You’ve
been to training sessions or workshops that encourage you to move away from a traditional
lecture based course to adding more active engaged learning techniques. Adding active
learning techniques can help engage students with the content and support
deeper learning environments. So how do you do that? What does it mean to
provide active learning?
The following
list is part of a list compiled by the University of Waterloo Center for Teaching Excellence that provide various active learning techniques that you
might use in conjunction with the traditional lecture format. These techniques
are suitable for any size of class.
Brainstorming:
In this activity, students generate ideas that you record on a
whiteboard or computer screen. When beginning a new topic, you might begin by
saying, “Tell me everything you know about…” You may decide to put the
students’ comments into categories, or you might ask students to suggest categories
and comment on the accuracy and relative importance of the array of facts,
impressions, and interpretations. The main rules of brainstorming are to
acknowledge every offering by writing it down and save any critiquing until
after the idea generation time is over.
Case
study:
Special features:
The case-study method was
pioneered at the Harvard law and business schools. Business and law cases tend
to be very detailed and long, and take several classes to analyze, but
instructors can apply a simplified case-study method (described below) for
teaching in many disciplines. Applying theory to an instance as described by
some source material can demonstrate the applicability of the course material
beyond the classroom.
A good case study:
Presents students with a situation
they can relate to from their own life experience.
Includes realistic information.
Examples can include scripts of exchanges that took place between key parties,
news articles about situations of interest, background information about the organization
of interest, etc.
Has a conflict that students can
resolve.
Procedure:
Get source material (short story,
news articles, account of a decision or procedure, video, role-play script,
etc.) to use as the basis for the case study.
Provide students with a focus or
framework to use in doing their analysis.
Give students time to analyze the
case individually or in groups, and to write down their analysis. Begin a discussion of students’
analyses. Act as a mediator of the
discussion. Don’t offer your own opinion except to provide guidance on the
process (remind students of the framework if discussion becomes unfocused). After analysis has been completed,
show how the case study illustrates application of theoretical or background
concepts in course material.
Function in the class:
Use a case study to lead into a
discussion or lecture of course material, showing its relevance by referring
back to the case study.
Debates:
Debates allow you to add a participatory dimension to your lecture
without compromising your control of the class. One strategy is to divide
students according to where they happen to sit. Another approach is to ask them
in advance to seat themselves in the section representing a particular side of
the debate. When some students refuse to choose one side or the other, create a
middle ground and invite their reasons for choosing it. Before concluding, you
should ask two or three volunteers to make summary arguments for each side.
Special features:
Debates can be formal or informal: what follows is about informal debates
(i.e., debating as a method of class discussion). See Bean (1996) for
instructions for holding a formal debate – a much more complicated and lengthy
process that can be a focal point for an entire segment of course material. A
debate is a good way to encourage class participation in large groups without
losing control, and they can work in any discipline. Instructors can plan
debates beforehand, or they can emerge spontaneously from classroom material.
Procedure:
Describe the background context, and explain why you are having a debate.
Consider establishing ground rules for the discussion (ex. Disagreements
are welcome name-calling and interruptions are not) Decide on the two (or more) sides to the debate. Physically group the class according to points of view: either assign
students a point of view depending on where they sit, or ask people who want to
argue each point of view to move to sit together. Invite someone from one side to begin the debate by stating his/her point
of view. Invite someone from the other side to state the opposite point of view. Open the floor to comments that question or expand on the issues that
were raised. For large groups, you may want to have speakers raise their hands while
you moderate, but for small groups, anyone can speak up. The debate will probably start slowly at first, but the intensity should
pick up as the students become more comfortable with the new style of in-class
interaction. You, as moderator, can ask provocative questions, but don’t express
judgment on any point of view or students will hesitate to bring out new ideas
for fear of being embarrassed. After 10 to 15 minutes of debating, end the debate.
Function in the class:
Use ideas and conflicts from
the debate to lead into your presentation of course material.
Formative (ungraded) quizzes:This technique involves writing quiz questions on the board, project
on screen, or a handout and giving students an appropriate time to respond. You
may wish to collect anonymous responses, or if the question entails multiple-choice
responses, students can raise their hands in agreement as you announce each
response. A quiz at the beginning of class allows you to determine how familiar
students are with important terms, facts or concepts prior to the lecture,
while a quiz that follows a lecture segment can reveal how well students
understood the material.
Special features:
An ungraded quiz encourages students to pay attention during lectures by
presenting them with a short-term, non-threatening learning objective. It can
be done very quickly, and also provides you with a source of candid feedback on
students’ knowledge level.
Procedure:
Write question(s) on the board, computer screen, or handout
Give students five to ten minutes to respond on a blank sheet of paper
(depending on the atmosphere in the class, you may keep the quiz anonymous or
ask students to put their names on papers) Collect papers and report on responses next time the class meets
One variation: Prepare multiple-choice answer options and present each
one in turn, asking for a show of hands.
Another variation: Before (or instead of) collecting quiz papers, have
students exchange and "grade" each other’s quiz papers based on the
answers you present. This grading is to allow students to provide the students
with timely feedback so that they can gauge their understanding and should not
be used as a formal assessment.
Function in the class:
Use
ungraded quizzes at the beginning of a lecture to determine the level of knowledge, or at the end of a lecture as a review and incentive for students to
retain and comprehend information. Alternatively, use an ungraded quiz at the
end of a lecture to gauge how successful you’ve been in teaching the material.
5Guided
analysis:
Special features:
This technique helps students
develop their analytical skills in any field by observing your analytical
skills in action.
Procedure:
Select
a document (a short review, section of computer programming, poem, proof,
chart, abstract from an article, news item, etc.) to analyze as an example. Make enough copies of a similar document to distribute to all class
members or to small groups (depending on your preference). Perform an analysis of your document in front of the class, making clear
the procedure you use to reach your assertions, and using visual aids and
supplementary material as necessary. Give students five to ten minutes to analyze their document: the
conclusions they reach will be their own, but they will have learned rigor and
analytical skills from you. Depending on class size, have students (or representatives from small
groups) present their analysis, and respond to each one.
Function in the class:
An entire 50-minute tutorial or lecture can be structured around this
exercise. Consider leading into the exercise with a mini-lecture on the type of
document you and your students will be analyzing.
Modeling analytical skills:This involves viewing and analyzing passages of text, paintings,
sonatas, graphs, charts, artifacts, etc. together with your students. You
should make sure students have a copy of the document in front of them (or
visual access through slides or overhead transparencies), and then follow three
steps: model the analysis, let the students practice it, and then give them feedback.
One-minute paper or short writes:Punctuating your class with short writing assignments is a powerful
way to assess the degree to which students understand presented material. You
might ask, “What was the most important thing you learned during this class?”
“What questions remained unanswered?” or “Summarize the main point of today’s
lecture in one sentence.”
Special features:
The one-minute paper and the ungraded quiz that follows are both examples
of ungraded, written, in-class activities (see Davis, 1993 p. 209-212 for more
options). These activities are a flexible way to acquire candid feedback on the
course material and your presentation style. The one-minute paper can be done
especially quickly and it shows students that they can write quickly and
spontaneously, and enhances general writing ability.
Procedure:
Give a prompt for the paper such as “what was the most important concept
of this lecture?” or “what was the muddiest point of this lecture?” Give students one or two minutes to think about the topic without writing
anything. Give students a short period of time (1 minute?) to write as much as they
can. Collect papers (depending on the class atmosphere and the types of
questions used, you may ask students to put their names on them but generally
these ungraded assignments are left anonymous to encourage open responses to
the questions.)
Function in the class:
Assign
one-minute papers at the end of a class to gauge comprehension, provide general
writing practice, and give students an incentive to absorb and comprehend
course material. Consider using the content of one-minute papers to plan
content of upcoming classes: when students see that the instructor responds to
their concerns, confusions, and questions in future classes, they will be
motivated to participate.
Pro and con grid:The pro and con grid lists advantages and disadvantages of any issue
and helps students develop analytical and evaluative skills. It also forces
students to go beyond their initial reactions, search for at least two sides to
the issue, and weigh the value of competing claims. Let students know how many
pros and cons you expect and whether they should use point form or full
sentences.
Special features:
This technique helps students develop analytical and evaluative skills,
and encourages them to go beyond initial reactions to complex issues. It can be
used in any discipline: students can evaluate the pros and cons of a procedure,
technique, conclusion, action of a fictional character, political decision, etc.
Procedure:
Divide students into small groups, if necessary. Specify how many pros and cons you’d like each individual or group to
develop. Allow five to ten minutes for discussion or silent thought. Ask for input: write pros on one side of the board and cons on the other
side. Combine pros and cons that are very similar, and count the number of
times they recur to show their perceived importance.
Function in the class:
Consider using the pros and
cons as the basis for a debate, or for a discussion/lecture structured around
the evaluation of course material.
Problem solving: demonstrations, proofs and stories:Begin a lecture with a question, a paradox, an enigma, or a
compelling, unfinished human story. Solving the problem, depending on what it
is or in what field, may require a scientific demonstration, a mathematical
proof, an economic model, the outcome of a novel’s plot, or a historical
narrative. You refer back to the problem throughout the lecture, inviting
students to fill in imaginative spaces in the story (or model) with their own
solutions. Students fill in their successive answers passively, or the
instructor elicits responses which are recorded on the board and discussed.
Example questions include: “What do you think will happen?” “Which solution,
outcome, or explanation makes the most sense to you?”
Questioning:
Questions are the simplest form of interaction and can occur at any
time during the lecture. By asking questions, you not only turn students into
active participants, but you can also get a sense of their interest and
comprehension. You might try asking questions at strategic points or asking for
comments or opinions about the subject. Vary the timing of your questions
though to avoid creating a known pattern for students that can lull them into
passivity.
Special features:
Questions are the simplest form of interactive teaching tool. They are
useful in any discipline. They can help make students active learners and gauge
their level of interest and comprehension.
Procedure:
Develop key questions before class. They won’t occur to you on the spot.
Decide when you’re going to ask them. Thinking ahead also allows you to
plan your time. Ask questions that can be answered, but favor open-ended questions over
yes/no questions. Vary the form and level of the questions. Questions that have multiple
correct answer or that rely only on general knowledge are good for encouraging
participation. More complex questions can be used to gauge student knowledge.
Ask only one question at a time or you will confuse the students. Pause between asking and accepting replies (pausing gives students a
chance to think of an answer, and by not asking the first person who raises
his/her hand, you encourage quieter students to participate). Acknowledge all answers – thank students for participating, repeat their
comments so the class can hear and/or write them on the board. This supports
continued participation. Keep the whole class involved in the question and answer exchange. Move
around the room when trying to elicit participation. When responding to a
student question or comment, split your attention so that you are focused on
the class in general 75% of the time and the student commenter 25% of the time.
Function in the class:
Questions
are integral to the success of discussion groups. They can also be the
organizing principle behind a tutorial or lecture. During lectures, ask
questions early on to stimulate interest and gauge students’ level of
knowledge; in the middle, to break the pace of the lecture; and/or at the end,
to review main ideas and gather ideas for future classes.
Role playing:The first step in this lecture variation is to give a mini-lecture to
establish the context and setting for the role-playing. Then divide the class
into a number of small groups of varying sizes (if you have a large class, you
may have to assign duplicate roles). Each group is assigned a clearly
delineated role and given a specific, concrete task – usually to propose a
position and course of action. To bring closure to the topic, a debriefing
exercise is necessary to help identify what students learned and make the
transition to the next topic
Special features:
Role-plays can be used to allow students to experiment with different
styles of interaction, practice new communication techniques or explore complex
issues. They are generally used in classes dealing with social issues (social
sciences, management sciences, etc.) or communication strategies (interviewing
techniques, conflict management, etc.). If possible, participate in a role-play
yourself before trying one in class. Essentially, a role-play is a form of
interactive case study where the experience of participating in the role-play
is the basis for further discussion.
Procedure:
Get scenarios and characters for role-plays from news stories, history
books, generic business situations, or by writing them yourself from scratch. Explain why you are using a role-play to cover course material. Describe the background context or setting to the role-play. Give roles to “players”: hand them a card with a brief description of the
character they’re playing, their point of view, characteristics, etc. For groups with more students than possible roles, you can either assign
“observer” tasks to non-players (e.g., taking notes on a particular player), or
assign identical roles to subgroups of students (e.g., one student can play a
city council member, and a sub-group of four or five students can play a
homeowners’ coalition). Ask for volunteers for certain roles or observers: you may use this as
one way to allot bonus points to students. Allow a few minutes for students to prepare for their roles. After 10-15 minutes, end the role-play.
Function in the class:
Debrief
and discuss the role-play. Use players’ perceptions and observers’ notes to
lead into discussion of course material. Pay special attention to conflicts,
ambiguities, etc.
Think-pair-sharing:In its simplest form, students think about a particular question or
scenario then they pair up to discuss their ideas. They then share their
results in a large class discussion. Think-pair-sharing forces all students to
attempt an initial response to the question, which they can then clarify and
expand as they collaborate. This process should take five to ten minutes,
depending on the question’s complexity. An extension of this format is to have
two pairs join each other and compare answers.
References:
Angelo, T.A.
& Cross, K.P. (1993). Classroom
Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers. 2nd edition. San
Francisco: Jossy-Bass.
Bean, J.C. (1996).
Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to
Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Center for
Teaching Excellence. Nine alternatives to
lecturing. The University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada. Retrieved from https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/alternatives-lecturing/active-learning/varying-your-teaching-activities.
Davis, B.G. (1993). Tools
for Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Newble, D. &
Cannon, R. (1989). A Handbook for
Teachers in Universities and Colleges: A Guide to Improving Teaching Methods.
New York: Kogan Page.
Prégent, R. (1994).
Charting Your Course: How to Prepare to
Teach More Effectively. English edition. Madison, WI: Magna.
Prichard, K.W.
& Sawyer, R. M. (1994). Handbook of
College Teaching: Theory and Applications. Westport, CT: Greenwood.
The semester is ending and as we begin counting the days
down to a much-needed break, remember to take some time for yourself. During
the break we relish in the time when there aren’t any papers to grade or meetings
to attend. However, this is usually a time when many finish writing or begin to
write. As a reminder, our brains need a break as well and when that time comes…
stop and take some time for yourself. Some will take a walk, watch a mindless
show or read a book. If reading is your outlet, here are a couple of books that
will help to reenergize and inspire you.
