1. ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE AND
AGRICULTURE
GROUPASSIGNMENT ENTITLED WITH USING ACTIVE LEARNING
APPROACHES IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Group memebers
Akinaw Wagari
Berihun Dires
Tesfaye Abraha
December 18, 2014
Bishoftu, Ethiopia
2. Outlines
• Introduction
• Active learning approaches
• Major characteristics of active learning Akinaw W.
• Importance of active learning
• Obstacles
• Solutions
• Traditional approach vs active learning Berihun D.
• Active learning strategies in Universities and college
• Active learning in Ethiopia’s higher education
• Conclusion Tesfaye A.
3. 1. INTRODUCTION
• Active learning is an educational process where students become vigorously engaged in
assimilating the material being taught rather than absorbing it passively in a lecture format.
• It is the process of discovery in which the student is the main agent, not the teacher.
Sometimes it is also called as cooperative learning.
• Student involvement refers to the amount of physical and psychological energy that the
student devotes to the academic experience.
• They must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to experiences, apply it
to their daily lives and must make what they learn part of themselves.
4. Cont…
• True learning involves figuring out how to use what you already know in order to go
beyond what you already think.
• Using active learning does not mean abandoning the lecture format, but it does take class
time.
• For some lecture-based classes, using active learning may be a bit more challenging
because of class size or room limitations such as fixed seating.
• In general, a growing body of research has made it clear, however, that the overall quality
of teaching and learning is improved when students have ample opportunities to clarify,
question, apply and consolidate new knowledge.
5. Objectives
General objective: -
To highlight basic concepts of active learning approaches.
Specific objective: -
To indicate the situation of active learning approaches in Ethiopian’s higher educations.
6. 2. ACTIVE LEARNING APPROACHES
2.1. Background
Active learning was popularized in the 1990s by its appearance on the Association for the
Study of Higher Education (ASHE). It relates to the three learning domains referred to as
knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSA).
Active learning engages students in two aspects –> doing things and thinking about the
things they are doing.
In traditional education methodologies, teachers direct the learning process and students
assume a receptive role in their education.
7. Cont…
Student-centered learning means inverting the traditional teacher-centered understanding of
the learning process and putting students at the center of the learning process.
In Ethiopia active learning approach started since 2003, as the Government of Ethiopia has
officially opted for a seemingly ambitious reform in the structure and content of teacher
education and learner-centered learning has become the buzzword for the reform.
8. 2.2. Major characteristics associated with active learning
• Students are involved in more than passive listening
• Students are engaged in activities (e.g., reading, discussing, writing)
• There is less emphasis placed on information transmission and greater emphasis placed on
developing student skills
• There is greater emphasis placed on the exploration of attitudes and values
• Student motivation is increased (especially for adult learners)
• Students can receive immediate feedback from their instructor
• Students are involved in higher order thinking (analysis, synthesis, evaluation)
9. 2.3. Importance of active learning
• Students are more likely to find personally meaningful problem solutions or interpretations.
• Students receive more frequent and more immediate feedback.
• Students increase their self-confidence and self-reliance.
• For most learners, it is more motivating to be active than passive.
• A task that you have done yourself or as part of a group is more highly valued.
• Student conceptions of knowledge change, which in turn has implications for cognitive
development.
• Students who work together on active learning tasks learn to work with other people of different
backgrounds and attitudes.
10. 2.4. Obstacles or barriers prevent us from using active learning strategies
• You cannot cover as much course content in the time available;
• Devising active learning strategies takes too much pre-class preparation;
• Large class sizes prevents implementation of active learning strategies;
• Most instructors think of themselves as being good lecturers;
• There is a lack of materials or equipment needed to support active learning approaches;
• Students resist non-lecture approaches.
11. 2.5. Solutions to overcome such obstacles
• Active learning strategies reduces the amount of available lecture time that can be devoted to
content coverage.
• The amount of pre-class preparation time needed to implement active learning strategies will
be greater than that needed to "recycle old lectures;" it will not necessarily take any more
time than that needed to create thorough and thoughtful new lectures.
• Large classes can be divided into small groups for discussion activities, writing assignments
can be read and critiqued by students instead of the instructor…
• Though lecturing is potentially a useful means of transmitting information, teaching does not
equal learning.
12. Cont…
• The lack of materials or equipment needed to support active learning can be solved by asking
students to summarize in writing the material they have read or to form pairs to evaluate
statements or assertions (i.e., all active learning approaches don’t require material).
With explicit instruction in how to actively participate and learn in less-traditional modes,
students soon come to favor the new approaches.
13. 2.6. Active learning strategies in college and university courses
Many scholars, researchers and national reports have discussed that employing active
learning instructional strategies can maximize student learning in the college or university.
The lecture method is a relatively poor instructional approach for maintaining student
attention. Research findings suggest that student concentration during lectures begins to
decline after 10-15 minutes.
Lecturing involves the transfer of information from the notes of the lecturer to the notes of
the student without passing through the minds of either.
Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just by sitting in class listening
to teachers, memorizing prepackaged assignments and spitting out answers.
14. 2.7. Active learning vs traditional lectures
Traditional lectures
• Instructor talks & students listen with
minimal interruptions
• Student concentration can be observed
dropping after 10-15 minutes
• Instructor‘s questions are largely rhetorical
• Student-to-student talk is discouraged
• Students listen and take notes independently
• Student comprehension during the lecture is
not monitored explicitly
• Student absenteeism often is quite high
• Examples include: lecture methods,
demonstration
Active learning
• Instructor talks with periodic pauses
for structured activities
• As student concentration begins to
wane, a short structured in-class
activity is assigned
• Student-to-student talk is encouraged
• Students often work with partners or
in groups
• Student comprehension during the
lecture is assessed directly
• class room discussion, think-pair
share, collaborative learning group,
student debate, a reaction to video and
learning by teaching one-self
15. 3. ACTIVE LEARNING IN ETHIOPIAN’S HIGHER EDUCATION
A country’s progress in education is absolutely essential for the country’s sustainable
economy growth, good governance, environmental protection; improvement in maternal and
child health; and political stability.
Education needs to meet minimum quality standards in terms of:
a. Minimum inputs (facilities, teaching materials, qualified teachers, parent and
community support),
b. Processes (effective leadership, monitoring and evaluation, accountability,
community participation, effective teaching-learning and assessment) and
c. Outputs (high student learning, societal and individual returns) to successfully
contribute to the economic growth of a country.
16. Cont…
• The quality of education is related both to student outcomes and to “improved environments
and educational aids which lead to detectable gains in knowledge, skills and values acquired
by students.
• Although the current level of educational quality in Ethiopia’s Universities is not determined
through standardized testing when evaluated based on the minimum inputs and processes that
quality education requires.
• A report by the World Bank indicates that three points of information combine to raise the
possibility that educational quality may presently be at risk.
17. Cont…
• First, Ethiopian higher education system is in a state of rapid expansion and it is always
difficult for any nation to maintain quality standards in midst rapid enllorment expansion.
• Second, the current level of spending per student on academic expenses is quiet low from
both a regional and international perspective.
• Third, the proportion of academic staff with PhD Degrees has been declining and will
probably decline further as a rapid enllorment expansion proceeds.
18. Cont…
• Improving the quality of education through improving the teaching learning process is
assumed the cost-effective than through improving system input which is more difficult for
countries like Ethiopia.
• The learner-centered pedagogy is emphasized in Ethiopia through the Teacher Education
System Overall (TESO), just recently in 1994 and described to be an effective subject
delivery mode as compared to the classical lecture method.
19. 4. CONCLUSIONS
• In conclusion, based on neurobiological understandings and much research, it is evident that
active learning has a more beneficial effect than passive learning on individuals because it
creates new neural networks and synapses.
• The experience of developed countries tells us that education has lion share among the
factors that contribute for the development of a country.
• The learner-centered approach is by far preferred over the teacher-centered approach to
produce self-directed, self-initiated learners and leaders who possess excellent problem
solving abilities.
• Since quality of education is a product of stable and solid leadership, sound and conducive
polices, great concern and sustained commitments are vitally important.
