Course Design Elements for First-Year Student Success

Use Instructional Strategies that Emphasize Active Learning

Active learning is learning with other students, learning through inquiry, learning by doing. A significant body of research studies since the mid-1990’s have supported the claim that active learning improves student success. The latest research (a meta-analysis of over 225 STEM course studies, many of which present the most difficult challenges to students) indicates that average exam scores improved by about 6% in active learning sections, and that students in classes with traditional lecturing were one and a half times more likely to fail than students in classes with active learning. As part of first year of the Course Design Academy project, SOU relied on the Fink Integrated Course Design Model to redesign a selection of key gateway courses (MTH 243, PSY 201-202, and USEM 101) to incorporate active learning. Some of the resources associated with this model are listed below.

    • Significant Learning Goals — An infographic overview of Fink's taxonomy of creating significant learning experiences.
    • Integrated Course Design at SOU — This comprehensive website developed in conjunction with the Course Design Academy includes worksheets and instructions for designing a course based on Fink's principles.
    • Retention to Persistence (Tinto) — Three major experiences shape student motivation to stay in college and graduate: self-efficacy, sense of belonging, and perceived value of the curriculum.
    • Power and Limits of the Lecture — Lectures continue to be the primary form of information sharing in many classrooms. This infographic spells out some of the limitations inherent in delivering content in this manner.
    • Active Learning Worksheet — Strategies in this worksheet are laid out from the most simple to the most complex from top to bottom, while each strategy is further detailed from simple to more complex from left to right.
    • Matrix of Active Learning Strategies for Interactive Lectures — Find strategies to address a variety of challenges that arise from lectures as well as insight into key elements to consider and greatest benefits.