Promote active learning in your teaching culture

2. Learning Objectives
Define active learning..
Understand why active learning is successful.
Become familiar with different forms of active learning.

3. Definition
Active learning is any well-structured,
teacher-guided, student-centered activity that
“substantially involves students with the course
content through talking and listening, writing, reading
and reflecting.”
 You might not remember this (we’ll come back to this
point)

4. Active Learning
The student has to be engaged in higher-order thinking
tasks such as:
- analysis
- problem-solving
- synthesis
- evaluation
Basically, higher thinking as opposed to passive learning.

5. Passive Learning vs. Active Learning

6. Do the Math
 Out of every 100 items in a passive lecture,
students will remember approximately 10-20.
 Quick math. That’s 10-20% and that sucks.

7. Benefits
Preferred by students
students
Stimulates higher
order thinking/skills
thinking/skills
Promotes learning in
in students with
different learning
styles
Students become
motivated
Facilitates learning by
by the entire group
group

8. Barriers

10. Barriers
Resistance to
Change
Anxiety
Perceived increase
preparation time
• Instructor taught in the
traditional method
• Role of teacher is
questioned
• Increased risk – students
may not participate
• Lose control of class
• Labeled unorthodox
• ? Increase in class time

11. Methods
Clickers Discussion
Memory
Devices
Pause Games

12. Clickers

13. Clickers Can …
 Guide Lectures - Collect immediate feedback
about students' understanding of lecture topics so
confusion can be addressed quickly.
 Facilitate Class Discussion - Facilitate discussion
by polling students' opinions and discussing the
reasons for their opinions.

14. Clickers Can …
 Encourage Peer Instruction - Allow students to
share, discuss, and change their opinions before
answering a question.
 Collect Data and Perform Formative Assessment -
Collect data on course topics or learning
preferences throughout the cycle of a course.
 Offer Quizzes and Exams
 Take Attendance

15. Clickers Can …
 Increase students' attention, interest, retention,
and make learning fun!
 Using clickers to pose questions that require
synthesis of information, such as asking for an
opinion on a complex social or ethical issue,
promotes critical thinkingand helps make learning
personal.
 Allow shy students to participate.
 Allow anonymous, simultaneous, and fast response
to instructor questions on class material or learning
preferences.

16. Discussion Method
 Most common method for encouraging
active learning
 Most promote questioning and discussion
 Encourages students to take risks--
student might feel some discomfort
(fear of being called on)

17. Memory Devices
 ACRONYMS
- ROYGBIV, SCUBA
 SENTENCES
- Some lovers try positions that they can’t handle
 RHYMES & SONGS
- Alphabet
 METHOD OF LOCI
- Visual path and connection with items
 Chunking
- Numbers (7-9 items) 86121996 or 8612-1996

18. Pause
 1 - 2 minutes of pause every 18 minutes of lecture
This method has been found to increase the
amount of content retained (Ruhl, Hughes, and
Schloss 1987)
Successful in my small group lecture at
Midwestern University

19. Games

20. Remember this!
The philosophy behind the active learning strategy is
that students "learn best by doing, not by watching or
listening".

21. No. Remember this!
 According to Carl Rogers, the only learning that
really sticks is that which is self discovered.
 The Ah-Ha! Moments.

22. References
 http://www.slideshare.net/DeirdreB/promoting-active-learning-using-
games
 http://blogs.usask.ca/medical_education/archive/2006/03/active_learning.h
tml
 http://www.texascollaborative.org/activelearning.htm
 http://medicaleducation.wetpaint.com/page/Active+Engagement
 http://activelearningcarnival.blogspot.com/2008/02/assessing-active-
learning-1.html
 http://www.medicine.virginia.edu/education/medical-
students/UME/curriculum/nextgeneration/pdf/ActiveLearning.pdf
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_learning#Active_learning_exercises
 http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/91-9dig.htm

23. Implement at least one new (to
you) “active” learning strategy in
your teaching this week.

24. What will you keep the same?
What will you do more of?
What will you do less of?
What will you stop doing?
What will you do differently & how will you do it?
What will you add?
LEARN – REFLECT -TEACH

25. Active Learning
 Active learning is defined as any instructional method
that engages students in the learning process. Active
learning requires students to do meaningful activities
and think about what they are doing. While this
definition could include traditional activities such as
homework, in practice it refers to activities introduced
into the classroom. The core elements of active
learning are student activity and engagement in the
learning process. Active learning is often contrasted
to the traditional lecture where students passively
receive information.
DEFINITION
N

26. Collaborative Learning
 Collaborative learning can refer to any
instructional method in which students work
together in small groups toward a common goal.
As such, collaborative learning can be viewed as
encompassing all group-based instructional
methods, including cooperative learning. In
contrast, some authors distinguish between
collaborative and cooperative learning. In either
interpretation, the core element of collaborative
learning is the emphasis on student
interactions rather than on learning as a
solitary activity.
DEFINITION

27. Cooperative Learning
 Cooperative learning can be defined as a structured
form of group work where students pursue common
goals while being assessed individually. A common
model of cooperative learning incorporates five specific
tenets: individual accountability, mutual
interdependence, face-to-face promotive
interaction, appropriate practice of interpersonal
skills, and regular self-assessment of team
functioning. The core element held in common is a
focus on cooperative incentives rather than
competition to promote learning.
DEFINITION

28. Team-based Learning
 Team-based Learning (TBL) is an instructional method that
allows a single instructor to conduct multiple small groups
simultaneously in one classroom. TBL stresses the importance of
out-of-class learning based on learning objectives,
emphasizes the importance of holding learners accountable
for attending class prepared to participate, and provides
guidelines for designing group learning tasks to maximize
participation. Class time is shifted away from learning facts
toward application and integration of information. The instructor
retains control of content acting as both facilitator and content
expert. TBL consists of repeating sequences of three phases:
pre-class preparation, readiness assurance, and application of
concepts.
DEFINITION

29. Case-Based Learning
 Case-Based Learning (CBL) is a learner-
centered instructional approach where factually
based, complex problems are used to stimulate
discussion and collaborative analysis. CBL
involves the interactive exploration of realistic and
specific situations for which there is often no single
correct solution.
DEFINITION

30. Problem-based Learning (PBL)
 Problem-based Learning (PBL) is a type of CBL
where problems are introduced at the
beginning of the instruction cycle to provide
the context and motivation for learning. It is
always active and usually collaborative or
cooperative. PBL typically involves significant
amounts of self-directed learning. Some
evidence shows that PBL develops enhanced
problem-solving skills in medical students and that
these skills can be improved further by coupling
PBL with explicit instruction in problem solving.
DEFINITION