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| This supplement to the active learning modules summarizes
some of the generously shared experience and wisdom on active pedagogy
of module testers, pedagogy experts, and wonderful teachers to those new
to active pedagogy. Among the issues we address are: hints to facilitate
teaching an active learning module; suggestions for instructors who are
new to a particular location and who might find it difficult to teach about
or use examples from a region with which they are not familiar; and suggestions
on student assessment, i.e., what to look for in students' performance
and responses. We begin with an experiential look at active pedagogy.
Active pedagogy as promoted here is a student-centered approach: it involves students actively in their own learning, assures their involvement with the material (i.e., their world), teaches skills for problem-solving rather than instilling information for occasional regurgitation, and prepares students to be engaged citizens and competent participants in society. Active pedagogy is all of this -- and more! It is also profoundly about teachers. Throughout the course of this project, many people practiced active pedagogy in their classrooms. For some it was what they've always done but maybe never thought about; for others it was an entirely new philosophy and practice of teaching. Without exception, instructors found the approach deeply satisfying and at the same time personally challenging. These few paragraphs summarize some of the experiences of our most staunch promoters of active pedagogy -- those who have practiced it. |
| Good-bye to teaching,
Hello to learning! |
Active pedagogy is about creating learning environments. It's not about
how to quiet students down enough so they can hear you lecture and at the
same time keep them entertained enough as you spice up "dry" scientific
information with jokes and stories; rather, it's about involving them.
Involving does not necessarily mean that all learning occurs via action
and busyness; involving means connecting students to the subject matter
they learn about. Activities are simply a means to help that connecting
process along more effectively. As the testing phase of these modules has
shown, however, students could do certain activities ad nauseam and not
learn a thing!
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| Become a reflective learner! | In order to create learning environments, instructors have said repeatedly
that they needed to look back at how they learned a specific skill or matter.
Clearly, not everyone shares the same learning style, but between one's
own way of learning and the experience gained in teaching, instructors
have available to them a large repertoire of information about barriers
and venues, i.e., what facilitates and what is in the way of learning.
Aspects to reflect on here include:
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| Respect different learning styles! | An active pedagogy with the goal of involving students needs not only
to acknowledge that people have different ways of learning; it can and
should make use of this fact. As the instructor becomes more aware of her
or his own learning preferences, s/he will almost automatically understand
that every student has preferences and limits, too. In order to reach as
many students in your class as possible, try out activities that use different
learning styles and observe what works. For example, not every student
will enjoy computer-based activities although your institution's facilities
may allow their repeated use. Choosing among a variety of activities is
thus not only a logistical issue, but also one of offering and accepting
different ways of learning.
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| Active Pedagogy Takes Time and Saves Time! | Those who tested these modules in their classrooms mentioned
that preparing an "active learning" class takes more time than preparing
a lecture. It has to because a lecture is most often a monologue, while
active learning is a dialogue or a multilogue (between student and teacher,
student and student, student and subject matter, and between student and
her/himself). Much effort has been made by module authors and contributors
to ease this class preparation as much as possible. On the other hand,
engaged, involved learners are much better and quicker learners than those
who are left behind because they could not connect with the material and
consequently "turned off" their receptors.
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| Involved, outgoing
learning requires some trust!
Additional hints for how to involve and engage students are presented in the section on Strategies to Inspire High-Involvement Lessons below. |
Some module testers reported that their students weren't
ready on the first day to do role plays or speak up in class discussions.
As in any constructive, mutual relationship, instructors need to build
rapport with their students before they can expect students to come forth
with their creativity and curiosity. Here are some suggestions on how to
build rapport:
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| Active pedagogy is hard! | To be an enabler of learning appears to ask a number of
qualities of a person, some of which come with less ease to us than others:
willingness to self-reflect and reflect on the progress made in class;
openness and flexibility to change one's way of "teaching" as it becomes
apparent what works and what doesn't for a set of students; ability to
let go of some control over exactly how students process a task into a
solution; at the same time, determination to repeat and make clear certain
learning goals and expectations; and a welcoming and explicit appreciation
for your own and students' diverse efforts at learning and knowing, implying
an orientation toward process and outcome.
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| Active pedagogy is actually a lot of fun! | Despite, or maybe even because of, active pedagogy's challenges,
the approach is much more fun than more traditional ones such as lecturing.
It is more rewarding because it has proven to be more lasting and effective.
It is more involving: if you present the same material in the same way
for years and years, you, the instructor, can become bored, too. It appreciates
and invites individuality and diversity: no class is the same as the last
one, no project is like that of other students. It is more personal even
if your class is large. In smaller classes you are more likely to receive
students' feedback directly, but in a large class, when your reach a student
personally by engaging her/him and you never know about it, the course
will make a lasting imprint on the student; active learning can truly make
a difference in students' lives.
The following sections discuss some of the specifics of active pedagogy, including the choice of activities, concrete strategies of how to enable learning, how to involve students and keep them involved, how and when to use different learning modes (alone, in groups, writing, discussion, etc.), and so on. |