Active Learning Online Training
Definition of
Active Learning
Active
learning consists of the following:
“to be actively involved, students
must engage in such higher-order thinking
tasks as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.
Within this context, it is proposed that
strategies promoting active learning be
defined as instructional activities involving
students in doing things and thinking about
what they are doing” (Bonwell & Eison,
1991). Active
learning can be achieved in the classroom
through group discussions, problem solving,
role playing, case studies, hands-on
experiments, decision making projects, journal
writing, and other activities.
Benefits
of Active Learning
“Ten
Benefits of Active Learning Drawn from Theory
-
Students are more likely to access their own prior knowledge,
which is a key to learning.
-
Students
are more likely to find personally
meaningful problem solutions or
interpretations.
-
Students
receive more frequent and more immediate
feedback.
-
The
need to produce forces learners to
retrieve information from memory rather
than simply recognizing a correct
statement.
-
Students
increase their self-confidence and
self-reliance.
-
For
most learners, it is more motivating to be
active than passive.
-
A
task that you have done yourself or as
part of a group is more highly valued.
-
Student
conceptions of knowledge change, which in
turn has implications for cognitive
development.
-
Students
who work together on active learning tasks
learn to work with other people of
different backgrounds and attitudes.
-
Students learn strategies for learning itself by observing
others.” (Vinicki)
Description
of Exemplary Practices in Active Learning at
Other Institutions
Campbell, K. (1999). The
Web: Design
for Active Learning.
Academic Technologies and Learning,
University of Alberta.
Retrieved March 28, 2003 from the World
Wide Web:
http://www.atl.ualberta.ca/articles/idesign/activel.cfm
This site provides faculty with an online handbook for active learning
strategies using the Web.
The handbook cites pedagogical theory
and provides best practices, including linked
assignments, for faculty to employ.
Center for Teaching
Excellence.
Iowa State University.
Retrieved March 28, 2003, from the
World Wide Web:
http://www.cte.iastate.edu/
This center promotes excellent teaching practices for faculty members
and promotes active learning through workshops
such as “Good Places to Learn:
The Experiential Dimension of
Teaching” and “Learning through Guided
Inquiry.” This center also works with learning communities and promotes
scholarship in teaching and learning.
Larson, R.
M.I.T. Center for Advanced
Educational Services.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved
March 28, 2003, from the World Wide Web:
http://www-caes.mit.edu/index.html
In
addition to other in-place programs, this
center is piloting a new program for enabling
active learning in large physics classes.
This
“national model of instruction”
employing “Technology Enabled Active
Learning” may translate well for online
courses.
Best
Practices Guide & College Resources
Handbook.
Florida Community College at Jacksonville,
2002.
References
Bonwell,
C. and Eison,
J. (1991). Active learning: Creating
Excitement in the Classroom. ERIC
Clearinghouse on Higher Education, Washington,
D. C. Retrieved
March 28, 2003, from the World Wide Web:
http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed340272.html
Vinicki,
S. (2003).
Ten Benefits of Active Learning
Drawn from Theory. University of Texas,
Austin, TX.
Retrieved April 9, 2003, from the World
Wide Web:
http://www.utexas.edu/courses/svinicki/398T/Ten%20Benefits.htm
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