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What is Active Learning?
What is Active Learning?
Active learning is an approach where students take ownership of the learning experience and process through their own engagement. This style of learning is in direct contrast of the traditional "sage on the stage" approach to instruction where students are passive in their absorption of new, incoming information.
A "Guide on the Side" approach to teaching is one in which the instructor becomes more like a facilitator in designing the learning activities. This requires intentionality and planning or frontloading the lessons. Here the instructor will think about:
what are the objectives of the lesson/activity (what are the big takeaways)?
how will the learner interact in the activity (student-student, student-content, and/or student-instructor)?
what senses will be involved in the activity? Are students talking, listening, reading, moving, building, smelling, etc? The more senses involved in the learning activity, the more likely students are to remember the content.
how will the instructor measure mastery of task? Are they using Bloom's Taxonomy to write measurable outcomes in rubrics.
Active Learning Practice & Examples
Active Learning Practice & Examples
University of Minnesota. (n.d.) Active Learning. Center for Educational Innovation. Retrieved from https://cei.umn.edu/teaching-resources/active-learning
Traditional learning generally allows for limited interaction within the class and generally includes raising hands to answer questions.
A skilled instructor will design learning experiences that focus on active learning. These activities are rooted in UDL principles that meet students where they are at and allows them to equitable opportunities for engagement while practicing complex skills for learning through analysis, evaluation, and synthesis of material.
Although the amount of work that is frontloaded in the process of designing learning experiences is intensive and can seem daunting, the outcome of that intentional learning experience design is higher student engagement, high-impact learning experiences, high knowledge transfer, increased retention, and higher program completion rates.
In sum, a skilled teacher that designs courses with active learning and measurable outcomes is contributing to the success of not just the student, but the program and institutional goals. It's a win-win!
Assessment & Group Instruction Resources
Assessment & Group Instruction Resources
Active Learning Strategies for Large Group Instruction
Active Learning Strategies for Large Group InstructionClassroom Assessment/Activity Techniques
CEI Classroom Activities_Assessments Matrix.pdfPage updated
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