Active Learning/Class Discussion
NOTE: Our Macalester workshop took place in June 2020. On this day of the workshop, we recognized #ShutDownAcademia, #ShutDownSTEM, and #Strike4BlackLives by offering our synchronous Zoom sessions as spaces to focus on anti-racist pedagogies and practices. These were optional meetings, as we wanted to recognize and invite each of our participants to do what they thought was best with the day.
Further Reading
bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress : Education As the Practice of Freedom, New York: Routledge, 1994.
Readings
Sean Michael Morris and Jesse Stommel, “The Discussion Form Is Dead; Long Live the Discussion Forum,” An Urgency of Teachers, 2018.
Sarah Rose Cavanaugh, “How to Make Your Teaching More Engaging.”
Morton Ann Gernsbacher, “Five Tips for Improving Online Discussion Boards.”
Doug Lederman, "Will Active Learning Co-Exist With Physically Distanced Classrooms?" Inside Higher Ed, May 27, 2020.
The Ohio State University, Office of Distance Learning and eLearning Resource Center "Active Learning in an Online Course."
Preparation
What is active learning and what’s it actually all about?
What do active learning activities look like in a socially distant environment?
Reflect on 1 or 2 meaningful class discussions that you have either led or to which you have contributed, in your capacity as an instructor, student discussion leader, or student participant. What made them meaningful?
Further Reading and Resources
Elizabeth F. Barkley, Claire Howell Major, and K. Patricia Cross, "Collaborative Learning Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty, (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Brand, 2014).
Chris Friend, “Learning to Let Go: Listening to Students in Discussion,” Hybrid Pedagogy, September 10, 2014.