The Basics
Active
learning simply means having students fully
involved in the learning process. Lectures have gotten a bad
reputation because the implication is that students don't have to
be engaged while the professor is talking; they can just sit there
and vegetate. It is up to the professor to prevent
this from happening, and there are many
ways to do this, even while lecturing: move around the
room, ask questions, solicit comments, take activity
breaks, encourage students to take
notes, use
technology. The more active you are in lecturing, the
more actively engaged students will be.
Of course, there are many other approaches to teaching besides the
lecture. Students are most likely to remain engaged if you use a
variety of methods. Here are some you might want to try:
- Discussion
can be effective tools for engaging students, but facilitating
classroom discussions does require some thought and
planning .
- Encorporating a service learning component into you course is a
way to support the University's mission as well as enrich student
learning. The University has a well developed program and the
Academic Service Learning
staff can assist you in developing this aspect of your course.
- Collaborative
Learning involves the use of small groups organized to
work on projects that are often opened ended and for which students
are given a group grade. Cooperative
Learning also involves the use of small groups but the
activities are often less ambitious and usually each student is
graded independently.
- Problem-based
learning focuses on student exploration of open-ended
problems. Students work in groups and they must find the needed
information and develop problem-solving skills as well.
- Writing helps students to clarify their ideas. The University's
Institute for Writing
Studies which is now moving to new quarters in the
Library, provides a number of services, including online guides, to
support student wrting. The Harvard
Study of Undergraduate Writing also hosts an
informative website that includes a link to a video on the benefits
of learning to write well. If you are concerned about plagiarism,
there is a great deal of information on the web to help you; a good
place to begin is with the St. John's University Libraries page on
avoiding
plagiarism.
Getting Students to Read
- Ask them to come to class having marked the three most
significant statements in reading with Post-Its or highlighter. Or
ask them to mark the portions that were most unclear to them, or
that they consider more controversial or most interesting.
- Begin class with a short quiz on the reading, or have students
complete an on-line quiz before coming to class.
- Have them work in groups on interpreting a reading.
For more ideas on encouraging reading and other kinds of
participation in your course, go to
Getting Students to Read: Fourteen
Tips.
Go to
Ideas for Encouraging Active Learning