ACTIVE PARTICIPATORY LEARNING

"Active learning" means students engage with the material, participate in the class, and collaborate with each other. Don't expect your students simply to listen and memorize; instead, have them help demonstrate a process, analyze an argument, or apply a concept to a real-world situation.

The Importance of Active Learning

Whether you’re facing a lecture hall filled with 300 students or a seminar table with 15 students, one of your primary goals for the class should be to actively engage students with the material. Students learn more when they participate in the process of learning, whether it’s through discussion, practice, review, or application (Grunert, 1997). This is in stark contrast to traditional styles of teaching, where students are expected to sit for hours, listening and, theoretically, absorbing information presented by the instructor.

Incorporate active learning strategies into every component of your course design. For example, encouraging short partner discussions during lectures (i.e., think-pair-share), adding problem- or case-based research projects to the curriculum, and incorporating time for small-group critical analysis exercises during seminars are all great ways to actively engage students in learning.

Facilitate independent, critical, and creative thinking

Ask students to analyze, synthesize, or apply material, both during lectures and in assignments. Some examples include:

• Case -based problem solving exercises these types of exercises help students develop analytical skills and learn how to apply academic theories to real-world problems. Use case studies in a lecture and have students work out their solutions independently or in small groups, or use case studies as the basis for major projects or exams.
• Debate – this is another active learning technique that helps develop critical thinking and logical reasoning skills. Present competing viewpoints in lecture and assign students to defend one, or both, of the viewpoints in a short (five-minute) written exercise or classroom debate. 

Encourage effective collaboration

Collaborative group work can be an extremely useful addition to a large class. Some examples include:

• Small-group discussions there are many benefits to taking short think-pair-share breaks during a lecture. These small-group discussions help students understand and retain material, while also serving the broader goals of developing their communication skills and increasing their awareness of their classmates as learning resources.
• Peer instruction exercises– one minute paper reflections or speed problem solving questions, paired with peer to peer discussion, can be a very effective teaching strategy. Upon completion of the question and at least one iteration, tally the answers. Once the results are in, explain the correct answer and demonstrate why the other options are misleading (Mazur, 1997). 

Research from cognitive psychology has shown that one of the best ways to improve understanding is to teach material to a peer (Topping and Stewart, 1998). Build this exercise into your classes through presentations, study groups, and quick, breakout “teaching” sessions, such as the one described above.

Increase student investment, motivation, and performance

When you invite students to actively participate in the learning environment, they take more responsibility for their performance in the course. Similarly, when they have an opportunity to make decisions about what they learn and how they use that knowledge, students see a course as more valuable and more directly related to their goals. For example:

• Brainstorm learning objectives – if you involve students in the development of classroom activities, e.g., allow them to choose the topic of a short discussion or generate ideas about how a concept could be applied to a problem that interests them, it automatically increases engagement levels. Involving students in classroom activities also requires them to assess their understanding and skill and rather than allowing them to rest comfortably with a surface knowledge, it forces them to develop a deeper understanding of the material.

Incorporate active learning into your curriculum and transform your classroom into an exciting, dynamic learning environment.

Benefits of Getting Students to Participate in Classroom Discussions

Participation is one of those workhorse instructional strategies—easy to use, straightforward, expected, and often quite successful at accomplishing a number of learning goals. It’s good to remind ourselves of its many different uses, especially on those days when getting students to participate feels like pulling hens’ teeth.

Participation adds interest—It’s hard to maintain students’ focus and attention when all they hear is the professor talking. It helps to hear another voice as well as an answer or another point of view.

Participation engages students—A good question can pique their interest, make them wonder why, get them to think, and motivate them to make connections with the content. This benefit is magnified when teachers play a bit with the question, when they repeat it, write it on the board, and don’t call on the first hand they see.

Participation provides the teacher feedback—When students answer or try to explain, teachers can see the extent of their understanding. They can correct (or help the students correct) what the students haven’t got right or don’t see quite clearly.

Participation provides the students feedback—When teachers ask questions or otherwise seek student input over a topic, they are letting students know something about the importance of certain ideas and information.

Participation can be used to promote preparation—If an instructor regularly calls on students and asks questions about assigned reading or what’s in their notes from the previous class session, that can get students (at least some of them) coming to class prepared.

Participation can be used to control what’s happening in class—If a student is dozing off, texting, quietly chatting, or otherwise not attending to what’s happening, that student can be called on or the student next to the offender can be asked to respond.

Participation can be used to balance who’s contributing in class and how much—In the vast majority of cases, it is the teacher who selects the participant. If teachers will wait patiently and not always select the same student, if they look expectantly to others and confirm verbally and nonverbally the value of hearing from different people, they can influence who speaks and how much. Participation even helps teachers control how much they talk.

Participation encourages dialogue among and between students—Students can be asked to comment on what another student has said. A question can be asked and students can be invited to discuss possible answers with each other before the public discussion.

Participation can be used to develop important speaking skills—In many professional contexts, people need to be able to speak up in a group. They may need to offer information, ask questions, or argue for a different solution. People don’t learn to speak up in a group by reading about how to do it—it’s one of those skills best developed with practice. And it’s one of those skills that develops better with feedback. If participation is being used to teach students this public communication skill, they will need feedback.

Participation gives students the opportunity to practice using the language of the discipline—Most faculty have spoken astronomy, accounting, psychology, gerontology, political science, whatever the field for years, and they’ve forgotten how much of the language is new, different, and difficult for students. Participation gives students the chance to practice using a different vocabulary.

he benefits of involving students in assessment

• When students are actively involved they can participate in selecting evidence (for example, samples of their work) that best demonstrate the intended learning outcomes.
• The process of assessment develops students’ understanding of the desired outcomes and success criteria.
• Making judgments is closely linked to developing the skills of self and peer-assessment.
• This can lead to shared expectations of learning and understandings of standards between teachers and students.
• Students develop greater confidence in teacher judgments.
• Greater transparency of the assessment process is provided for students.

The benefits of moderation - for teachers

• Brings together collective wisdom, resulting in greater consistency of judgment, and focused teaching.
• Provides greater confidence in teacher judgments, and assurance that judgments are consistent with those of other professionals.
• Leads to shared expectations of learning, and understandings of standards and progression of learning.
• Develops deeper understandings about content and progressions of learning.
• Improves quality of assessment.
• Aligns expectations and judgments with standards or progressions, and hence improved teaching and learning.
• Assures parents and others that interpretations of students' achievements are in line with those of other professionals.

The benefits of moderation - for leadership teams and Boards of Trustees

• Greater confidence in teachers’ judgments and assurance that judgments are consistent within and across schools.
• Provides useful, dependable information for target setting.
• Provides information that can shape future professional development needs for teachers.