Active Learning in a technology-centric world:
It’s easier than you think!
B Bagby, Dr. Carrie Halpin, Dr. Ann Moser
Who are you?
About Teaching and Learning Models
Two Models of Teaching and Learning
http://www.collegeenglishbooks.com/two-models-of-teaching-learning.html
Didactic instruction is NOT better than Socratic Instruction.
- B Bagby
“That’s how I learned, and I’m successful”
Imagine what we’d be like if we all had nothing
but the best education?
Lecture is not inherently evil
Pop Quiz
Are you currently using ANY form of Active
Learning in your class instruction?
What IS Active Learning?
Active learning is "anything that involves students in doing things and
thinking about the things they are doing" (Bonwell & Eison, 1991, p. 2).
http://www.cte.cornell.edu/teaching-ideas/engaging-students/active-learning.html
http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED336049
Active Learning isn’t a “New” fad
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember,
involve me and I learn.”
– Benjamin Franklin
Or possibly Xun Kuang
or maybe Confucius
or Lao-zi ?
Regardless of who said it, it was said a long time ago!
What’s the Big Deal About Active Learning?
The University of Colorado, a national leader in the
overhaul of teaching science, tested thousands of
students over several years, before and after they each
took an introductory physics class, and reported in
2008 that students in transformed classes had
improved their scores by about 50 percent more than
those in traditional classes.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/12/27/us/college-science-classes-failure-rates-soar-go-back-to-drawing-board.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=1&referrer
http://journals.aps.org/prstper/pdf/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.4.010110
Active Learning Doesn’t Mean “No Lecturing”
• Background Knowledge Probe: ask students for basic
answers, show of hands, etc.
• Wait Time: Ask a question, make everyone wait a few
seconds, then have someone answer.
• Clarification Pause: Stop. Let the concept sink in, then
continue.
• Think critically about your instruction methods.
– Are you giving the students answers that they can reasonably
conclude on their own or working together?
– Are you creating “space” in your lectures to pull students into a
conversation?
– Is learning a noun or a verb in your classroom?
The test of a good teacher ... is, "Do you regard 'learning' as a noun or a
verb?" If as a noun, as a thing to be possessed and passed along, then you
present your truths, neatly packaged to your students. But if you see
"learning" as a verb[,] the process is different. The good teacher has learning,
but tries to instill in students the desire to learn, and demonstrates the ways
one goes about "learning" (Schorske, cited in McCleery 1986, p. 106).
Nutshells photo by Kikasz: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kikasz/
2015 Spring In-Service
Information Processing Theory. Retrieved from: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/information-processing-theory.html on December 16, 2014
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Individual learning activities
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Cooperative learning activities
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Reading; writing; diagrams or concept mapping
Discussion board forums; think/pair/share; write/share; peer review
projects, etc.
Collaborative learning activities
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Case studies; debates; discussion board forums; reports; peer writing;
or peer tutoring
2015 Spring In-Service
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Stress the importance of active learning.
The teacher acts as facilitator.
Teaching and learning are experiences shared by both the student and
the teacher.
Enhance higher order cognitive skills.
Greater emphasis is placed on students' responsibility for taking charge
of her or his learning.
Involve situations where students must articulate ideas in small groups.
Help students develop social and teambuilding skills.
Utilize student diversity.
Increase student success and information retention.
2015 Spring In-Service
Cooperative
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Collaborative
Students receive training in small group social •
skills.
Activities are structured with each student
having a specific role.
The instructor observes, listens, and
•
intervenes in a group when necessary.
Students submit work at the end of class for •
evaluation.
More often used in K-12 education.
•
•
There is a belief that students already have
the necessary social skills, and that they will
build on their existing skills in order to reach
their goals.
Students organize and negotiate efforts
themselves.
The activity is not monitored by the
instructor. When questions are directly
towards the instructor, the instructor guides
the students to the information needed.
Students retain drafts to complete further
work.
Student assess individual and group
performance.
Four Components
• Strategicallyformed
permanent
teams
• Readiness
assurance
• Application
activities
• Peer evaluation
Four Components
• StudentCentered
• Teaching as
Facilitating
• Learning as
constructing
• Self and peer
assessment
Learning
Outcomes
Assessment
Methods
Identify learning
outcomes: What do
you want your
students are able
to do when they
have completed
this unit of
instruction.
Align learning
outcomes with
assessments: How
will you and
students know if
these learning
outcomes are
being
accomplished? (e.g.
writing/presenting
an argumentative
paper/speech).
Before a Face-toFace Session
During a Face-toFace Session
After a Face-toFace Session
Select the Learning Activities (What will the students need to
do in order to achieve their learning goals/outcomes?)
1. How will you help
students
determine what
prior knowledge
and experience
they have? (e.g.
self-check
survey/quiz/pretest
using Bb quiz or
group Wiki)
2. Gaining
Attention:
Introduce the new
content (e.g.
Panopto videos)
How will students
interact and
engage in the
learning process?
(e.g. in-class
debate; group
problem solving;
i>clicker response
system;
collaborative
activities through
online web
conference tool/Bb
Collaborate)
How to help
students to reflect
what they have
learned so as to
enhance learning
process and
comprehension?
(e.g. Discussion
board forum: openended questions;
case studies; peer
review of final
project which will
allow reflective and
interaction time)
Instructional
Technologies
What instructional
technologies could
be used to help
organize, facilitate,
and direct these
assessment
activities? e.g. Bb
rubric; Bb quizzes;
Discussion
board/Wiki, etc.
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Plan ahead, considering amount of time to allow for the activity.
Move quickly from one phase of the activity to the next.
Watch the time and announce "2-minute warning" or other intervals
appropriate to the length of the activity.
Give clear and specific instructions.
Put time limits on feedback reports and make the feedback process
efficient.
Hold students accountable for out-of-class assignments and preparation
so they're ready to contribute to the activity during class.
2015 Spring In-Service
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Blackboard Learn
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Group
Discussion board
Rubric
Wiki/blog/journal
Quiz/Survey
Blackboard Collaborate (Online Conference Tool)
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Chat
Screen Sharing
Whiteboard
File transferring
Breakout Room (for synchronous group activities)
Record sessions
2015 Spring In-Service
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Panopto: Records videos
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Classroom sessions
How to tutorials
Exam review
Studymate (12 Interactive activities)
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Flash cards
Self-quizzes
Crosswords
2015 Spring In-Service
Active Learning
Ann Moser
Active Learning
• Includes any activity in which every student must think, create, or
solve a problem.
• One activity you do that, under this definition, is active.
The New Bloom
My Class: Grammar
• By college-age, learning this foundation skill takes action on my part
and his.
• My part
• Isolate errors, starting with the most egregious.
• Poke, prod, threaten to convince him of the worth of his extra-involvement
• Become his coach
• Show him how to be a life-long learner
• Develop a plan of action
• For this student, it was a MOOC
• Crafting an Effective Writer: Tools of the Trade (Fundamental English
Writing)
• https://www.coursera.org/course/basicwriting
What was your best learning experience?
• Something from a college class that you still remember
today.
• How was it taught?
For me, Microbiology. Growing and identifying bacteria.
How? I had to grow it. Figure out what it wanted and watched the gunk grow;
saw it under a microscope; drew it; researched what it could do in the real world;
clean up after it without infecting myself and others.
Still remember the terms, the names, the images.
E. coli
• Food poisoning
• Vomiting
• Pneumonia
• Cramps
• Also occurs in sympatico in humans
• Wash hands
Techniques I Have Used
• List of their expectations. Attitude survey. Background knowledge
they are starting with.
• In-class writing. Especially after a question. Give people time to think
before answering. Builds trust.
• Reaction statements. Gives students a chance to freely respond to a
concept, reading, assignment. First, overall reaction. In your own
words. Don’t need to explain:
Student log that begins with reaction
statement:
• People today often think of the Puritans as dull, joyless stoics who did
nothing but study Scripture and pray. However, this is a poorly
reconstructed image of the Puritans, one which Puritans themselves would
desire to avoid. Anne Bradstreet’s poetry depicts a person with a strong
commitment to Puritan theology but also a realistic life of praise to God,
regardless of her circumstances. The theme that I saw throughout several
of Bradstreet's poems is her dependence and calm trust in God despite
her adverse circumstances.
•
First, in “An Epitaph on My Dear and Ever-Honoured Mother Mrs.
Dorothy Dudley,” Anne celebrates the life her mother lived, praising her
mom for her loving life life to the people around her. She describes her
mom as “A loving mother and obedient wife, / A loving neighbor, pitiful to
poor,” (“Mother” 2-3). She also praises her mother's intense devotion to
God's word and prayer when she says, “And in her closet constant hours
she spent; / Religious in all her words and ways,” (“Mother” 11-12.) Rather
than focus on the sadness she surely felt at her mother's passing,
Bradstreet instead focused on celebrating the testimony her mother lived
and the legacy that lived on afterward.
Techniques, con’t
• Authentic assignments
• Elizabeth’s paper was a product of an authentic assignment
• Real purpose
• Real audience
• = real essay
For any topic chosen, require brainstorming, proposal, feedback, audience
profile, purpose.
Con’t
• Presentations
• Teach a concept to the class
• Present research from a research project. Focus narrows, documentation is
clarified. Purpose of research becomes real.
• Has to include a visual
• Has to engage the audience
• Discussion leaders
• You may need to lecture, but a discussion leader prepares to guide the class
(or groups) on sub-topics in the lecture.
• Students bring outside illustrations/examples of a concept being
worked on.
• Log credit, homework credit, participation credit
• Several offer their examples and explain
Discussion Board
• Logs, in my class, are presented on the Discussion Board. Step-bystep practice of critical analysis.
• Good place to go back and review how others analyzed a story or poem. How
analysis built the interpretation.
• Credit for responses
• Instructor has to be one of the responders, showing what that means, how
to do it, what it should look like, wording, tone, use of examples.
Discussion Board
• Choose the best post in the forum and defend answer.
• One student summarizes the posts on Discussion Board forum
• Uses specific references to particular posts that back the overall summary
purpose.
• How did that change your idea, perspective, interpretation?
• Good extra credit challenge.
Group Work
• Has to be modeled first—
• Conferences with each group
• Present a model group for the class
• Panopto group work
• Learn how to be a working group. How to take turns, offer ideas,
language used, how to talk in your field.
Active Involvement
• Teach them how to annotate a text.
• Students contribute to PowerPoint lecture by adding to lecture slides.
• Do field research and report back. Helps them to observe the point of
the content covered. How it is applied elsewhere. Clarifies
documentation of source.
• Want them to understand how writing is done in your field? Have
them deconstruct a journal article. X-ray it, question it, annotate,
outline, react, summarize, follow through on some of the
documentation.
• Paper, project, research that requires interview(s).
• Create scenarios.
• My class: Cast a movie of a story/novel we are reading.
• How would you get Ferris Bueller involved in class?
“The one doing the talking is the one doing the learning.”