Active Learning: It Works!
Editor’s Note: In this two-part piece, Tami Meredith, faculty member in Computer Science, describes what happens when instructors inject active learning into their classroom practices. This is Part I.
I want you to imagine an amazing technique that has the potential to increase your SRI (Student Ratings of Instruction) scores by more than you would probably imagine. You will talk less, probably enjoy your classes more, and improve the understanding of material, as well as its retention, by your students. So, as you expect, now comes the catch; and that is … well, there isn’t one. What is this magic technique? It is something called “Active Learning” (Bonwell & Eison, 1991). Now, you may believe that SRI scores are irrelevant and that the amount of learning that occurs is all that truly matters. However, there is clear evidence that SRI scores correlate with student learning (e.g., Centra, 1977).
In the traditional, “Sage on the Stage” form of lecture, where the instructor talks, often accompanied by visual materials (e.g., PowerPoint, white board notes), students passively receive the knowledge that we intend them to learn. We might prompt them to work with the material by suggesting that they take notes, which we all agree is a highly helpful practice for students (for a review see Gonzalez, 2018), but in general, students are very passive in traditional lectures. With active learning, we provide the students with various activities that encourage them to do things and think about the things they are doing. That is, we have our students work with the material, apply it, and use it in an active manner.
Students typically believe that they learn more with the passive approach. They feel that listening to the instructor “teach” is going to extend their knowledge more than performing activities to facilitate their learning (DesLauriers, et al, 2019). However, my experience is that when active learning is used effectively, student perceptions of learning are irrelevant. They enjoy the classes, feel like they “have a voice,” and become involved in their educational experience. Making student voices relevant requires that the instructor change from being a controller to being a facilitator and willing to manage discussions instead of leading them.
As an aside, I completed the CELTA (Cambridge Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and a fundamental part of the program was learning to facilitate student interaction and practice. My CELTA experiences helped inform the foundation of my active learning program and supported the transformation of my course from a chore into a joy for my students. I say this to provide support for the changes I implemented and not to discredit the significant, important, and critical support I received from the Dalhousie Centre for Learning and Teaching (CLT).
My own personal experience revolves around a course on Mobile Application Development for computer science graduate students. Mobile Development is a required course, delivered to approximately 75 students at a time and taken in the first term of their program. The first time I taught the course, I used the teaching model and materials given to me by the previous instructor. I had been told that the course was “well-developed” and would require minimal effort by me. I updated the PowerPoint slides with current data where needed, modified them slightly to suit my own teaching style, and enthusiastically presented them to my eager students. By the end of the term, my attendance had decreased excessively, in my opinion, and I was finding it harder and harder to keep the remaining students engaged. Then, upon receiving my SRI score for the course (Overall: 2.97), I knew that something had to change.
References
Bonwell, C., & Eison, J. (1991). Active learning; Creating excitement in the classroom. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 1. Washington, D.C.: The George Washington University, School of Education and Human Development.
Centra, J. (1977). Student ratings of instruction and their relationship to student learning. American Educational Research Journal, 14(1), 17-24.
Deslauriers, L., McCarty, L., Miller, K., Callaghan, C., and Kestin, G. (2019). Measuring actual learning versus feeling of learning in response to being actively engaged in the classroom. Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 116(39), 19251-19257.
Gonzalez, J. (2018). Note-taking: A research roundup. Blog: The cult of pedagogy. Retrieved from http://www.cultofpedagogy.com/note-taking/