Using Social Media to Foster Learning Connections. Prince_AL. FYC2.pdf. Active and Coopeative Learning. The past decade has seen an explosion of interest among college faculty in the teaching methods variously grouped under the terms 'active learning' and 'cooperative learning'. However, even with this interest, there remains much misunderstanding of and mistrust of the pedagogical "movement" behind the words. The majority of all college faculty still teach their classes in the traditional lecture mode. Some of the criticism and hesitation seems to originate in the idea that techniques of active and cooperative learning are genuine alternatives to, rather than enhancements of, professors' lectures. We provide below a survey of a wide variety of active learning techniques which can be used to supplement rather than replace lectures.
"Active Learning" is, in short, anything that students do in a classroom other than merely passively listening to an instructor's lecture. Exercises for Individual Students. Arthur F. Thurnau Professors. Arthur F. Thurnau Professorships are awarded annually to tenured faculty who have made outstanding contributions to undergraduate education at the University of Michigan and who have had a demonstrable impact on the intellectual development and lives of their students. For more information about the Thurnau Professorship please see This series of videos demonstrates how these outstanding faculty stimulate student engagement in their courses. Research in a number of fields has shown that engaging students in the learning process is an important step in promoting deep and lasting learning.
Thurnau Professors and Student Engagement Profiles of Thurnau Professors For a list of all Thurnau Professors please see. What Is Active Learning? Defining "active learning" is a bit problematic. The term means different thing to different people, while for some the very concept is redundant since it is impossible to learn anything passively. Certainly this is true, but it doesn't get us very far toward understanding active learning and how it can be applied in college classrooms. We might think of active learning as an approach to instruction in which students engage the material they study through reading, writing, talking, listening, and reflecting. Active learning stands in contrast to "standard" modes of instruction in which teachers do most of the talking and students are passive.
Think of the difference between a jar that's filled and a lamp that's lit. In the former case, liquid is poured into an empty vessel–an apt metaphor for the traditional educational paradigm in which students sit passively in a classroom and absorb the knowledge transmitted by an expert. Basic Elements of Active Learning Talking and Listening Writing. Welcome to Active Learners | Active Learners.