Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom

I found this old but good ERIC Digest on active learning. It is titled Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom. It was written by Charles C. Bonwell and James A. Eison in 1991.

From the site:

Research consistently has shown that traditional lecture methods, in which professors talk and students listen, dominate college and university classrooms. It is therefore important to know the nature of active learning, the empirical research on its use, the common obstacles and barriers that give rise to faculty members' resistance to interactive instructional techniques, and how faculty, faculty developers, administrators, and educational researchers can make real the promise of active learning.

WHAT IS ACTIVE LEARNING AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Surprisingly, educators' use of the term "active learning" has relied more on intuitive understanding than a common definition. Consequently, many faculty assert that all learning is inherently active and that students are therefore actively involved while listening to formal presentations in the classroom. Analysis of the research literature (Chickering and Gamson 1987), however, suggests that students must do more than just listen: They must read, write, discuss, or be engaged in solving problems. Most important, 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.

My Ideas for Active Learning for an Online Course

I have been thinking about how I might apply active learning to an online course. I took two courses entirely online this last semester. I got a 4.0 in each and I believe it was a good introduction to taking a course online. It also clearly gave me some ideas on how I would go about teaching a course online. There are some aspects of the courses I would emulate and some I would avoid. This leads nicely then into a question of how I might design a course to implement some active or collaborative learning ideas.

Bonwell and Eison (1991) argued that strategies that promote active and cooperative learning environments have five commonalities. The students are involved in class beyond listening. Lesser emphasis is placed on transmitting information and more effort is placed in developing the skills of the students. The students are required to participate in higher order thinking such as analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluation. The students are also involved in activities like reading, discussion, and writing. Finally, greater emphasis is placed on the exploration of student values and attitudes.

These five points would appear to be very important to active learning in an online environment. The student must be able to move beyond listening as lecture opportunities are more constrained than in an online course. The student must become engaged in the course or it will not work for him. However, since the students are physically separated from each and the instructor, the students must be able to participate in activities that allow to do things like analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluation without the students ever physically interacting. This brings into play very different course activities that one would use in a physical course. Not surprisingly, most of the activities I participated in the two online courses had active learning written all over them even if they looked very different from active learning activities in more traditional courses.

Another reason for using active learning in an online course is that non-traditional students in higher education (that is those that are older than 18-24) prefer it over lecturing. As most students taking online courses have statistically been non-traditional, this is a good point to remember. Slavin (1991) reported that traditional students have been lectured to their whole lives and expect it. However, older students have had the opportunity to work and have life experiences that have shown them that they can learn things on their own and can participate and interact with both other students and the teacher in the classroom. This would lead me to conclude that most online students are going to be able to adjust to online active learning activities.

Mind you, I am not arguing that traditional aged students are going to have trouble with a virtual course with active learning activities. These 18-14 year old students use Facebook, Ratmyprofessors.com, chat, IM, etc. almost daily. However, I think most non-traditional students will respond well to active learning because they are more oriented to active learning rather than any particular ability to adapt to technology.

Looking at what I did not like from the courses I took online, I would not require discussion board posts. Both courses required students to post weekly and then also make replies to several of the posts made by other students. Can you say contrived discussions? In essence, the teacher made students post a mini-paper each week. This is by itself is not very interactive although the writing itself can be beneficial. However, forcing responses weekly had the predictable consequence of poor discussion threads that were dominated by short obvious statements from students just trying to get the assignment done. Once people had two "response" posts, they were done. There were no lively interactive discussions that would to me mimic a lively in-person class discussion.

I much preferred other attempts at active learning. One of the courses I took required a group paper. I was assigned to a group with four other people and over a period of weeks we collaboratively wrote a paper. One of the people in my group was logging in from Iraq as she was an army supply officer in Baghdad. The group went well and there was tons of interaction even though we lived in different time zones and had radically different lives. Unlike the discussion board, there was a real project to work on and this helped us focus and work together.

I liked this enough that I would use it for an online class. The learning has many of the characteristics described by Bonwell and Eison (1991) for active learning. Frankly, this is very similar to a more traditional course. The students online will use the phone, e-mail, and chat to work out a group paper. Students in a traditional course may meet in person but they will also gravitate towards technology such as e-mail to write the paper. I believe assigning a group a paper online works very similarly to assigning a group a paper in an on campus course.

One approach that was not tried that I think would work for active learning would be to develop a WebQuest to include with the course. Dodge (1995) wrote that a WebQuest was a good method for getting online students to work in an active method albeit one that it is done usually in a solitary mode. Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebQuest) notes, “In education, WebQuest is a research activity in which students collect information, where most of the information comes from the World Wide Web. It was first invented by Bernie Dodge and Tom March at San Diego State University in 1995.” Dodge (1997), wrote that a WebQuest is "an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the Internet, optionally supplemented with videoconferencing."

I think I would use a WebQuest to encourage active learning in any online course I taught. The actual layout would depend on how the content of the course but I would design an assignment that required a student to have a guided surf of the Web to sites of interest. Through questions, I would require the students to write about what they discovered. In particular, sites and questions in the WebQuest would be coupled together to require the student to critically think and synthesize different concepts together. I would also use some multiple choice questions which would appear at certain points of the WebQuest to make some initial assessments but also to help "clue" the students into what they should be looking for as they are surfing and writing.

I would assess the group writing project for my online class in the same way I would for a more traditional physical course. Is the paper well written with good grammar and spelling? Does it address the assignment and meet all of the assigned criteria for completeness? Are the ideas well articulated? Was the paper turned in on time? Even though the assignment was done by an online group, it can still be graded in a standard format.

One additional step I would use for grading on online group written paper would be to have the group members assign each other grades. Group members who did not contribute or did not contribute well will usually be identified in this way. Courses taught on campus use this method but I think it is particularly important to do this for an online group to identify slackers on a project. Those I believe who did not contribute their fair share to the project would have their grade adjusted downward by me.

The WebQuest active learning assignment would have to be graded differently. Writing is a component of it so I would be able to grade that portion based on the criteria I listed above for the group writing assignment. However, as the writing during a WebQuest is less polished as it is written over a few hours time as the student completes the different steps, I would grade items like grammar and spelling less harshly. Instead, I would be mostly looking to see if the students made acceptable observations and found connections between different points. I would give little weight to the multiple choice questions unless a pattern emerged which showed the student just blew off that portion of the WebQuest.

The assessment of the WebQuest varies from how an assessment would be done in a physical class. The online course assessment is going to have to focus on the written output of the student that was created as the student worked through the various portions of the WebQuest. A similar activity in a physical course would allow the instructor to assess the student not only one written comments but also on items like interactions with others, contributions to group discussion, etc.

In summary, I believe active learning can be done in an online course and I think I have some ideas for doing it. The criteria identified by Bonwell and Eison (1991) are found in online activities even if these activities have a different look and feel to them. The two activities I would like to try (online group writing assignment and WebQuest) have real potential in this are I think. I may feel different after trying them out of course but I think they are worthwhile. In the case of the group writing, I think the assessment is almost identical to a more traditional class assessment. However, the WebQuest would require a different assessment track.

References

Bonwell, C. C. and Eison, J. A. (1991). Active learning: Creating excitement in the classroom. Washington, DC: George Washington University.

Dodge, B. J. (1995). WebQuests: A technique for internet-based learning. The Distance educator, 1(2), 10-13.

Dodge, B. J. (1997). Some thoughts about WebQuests. Accessed at http://webquest.sdsu.edu/about_webquests.html on 10 December 2006.

Slavin, R.E. (1991). Group rewards make groupwork work. Educational leadership, 48(5), 89-91.
Wikipedia. WebQuest. Accessed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebQuest on 10 December 2006.

Riding the Active Learning Wave: Problem-Based Learning as a Catalyst for Creating Faculty-Librarian Instructional Partnerships

Riding the Active Learning Wave: Problem-Based Learning as a Catalyst for Creating Faculty-Librarian Instructional Partnerships. This is a good article from the Spring 2002 issue of Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship. It was written by Michael Fosmire and Alexius Macklin.

From the site:

With higher education shifting its emphasis from teaching to learning and inputs to outcomes, active learning techniques are gaining prominence. Research has shown that students learn better when they actively engage the course content, rather than passively absorb lecture material. However, many faculty are unsure of how to take advantage of these new techniques to improve the learning outcomes for their students. For one active learning technique, problem-based learning, librarians are well positioned to facilitate its adoption into course curriculum. In order to effect a high-quality problem-based learning experience, a true collaboration of efforts needs to take place between the subject faculty and librarian. In such a synergistic system, information skills are integrated directly into course content, while an engaging active learning experience for students is facilitated. This article describes the background and history of problem-based learning, explaining why information skills are an integral part of the technique. The authors then detail the experiences of librarians at Purdue University, both in forming collaborations with subject faculty, and in the development of problem-based learning instructional modules.

Newspapers as a Teaching Resource for Adult Learners

Newspapers as a Teaching Resource for Adult Learners. Here are some ideas for teaching adult students using newspapers. I think with a little effort, this approach could be used to teach information literacy and library skills. One example could be to compare a recent report on a news story from the National Enquirer and your local paper. Which is more credible? And why? I think student would learn from such a lesson.

From the site:

Despite the existence of the "Newspaper in Education" (NIE) program in many elementary and secondary schools, the newspaper remains an often overlooked resource which can be incorporated into almost any teaching curriculum, and which is particularly useful for teaching older remedial students and adults. This Digest discusses some ways in which newspapers can be used in teaching language skills and basic literacy to adults and learning disabled students, as well as to students of English as a Second Language.

ADULT LEARNERS

Newspapers can be a valuable tool for teachers who work with adult education students. Fenholt (1985) outlines a series of activities that employ the newspaper as a learning resource to develop both reading and life skills. Her contention is that regular elementary level reading materials fail to motivate readers at the adult level and might be embarrassing for some adults to use. She sees the newspaper as a more comfortable instructional fit for adult learners. Fenholt's activities booklet is aimed at adults who want to read on an intermediate level and pass the graduate equivalency diploma (GED) test.

Fenholt's observation that adults might be more comfortable learning with a newspaper than with instructional materials aimed at children is borne out in the case studies in a United Nations publication, "Newspapers in Adult Education: A Sourcebook" (1998). According to the sourcebook, many countries (including Argentina, Cameroon, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and South Africa) promote newspaper-education partnerships to improve the education of their adult citizens. The 10 cases presented in the sourcebook offer examples of how partnerships between educators and newspapers can play an active role in making adult education more attractive and effective and in preparing informed citizens. Mohanty's "Adult Education: Some Reflections" (1989), a compilation of articles about adult education in India, also highlights this type of "non-formal education in the learning society," as he calls it. One article specifically considers rural newspapers and their role in lifelong learning and post literacy (Schmetzer, 2000).

Cooperative Learning: Increasing College Faculty Instructional Productivity. Another good article on cooperative learning. This one is focusing on how college faculty can be better teachers using this teaching technique.

From the article:

The use of active learning strategies, such as cooperative learning, is growing at a remarkable rate. Professors are incorporating cooperative learning to increase students' achievement, create positive relationships among students, and promote students' healthy psychological adjustment to school. This monograph is about how college faculty can ensure that students actively create their knowledge rather than passively listening to the professor's. It is about structuring learning situations cooperatively at the college level so that students work together to achieve shared goals.

Active (Cooperative) Learning in Library Instruction This is a bibliography of articles in the library literature dealing with active learning.

From the bibliography:

Allen, E. (1995). Active learning and teaching: Improving post secondary library instruction. Reference librarian, 51-52, pp. 89-103.

Cameron, L. (1989). Cooperative learning as a teaching strategy for library instruction. LIFLINE, 39 (January), pp. 5, 6.

Cook, K. N., Kunkel, L. R. and Weaver, S. M. (1995). Cooperative learning in bibliographic instruction. Research strategies, 13 (Winter), pp. 17-25.

Dabbour, K. S. (1997). Applying active learning methods for the design of library instruction for a freshmen seminar. College and research libraries, 58 (July), pp. 299-308.

Drueke, J. (1992). Active learning in the university library instruction classroom. Research strategies, 10 (Summer), 105-10.

Gedeon, R. (1997). Enhancing a large lecture with active learning. Research strategies, 15, pp. 301-309.

Laverty, C. (1996). The cooperative jigsaw: A new approach to library learning. In New ways of "learning the library" and beyond, ed. by L. Shirato. Ann Arbor, MI: Pierian Press, pp. 113-23.

Lorenzen, M. (1995). Remember the gin and tonic! Using alcohol to teach boolean searching. Library instruction roundtable news, 17(4), pp. 10.

Lorenzen, M. (2001). Active learning and library instruction. Illinois libraries, 83(2), pp. 19-24.

Full bibliography at http://www.libraryinstruction.com/libib3.html.

Active learning - Wikipedia Here is the Wikipedia article on active learning. I recently added it to Wikipedia. Feel free to make changes if you want to improve it.

From the article:

"Research has consistently shown that traditional lecture methods, in which professors talk and students listen, dominate college and university classrooms. It is therefore important to know the nature of active learning, the empirical research on its use, the common obstacles and barriers that give rise to faculty members' resistance to interactive instructional techniques, and how faculty, faculty developers, administrators, and educational researchers can make real the promise of active learning."

"Until recently there has been no common definition of 'active learning.' Consequently, many believe that all learning is inherently active and that students are therefore 'actively involved' while listening to formal presentations in the classroom."

"Research suggests that the use of active learning techniques (as defined in the introduction) may have a positive impact upon students' learning. For example, several studies have shown that students prefer strategies that promote active learning rather than traditional lectures. Other research evaluating students' achievement has demonstrated that many strategies promoting active learning are comparable to lectures in promoting the mastery of content but superior to lectures in promoting the development of students' skills in thinking and writing."

Full article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_learning.

Active Learning Environment for the Digital Libraries There are differences in teaching and learning between the physical library and the digital library. Many of these differences are obvious. Some are not as readily identified. This paper by Champa Jayawardana, K. Priyantha Hewagamage and Masahito Hirakawa takes a good look at this issue.

From the article:

"Studies related to learning methodologies and techniques have been conducted for centuries,including those done by philosophers and educators like Socrates. Learning is a process ofknowledge construction in which the learner carries out many activities (Lorenzen 2001;Fitzgerald 1998). Active learning can be described as the ability of learners to carry out thoseactivities effectively and efficiently while incorporating them into a process of their owneducation."

"Consequently, learners are easily absorbing knowledge through their interaction. In activelearning, learners take responsibility for their own education, and study strategies to accomplishtheir academic goals (Lee 1999). With respect to digital materials, there are three actions thatcreate the tools for active learning: active consuming, information gathering, and informationseeking. Active consuming is carrying out activities effectively with respect to different mediatypes. These include active reading, active watching and active listening. Constructing the user'sreference collection with ease is the main concept of the information-gathering portion. Toprovide intelligent support in a digital learning environment, information seeking facilities areneeded to locate suitable materials. This paper describes how these three facilities can besupported in a personalized information environment for digital libraries." Full article at http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:oAwvKDeXpU8J:wings.buffalo.edu/publications/mcjrnl/v8n1/active.pdf+active+learning+and+libraries&hl=en&start=1&ie=UTF-8

The Essential Elements of Cooperative Learning in the Classroom. ERIC Digest. I have been a big fan of cooperative (active) learning ever since I sat through my first workshop with cooperative learning guru Karl Smith 8 years ago. I have tried many cooperative learning elements in my classes teaching students library skills with great success. (And a few failures too...) The blogged site of the day has a good overview of cooperative learning.

From the site:

"Over the past decade, cooperative learning has emerged as the leading new approach to classroom instruction. One important reason for its advocacy is that numerous research studies in K-12 classrooms, in very diverse school settings and across a wide range of content areas, have revealed that students completing cooperative learning group tasks tend to have higher academic test scores, higher self-esteem, greater numbers of positive social skills, fewer stereotypes of individuals of other races or ethnic groups, and greater comprehension of the content and skills they are studying (Johnson, Johnson, and Holubec 1993; Slavin 1991; Stahl and VanSickle 1992). Furthermore, the perspective of students working as "academic loners" in classrooms is very different from that of students working cooperatively and collaboratively in and as "cooperative learning academic teams" (see the chapter by Stahl in Stahl and VanSickle 1992)."

"Even with its increasing popularity, a large majority of the group tasks that teachers use, even teachers who claim to be using "cooperative learning," continue to be cooperative group tasks-not cooperative learning group tasks. For instance, nearly all "jigsaw" activities are not cooperative learning jigsaw activities. Merely because students work in small groups does not mean that they are cooperating to ensure their own learning and the learning of all others in their group (Johnson, Johnson, and Holubec 1993). This emphasis on academic learning success for each individual and all members of the group is one feature that separates cooperative learning groups from other group tasks (Slavin 1990)." Full article at http://www.ericdigests.org/1995-1/elements.htm.

Designs for Active Learning

Designs for Active Learning: I recently looked this book over and liked it a lot. If you use (or our thinking of using active learning in your classroom) this book would be worth buying.

Here is an Amazon review of the book: "This practical book for instruction librarians provides 54 active learning exercises useful for planning library instruction ranging from one or more classroom instruction sessions to full-semester library credit courses. Coverage includes exercises on basic library skills, online searching, resource evaluation, and discipline-oriented library instruction, all provided by practitioners in college and university libraries. Each exercise includes an introductory description, level of activity (e.g., basic, intermediate, advanced), time required, size of class, preparation needed, class instructions, and discussion, with appropriate handouts. A 3.5" disk (using Microsoft Word 6.0) accompanying the book contains the handouts, forms and teaching aids illustrated in the book, so that the exercises are readily adapted for local use. The book includes an introductory essay on active learning in library instruction and a list of selected readings. The style is clear and easy to follow, providing instruction librarians with usable examples of how to incorporate active learning techniques to improve library instruction."

Active Learning and Library Instruction

Active Learning and Library Instruction I am spending some time today preparing my syllabus for my LIB 197 (Library Skills) course I am teaching this fall. It starts in a few weeks! As always, I want a lively class with involved students. I know that this is my responsibility as the students will be quiet and will be reluctant to get engaged. What can I come up with?

Reminds me of my active learning article. The first paragraph reads, "From the beginning of academic library instruction in the United States, it was noted that perhaps lecturing was not the most effective way of educating students about the library. In 1886, Davis wrote about his frustrations in teaching students about the library who were not learning anything from his lectures. This phenomenon has been noticed by many other librarians as well. The assumption that library instruction should be lectured based probably has driven the opposition of many academic librarians to library instruction. After all, if lecturing to students about library use does not work, why do it? Active learning, also known as cooperative learning, is a model of instruction that many academic librarians have turned towards to better help students learn about the library in the classroom." Full article is at: http://www.libraryinstruction.com/active.html