faculty perceptions about barriers to active learning joel michael analysis and critique
Post on 21-Dec-2015
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Faculty Perceptions about Barriers to Active Learning
Joel Michael
Analysis and Critique
Traditional Teacher’s Role
• Teacher in front of class• Writes on blackboard• Students write• Emphasizes rote memorization
• Memorize facts
• Students do not talk
Active Learning
• From Paper• “Active learning involves building,
testing, and repairing one’s mental model of what is being learned”
• What does this mean?
Active Learning
• Teacher interacts more with students• Get students involved in learning process• Ask questions• Class discussion on material• Emphasizes how to use knowledge• Use vivid examples
• Students more likely to remember
• Students tend to forget a lot of rote memorization!
Active Learning
• The author assumes this is a better teaching style
• Is it better?
• How would you measure this?
• Tests may reflect the teacher’s style
Active Learning
• Education is moving in this direction in U.S.• May be good for many business and
introductory courses
• Courses with advance math• This teaching style may be harder to apply• I usually spent a week trying to understand
advance mathematics
Active Learning
• Some courses require rote memorization• History
• Times, Names, Events, etc.
• Political Science• Structure of Gov., Leaders, etc.
• Higher level history and political science courses could use more active learning• Students need a foundation of basic knowledge
Active Learning
• Word used often is facilitated• Teacher facilitates learning• Used in University of Phoenix
Barriers to Active Learning
• Author lists many barriers to this teaching style• Student Barriers• Faculty Barriers• Pedagogical Barriers
• I critiqued some of them
Barriers to Active LearningStudents
• Students do not know how• Students do not know how to prepare
for lectures• Students will not do it• Student heterogeneity
• Heterogeneity means students have different ethnic and social backgrounds
• How?• Possible richer discussions
Barriers to Active LearningStudents
• Reason for barrier
• Students are used to traditional style of teaching since school• Rote memorization dominates
education in U.S.• Grades 1 – 12
Barriers to Active LearningFaculty
• Requires more preparation time• Teacher has less control of
classroom• Colleagues do not use this method
Barriers to Active LearningFaculty
• Poor student evaluations• From experience• Evaluations tend to correlate with the
grades• Better grades leads to better
evaluations
Barriers to Active LearningFaculty
• “Lack of teacher maturity”• Have no idea
• Usually teacher is more mature than students
• Faculty reward structure• Have no idea
• Teachers usually have fixed salaries• Could be bonus for good test scores
• Teachers do not know how to do it
Barriers to Active LearningPedagogical Issues
• Pedagogical – teaching• Classrooms do not lend to this style
• Classrooms are inanimate
• Takes too much time and content suffers
• Student assessment is more difficult• Give same tests
• Class size
Barriers to Active LearningPedagogical Issues
• Difficult to predict outcomes• Difficult to ensure “quality control”
• Each class, students learn the same material
Barriers to Active LearningPedagogical Issues
• Not enough resources• Teachers always complain about this
• Standard class times• A class is 50 minutes
Criticism
• Do you have any complaints about article?
• Is it a good article?
Criticism
• Author never defines active learning!• He gave some vague definition
• Psychologists are very good at doing this!
• Along with economists, etc.
Criticisms
• Valid Criticisms• Students are used to traditional style• Faculty are used to traditional style• As a person gets older, the less likely
they can change• Some faculty do not like questions
• Students may ask a question that the professor does not know
Criticisms
• “Quality Control”• Dynamics of classroom could change
with different students• I had classes that were fun and some
classes I did not like• Valid criticism
• Some criticisms are ludicrous!
Criticisms
• More preparation time• In the beginning, teachers may need
more time to prepare• As they get used to it, it becomes easier• Learning Curve
• Classroom size• Bigger the classroom, the more difficult• Also true for rote memorization
Criticisms
• If active learning works, then use it.
• It also depends on instructor’s personality
Barriers to Active LearningFaculty
• Teachers may not implement active learning
• U.S. Federal and states gov.s are passing laws• Many students are behind• Many U.S. schools are weak
• Laws make the teacher responsible for students’ scores on national tests• National tests
• Determine how well student’s scored compared to the national average
Barriers to Active LearningFaculty
• I do not like this• Forces teachers to emphasize test scores• Teacher has to focus on material for national
exam
• I do not think it is the teacher’s fault!
• Thus, teachers are not likely to switch to active learning
• Teachers are not likely to experiment with new method
• School is more worried about test scores.
References
• Michael, Joel. 2007. “Faculty Perceptions about Barriers to Active Learning.” College Teaching 55(2): 42-7.