Understanding Active Learning Strategies in Education

Slide Note

Active learning involves students in various activities to enhance their learning experience, such as discussing, creating, and analyzing information. This pedagogy benefits students by promoting critical thinking, collaboration, and retention of knowledge. Technology plays a crucial role in enabling active learning in both online and traditional classrooms. Implementing active learning strategies requires engaging teaching methods, monitoring student progress, and creating a dynamic learning environment.

hais863 Follow

Uploaded on Sep 17, 2024 | 0 Views

Download Presentation

Please find below an Image/Link to download the presentation.

The content on the website is provided AS IS for your information and personal use only. It may not be sold, licensed, or shared on other websites without obtaining consent from the author. Download presentation by click this link. If you encounter any issues during the download, it is possible that the publisher has removed the file from their server.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

Active Learning Jim O Connor PhD Director, Center for INNOVATIVE LEARNING AND TEACHING TOURO UNIVERSITY WESTERN DIVISION

Presentation objectives Describe the elements of active learning pedagogy Identify the benefits and challenges of active learning pedagogy Share various active learning techniques Participants will experience active learning

ASSIGNMENT: 2 MINUTES 1. DEFINE ACTIVE LEARNING 2. PROVIDE TWO EXAMPLES OF ACTIVE LEARNING

Definition of Active Learning Active learning strategies are those that involve "students in doing things and [thinking] about the things they are doing" (Bonwell and Eison, 1991, p iii). Active learning refers to strategies in which students are engaged in doing something, rather than simply listening to a lecture or passively receiving information. They are discussing, writing, debating, creating, discovering, processing, and involved in higher- order thinking (for example, analysis, synthesis).

Active Learning Online/Hybrid Courses Students working online can all have equal opportunity to participate, share thoughts, and develop ideas over longer periods of time, giving them the opportunity to think critically about their participation. Recent developments in technology also provide unique tools and expanded opportunities for implementing collaborative and active learning strategies, both online and face-to- face. Online collaboration tools enable students to work in groups both synchronously and asynchronously.

Features of an Active Learning Classroom Teaching strategies that require participation and collaboration Ability for instructors to monitor student activities and coach effectively Technology that allows instructor and students to share and present seamlessly Flexible furniture arrangements and multiple writing surfaces to support team activities

Potential Advantages Provides the context that helps students recognize the relevance of the learning Promotes better retention of learning Deepens understanding and enhances students' ability to transfer knowledge to "real-life" situations May address a greater variety of learning styles

Brainstorm (more ideas is better, no evaluation,go for unique)3 min What are some other potential advantages of Active Learning?

Benefits of Active Learning Drawn From Theory Students are more likely to access their own prior knowledge, which is a key to learning. Students are more likely to find personally meaningful problem solutions or interpretations. Students receive more frequent and more immediate feedback. The need to produce forces learners to retrieve information from memory rather than simply recognizing a correct statement. Students increase their self-confidence and self-reliance.

Ten Benefits of Active Learning Drawn From Theory 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. Students learn strategies for learning itself by observing others. Source: Dr. Marilla Svinicki, EDP 398T College Teaching Methodology, University of Texas at Austin

Other advantages of active learning Reinforces important material, concepts, and skills. Provides more frequent and immediate feedback to students. Provides students with an opportunity to think about, talk about, and process course material. Creates personal connections to the material for students, which increases their motivation to learn. Allows students to practice important skills, such as collaboration, through pair and group work. Builds self-esteem through conversations with other students. Creates a sense of community in the classroom through increased student-student and instructor-student interaction.

More advantages to active learning 1. Develops collaborative skills 2. Encourages risk taking 3. Requires student preparation 4. Increases engagement 5. Improves critical thinking 6. Increases retention 7. Makes tech more powerful 8. Sparks creative thinking 9. Fosters real problem solving

https://cei.umn.edu/active-learning 1:30

What the research says: Improved student understanding (Kvam 1999; Crouch and Mazur, 2001; Handelsman et al. 2004) Improved student retention in general student population and in underrepresented minorities (George et al. 2001; Cortrightet al. 2003; Lorenzo et al. 2006) Improved attitude, problem-solving skills, and conceptual learning (Beichner et al. 2007, Yehudit et all 2003)

What the Research Says Coverage is not the same as learning. Decades of research across many subjects have shown that students learn more when they construct their own understanding through active engagement with the course content and while working with other learners. Research has shown that students in small groups outperform their peers in higher order thinking and knowledge acquisition (see Barkley, Morgan, & Cross, 2014; Light, 1992; Johnson & Johnson, 1994; Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 1991; McKeachie, Pintrich, Lin, & Smith, 1986; Springer, Stanne, & Donovan, 1999; Strobel & Van Barneveld, 2009, all as cited in Davidson & Major, 2014). Active learning strategies also build self- esteem and self-confidence and develop interpersonal skills (Davidson & Major, 2014).

Recent Harvard Study even though students feel like they learn more through traditional lectures, they actually learn more in classrooms that employ active learning strategies. Results showed that while students felt like they learned more in lectures, they scored higher on tests following active learning sessions. Oftentimes, students who are experiencing active learning for the first time can become frustrated and resist the techniques. It s not until later that they see the benefits of active learning strategies. Deep learning is hard work. The effort involved in active learning can be misinterpreted as a sign of poor learning, said Louis Deslauriers, lead author on the study and director of science teaching and learning and senior physics preceptor at Harvard University, as quoted in the Harvard Gazette. On the other hand, a superstar lecturer can explain things in such a way as to make students feel like they are learning more than they actually are.

Students might give fabulous evaluations to an amazing lecturer based on this feeling of learning, even though their actual learning isn t optimal. This could help to explain why study after study shows that student evaluations seem to be completely uncorrelated with actual learning, Deslauriers said.

Potential disadvantages Often require more time for the instructor to prepare well Less efficient than didactic learning for presenting foundational knowledge May be frustrating for students who are not prepared to participate

Think-Pair-Share(3 min: 30 seconds reflect;1 min share by each person) What are some other possible disadvantages on Active Learning?

Challenges of Active Learning What makes it difficult? New paradigm for students Time and work issues for faculty Lack of training for faculty Spaces not conducive to active learning

Intro to large class group activities Video Intro: https://acue.instructure.com/courses/822/pages/3a-technique-talk- i?module_item_id=203982 6 minutes * https://acue.instructure.com/courses/822/pages/3b-classroom- demonstration?module_item_id=203963 8:16

Active Learning More to Less Complex Experiential Learning Inquiry Learning Jigsaw Discussion Role Playing Active Review Sessions (games or simulations) Interactive Lecture Hands-On Technology Case Studies Brainstorming Group Evaluations Peer Review Groups(cooperative learning) Large group discussion Think-Pair-Share Minute Paper Pause for Reflection

Other active learning activities Debating a current event Engaging in case studies or simulations Actively self-monitoring their learning Constructing a quiz for use with peers Reflecting on a topic covered in class Interviewing experts in their field

Think-Pair-Share/Write-Pair-Share (10 minutes of class time) Present a question to answer or a statement/quote for reflection. Give students a minute or two to think about or write their responses. Have students then share their answers or responses with a neighbor. After two minutes, signal for students to stop. Debrief by calling on a few pairs to share their thoughts or answers with the class. Reflect on students answers to gauge student progress and relate their responses to the next part of your class.

Minute Paper (2-10 minutes of class time) Think about the class learning outcomes. What should students in your class know or be able to do? Design a prompt based on your learning outcomes. (For example, what are the most important points of today s lecture?). Check the effectiveness of your question and anticipate various responses. Give students enough time to respond (2-10 minutes depending on the prompt). Collect all responses for review or select a sample for larger class sizes. If checking individual student comprehension/writing, ask students to write their names on the papers. If checking general comprehension of the class, make it anonymous. Review the responses for themes or commonly made errors. Provide feedback in the next class. Comment on papers directly or summarize main themes to the whole class. Adapted from Angelo & Cross (1993).

Stump Your Partner (10 minutes of class time) At a natural break in your lecture, pause and ask students to come up with one or two questions based on the lecture content up to that point. Tell students that they will try to stump their partner, so they have to come up with a challenging question. Have them write questions. Have students turn to a partner and pose their questions. Collect the questions (they might be used as possible exam questions or to check students comprehension).

Catch-Up (5-10 minutes of class time) Introduce this activity at some logical breaking point in a class or lecture. Ask students to turn to a neighbor to share notes and ask any clarifying questions for a few minutes. Take two or three questions from a couple of pairs. At this point, assess the situation if there are only a few questions to address, you can quickly do so and move on. If there are many more, it might be worth slowing down or stepping back to review.

More active learning techniques The Pause Procedure Pause for two minutes every 12 to 18 minutes, encouraging students to discuss and rework notes in pairs. This approach encourages students to consider their understanding of the lecture material, including its organization. It also provides an opportunity for questioning and clarification and has been shown to significantly increase learning when compared to lectures without the pauses.

Retrieval Practice Retrieval practice Pause for two or three minutes every 15 minutes, having students write everything they can remember from preceding class segment. Encourage questions. This approach prompts students to retrieve information from memory, which improves long term memory, ability to learn subsequent material, and ability to translate information to new domains. (Brame and Biel, 2015; see also the CFT s guide to test- enhanced learning)

Concepts Maps Concept map Concept maps are visual representations of the relationships between concepts. Concepts are placed in nodes (often, circles), and the relationships between indicated by labeled arrows connecting the concepts. To have students create a concept map, identify the key concepts to be mapped in small groups or as a whole class. Ask students to determine the general relationship between the concepts and to arrange them two at a time, drawing arrows between related concepts and labeling with a short phrase to describe the relationship. This approach helps students examine and strengthen the organization within the model.

Student-generated test questions Provide students with a copy of your learning goals for a particular unit and a figure summarizing Bloom s taxonomy (with representative verbs associated with each category). Challenge groups of students to create test questions corresponding to your learning goals and different levels of the taxonomy. Consider having each group share their favorite test question with the whole class or consider distributing all student-generated questions to the class as a study guide. This approach helps students consider what they know as well as implications of the instructor s stated learning goals. (Angelo and Cross, 1993)

Jigsaw Teamwork A jigsaw is an active learning exercise in which a topic is related to smaller pieces (think: puzzle pieces). Each member of a team is asked to learn about, and become an expert on, their piece. This is important because after students master their piece, they are expected to teach other members on their team about it. After everyone is done teaching their piece, the puzzle has been reassembled.

Jigsaw @ 4 minutes: https://acue.instructure.com/courses/822/pages/3a- classroom-demonstration?module_item_id=203981

Ticket to Leave The instructor asks students a specific question about the lesson. Students then respond on the ticket and gives to the instructor, either on their way out or on their way in the next day. This is a great formative assessment; an instructor can then evaluate the need to re-teach or questions that need to be answered

Assessing Group Work All of the basic principles of assessment that apply to individual students work apply to group work as well. Assessing group work has additional aspects to consider, however. First, depending on the objectives of the assignment, both process- and product-related skills must be assessed. Second, group performance must be translated into individual grades, which raises issues of fairness and equity. Complicating both these issues is the fact that neither group processes nor individual contributions are necessarily apparent in the final product. Thus, instructors need to find ways of obtaining this information.

Assess process, not just product If both product and process are important to you, both should be reflected in students grades although the weight you accord each will depend on your learning objectives for the course and for the assignment. Ideally, your grading criteria should be communicated to students in a rubric. This is especially important if you are emphasizing skills that students are not used to being evaluated on, such as the ability to cooperate or meet deadlines.

Ask students to assess their own contribution to the team Have students evaluate their own teamwork skills and their contributions to the group s process using a self-assessment of the process skills you are emphasizing. These process skills may include, among others, respectfully listening to and considering opposing views or a minority opinion, effectively managing conflict around differences in ideas or approaches, keeping the group on track both during and between meetings, promptness in meeting deadlines, and appropriate distribution of research, analysis, and writing.

Hold individuals accountable To motivate individual students and discourage the free-rider phenomenon, it is important to assess individual contributions and understanding as well as group products and processes. In addition to evaluating the work of the group as a whole, ask individual students to demonstrate their learning. This can be accomplished through independent write-ups, weekly journal entries, content quizzes, or other types of individual assignments.

Ask students to evaluate their groups dynamics and the contributions of their teammates Gauge what various group members have contributed to the group (e.g., effort, participation, cooperativeness, accessibility, communication skills) by asking team members to complete an evaluation form for group processes. This is not a foolproof strategy (students may feel social pressure to cover for one another). However, when combined with other factors promoting individual accountability, it can provide you with important information about the dynamics within groups and the contributions of individual members.

Wrapping Up: More findings on Active Learning Freeman and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis of 225 studies comparing constructivist versus exposition-centered course designs in STEM disciplines (Freeman et al., 2014). They included studies that examined the design of class sessions (as opposed to out-of-class work or laboratories) with at least some active learning versus traditional lecturing, comparing failure rates and student scores on examinations, concept inventories, or other assessments. They found that students in traditional lectures were 1.5 times more likely to fail than students in courses with active learning (odds ratio of 1.95, Z = 10.4, P<<0.001). Further, they found that on average, student performance on exams, concept inventories, or other assessments increased by about half a standard deviation when some active learning was included in course design (weighted standardized mean difference of 0.47, Z = 9.781, P<<0.001). These results were consistent across disciplines: they observed no significant difference in the effects of active learning in biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, geology, math, physics, and psychology courses.

Finally: Thinking About Incorporating Active Learning? Set the tone early. Explain to students that they will be engaging with the material in various ways in class. Use activities to draw attention to issues and content you feel are most critical. Incorporate activities or change things up every 15-20 minutes (once or twice in a 50-minute class, or twice or thrice in a 75-minute class). Variety is important. Having a handful of different activities can keep things less predictable. Set aside time before and after each activity to introduce it and define the takeaway. Articulate ground rules for participation and discussion. If you are implementing a new technique or introducing a new theme, consider surveying students to determine its effectiveness. Explaining the learning benefits of the activity may counter possible resistance (see Felder & Brent (1996) for more strategies). It may take time for both instructors and students to get used to new teaching techniques.

Other things to think about Think about how you will facilitate the process each step of the way. How will you introduce the activity? Do you need to provide visual aids with directions? How much time will you give students? How will you debrief? Smaller groups may be easier to manage than larger ones. Consider the logistics of getting a large group of students back on track after an activity. Clap your hands or flash the lights to get students to stop and refocus their attention on you. Use a quick icebreakers early in the term to help students become comfortable with one another and to set expectations for an interactive class.