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

Imagine what we’d be like if we all had nothing but the best education?

“That’s how I learned, and I’m successful”

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.htmlhttp://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/

INTEGRATING INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES IN THE DESIGN OF

ACTIVE LEARNING

2015 Spring In-Service

Information Processing Theory. Retrieved from: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/information-processing-theory.html on December 16, 2014

INFORMATION PROCESSING THEORY

Individual learning activities◦ Reading; writing; diagrams or concept mapping

Cooperative learning activities◦ Discussion board forums; think/pair/share; write/share;

peer review projects, etc.Collaborative learning activities

◦ Case studies; debates; discussion board forums; reports; peer writing; or peer tutoring

CATEGORIES OF ACTIVE LEARNING ACTIVITIES

2015 Spring In-Service

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.

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN COOPERATIVE VS. COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

2015 Spring In-Service

Cooperative 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.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN COOPERATIVE VS. COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

TEAM-BASED LEARNING

Four Components

• Strategically-formed permanent teams

• Readiness assurance

• Application activities

• Peer evaluation

PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING

Four Components

• Student-Centered

• Teaching as Facilitating

• Learning as constructing

• Self and peer assessment

Learning Outcomes

Assessment Methods

Before a Face-to-Face Session

During a Face-to-Face Session

After a Face-to-Face Session

Instructional Technologies

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).

Select the Learning Activities (What will the students need to do in order to achieve their learning goals/outcomes?)

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.

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: open-ended questions; case studies; peer review of final project which will allow reflective and interaction time)

FRAMEWORK: DESIGNING ACTIVE LEARNING

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.

TIPS FOR DESIGNING ACTIVE LEARNING

2015 Spring In-Service

Blackboard Learn◦ Group◦ Discussion board◦ Rubric◦ Wiki/blog/journal◦ Quiz/Survey

Blackboard Collaborate (Online Conference Tool)◦ Chat◦ Screen Sharing◦ Whiteboard◦ File transferring◦ Breakout Room (for synchronous group activities)◦ Record sessions

AVAILABLE INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES AT VWCC

2015 Spring In-Service

Panopto: Records videos◦ Classroom sessions◦ How to tutorials◦ Exam review

Studymate (12 Interactive activities)◦ Flash cards◦ Self-quizzes◦ Crosswords

AVAILABLE INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES AT VWCC

2015 Spring In-Service

Active LearningAnn 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-by-step 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.”