and shared
authority. The authors explain the roles that teachers and students can
play in collaborative learning.
- Working in Groups:
There is no “I” in Groupwork (San Francisco State)
- Working in a group can be a challenge. Make the most of your group learning
experience and learn ways to deal with conflict or avoid it altogether.
Problem-/Inquiry-Based Learning
- Problem-Based Learning:
An Introduction (James Rhem)
- Explains the basics of problem-based learning, defined here as "an instructional
strategy in which students confront contextualized, ill-structured problems
and strive to find meaningful solutions."
- Problem-Based Learning Initiative
@ Southern Illinois School of Medicine
- A useful site which includes information on how to structure micro- and
macro-level PBL.
- Using the Internet
to Promote Inquiry-Based Learning (David Jakes et al.)
- This e-paper "describe[s] a structured approach to inquiry-based learning
that uses the World Wide Web as a primary information resource. Specifically,
we address an intuitive 8-step process that begins with an essential question
and ends with a knowledge product produced by students, typically completed
in a cooperative setting."
Other Resources
- Active
Learning on the Web (B. Dodge, San Diego State U)
- Active/Cooperative Learning:
Best Practices in Engineering Education (Arizona State)
- Alexander Astin's Theories of Involvement:
A Summary (K. Hutley)
- Bibliography
of Problem-Based Learning Resources (Milner)
- Bibliography of Student Engagement (CTLT)
- Bibliography
on Active and Cooperative Learning (R. M. Felder, North Carolina
State U)
- Bibliography
on Active Learning (OSU)
- Center for Problem-Based Learning
Research and Communication (Samford)
- Cooperative/Collaborative Structures
Explicitly Designed to Promote Positive Interdependence Among Group Members (J.
Cuseo)
- Creating Life-Long Learners (J.
Manahan)
- Encouraging Students' Intrinsic
Motivation (K. McKinney)
- Encouraging Students to Prepare
for Class: A Polylog
- Inquiry Page at UIUC
- My Students Are Not Engaged
in Course Materials: What Do I Do? (V. Farmer-Dougan & K. McKinney)
- National Survey of Student
Engagement (Updated Annually)
- Problem-Based Learning Clearinghouse
- Problem-Based Learning
Network (Illinois Math and Science Academy)
- Supporting and Facilitating
Self-Directed Learning (C. Lowery)
- Teacher's
Reflection on Collaborative Learning in Class (N. Wiersema)
- Ted's
Cooperative Learning E-Book (T. Panitz)
- Web Links for Inquiry-Based
Learning
