The Tools: Active Learning Methods

00:00:15.15 I guess the advice I would have for
00:00:18.20 either young folks starting in,
00:00:20.10 or people who have been teaching a certain way
00:00:25.02 and then moving to a new approach,
00:00:27.22 is not to try to do it all at once.
00:00:30.29 When people are first getting started with active learning,
00:00:33.10 I recommend that they pick a really finite thing to focus on.
00:00:37.03 So, maybe one concept that's particularly difficult,
00:00:40.11 one unit that lends itself nicely to case-study teaching or problem-based learning,
00:00:45.19 and just focus on that,
00:00:48.13 rather than redesigning their whole course.
00:00:50.00 What happens is people hear about active learning
00:00:52.07 and all these great techniques,
00:00:54.00 and it works in classrooms,
00:00:55.12 and they try to just pile it all on at the same time.
00:00:59.17 And then they get overwhelmed and don't continue.
00:01:02.28 So, just try one technique or one idea,
00:01:07.10 and don't feel discouraged, I guess, if it...
00:01:10.12 if it doesn't work the first time,
00:01:12.07 because most things I try the first time don't work.
00:01:17.00 Maybe not even the second time.
00:01:19.00 Another thing that I hope my colleagues do,
00:01:21.07 because it really made a big impact on me,
00:01:23.04 is to just go watch faculty do what they do.
00:01:26.18 Because I didn't understand the scope of the difference.
00:01:30.06 More than likely, you'll see that there are lots of really fantastic teachers
00:01:34.03 at your institution,
00:01:36.06 but they're all different.
00:01:37.25 Each person has their own teaching style.
00:01:39.21 Each person comes to it in their own way.
00:01:42.03 So, the most useful thing for me in learning how to teach
00:01:46.07 using active learning strategies
00:01:47.23 was to actually teach with someone
00:01:50.00 who was knowledgeable about active learning.
00:01:52.06 I co-teach a class with Peggy Brickman at the University of Georgia.
00:01:55.20 We teach an introductory non-majors biology class.
00:01:58.12 And she comes and sits in on my class sessions,
00:02:01.24 and it's enormously useful.
00:02:03.23 What she does is she focuses not on what content I'm covering
00:02:07.22 or evaluating me
00:02:09.20 but on what students are doing.
00:02:11.22 So that when we talk after class,
00:02:13.15 she can say, okay, students were able to do this,
00:02:15.26 but they weren't able to do this.
00:02:17.17 So, what could we change about the way that we're teaching
00:02:20.05 that gets them to do what we want them to do?
00:02:26.28 My actual first attempt at problem-based learning
00:02:29.14 was in a large enrollment classroom
00:02:31.25 with a... sort of like an amphitheater type of setting
00:02:35.08 with tiered seating and fixed seats with pads
00:02:39.23 and all of that.
00:02:42.05 So, the advice I got was,
00:02:44.18 if your class doesn't fill the room...
00:02:46.25 so, get a room that's bigger than what you really need,
00:02:49.19 and leave every second row empty
00:02:54.07 so that you can walk down the row
00:02:58.12 and have access, then, to the groups.
00:03:00.22 And then the groups would be the students in the first row
00:03:04.01 and the students in the second row,
00:03:05.28 and they turn around and then can have a conversation.
00:03:08.07 So, that can work, and that's what I did originally.
00:03:11.01 I had 630 students in a lecture hall.
00:03:15.07 They self-assess... self-assembled into teams.
00:03:18.11 And each team, when they came in,
00:03:20.15 they had to check in the back of the room...
00:03:22.20 there would be a whole series of file folders and a box of clickers...
00:03:26.27 several boxes of clickers.
00:03:28.16 The folder might have some complicated
00:03:33.15 multiple-choice questions in there.
00:03:36.05 Or it could have questions that required solving...
00:03:40.09 solving something so that there'd be a numerical answer.
00:03:43.08 There's kind of a limit to what you can do with most clicker systems.
00:03:47.13 And during the course of the class,
00:03:52.04 there would be times when I'd ask them questions
00:03:54.21 and ask them to weigh in with the clicker,
00:03:58.07 as a way of finding out where the class was.
00:04:01.17 Did they understand the concepts
00:04:03.21 that we were just going through?
00:04:08.23 So, one of the changes in thinking
00:04:11.18 that I think has to happen with faculty
00:04:13.15 is to think very carefully about...
00:04:15.05 I have 50 minutes with these students,
00:04:17.05 or I have 90 minutes with these students.
00:04:18.22 How can I spend that time most effectively
00:04:21.05 to get them to the ideas I want them to get to?
00:04:24.17 And sometimes that means I need two pair-shares here,
00:04:27.20 or I need a case study discussion,
00:04:29.22 or I need to show three examples from that homework
00:04:32.08 that nobody was able to do,
00:04:34.02 and we need to critically evaluate
00:04:36.02 how we can improve that.
00:04:37.12 What I would do when I was first teaching biology classes
00:04:40.23 was I literally had a list of sort of my toolbox
00:04:43.28 of active learning strategies and other strategies.
00:04:46.07 And by list, I literally mean,
00:04:48.16 like, written on a sheet of paper or on a Post-it
00:04:50.22 or something on my computer or something.
00:04:53.03 And as I was looking over the course calendar
00:04:55.02 and looking over the content for the quarter or the semester,
00:04:59.12 I would look through and think about, okay,
00:05:01.00 where could I plug in some of those ideas?
00:05:02.18 You know, if you only teach in one way,
00:05:05.12 I think that that one way is gonna be best for certain students.
00:05:09.15 And so, the other way I think about equity
00:05:12.07 is really variety.
00:05:14.00 So, I don't always teach with one thing.
00:05:17.06 So, the think-pair-share... I don't always do think-pair-share,
00:05:20.10 but it is a tool that comes up frequently.
00:05:23.14 Have that background yourself, that... you know, I know why I'm doing this.
00:05:27.14 I know what my goals are for this,
00:05:28.26 and I can even express those to students when we try this out.
00:05:31.00 So, I think bringing students into that equation
00:05:33.04 is really helpful and not...
00:05:34.28 not hiding the fact that you're trying something new.
00:05:36.26 While at the same time, not being nervous about it,
00:05:39.06 like, hey this might crash and burn.
00:05:40.18 But being able to tell students,
00:05:42.12 like, hey, I'm really excited.
00:05:44.06 We're gonna try something different today to try to learn this topic,
00:05:46.21 and I'm really excited to hear what you get out of this
00:05:49.10 because these are the goals that I hope you'll get at the end of this
00:05:52.28 and that I'm gonna be looking for.
00:05:55.06 And I'll be really excited to get your feedback as well,
00:05:57.21 to see how you learned through this project or through this activity.
00:06:04.03 Some people will say that in your early tenure years
00:06:06.21 that's a bad idea.
00:06:08.08 But everybody tells you, your first year...
00:06:10.15 they tell you when you start, your first year will not be good.
00:06:13.09 So, you might as well do...
00:06:15.17 try a bunch of crazy things.
00:06:17.27 Maybe somebody will learn something.

This Talk

Speakers: Omar Quintero, Erin Dolan

Audience:

Educators of H. School / Intro Undergrad
Educators of Adv. Undergrad / Grad
Educators

Recorded: July 2014

Talk Overview

How can instructors get started with active learning? What simple and effective active learning methods can easily be implemented in a course? Hear from instructors about their experience and see classroom demonstrations using think-pair-share and clickers.

Educators featured in this video: Deborah Allen, University of Delaware; Chantilly Apollon, City College of San Francisco; Erin Dolan, University of Texas, Austin; Sabrice Guerrier, Millsaps College; Mary Miller, Rhodes College; Mark Peifer, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Omar Quintero, University of Richmond; Jeff Schinske, De Anza College; Kimberly Tanner, San Francisco State University; Sue Wick, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

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Speaker Bio

Omar Quintero

Omar Quintero

Dr. Omar Quintero is an Assistant Professor of Biology at the University of Richmond in Virginia, where he combines research and undergraduate education. His lab studies the genes and proteins involved cellular motility. It has taken him a few tries to find an institution that fits his research and teaching goals. He has been faculty… Continue Reading

Erin Dolan

Erin Dolan

Erin Dolan is Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Senior Scholar in Biology Education in the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of Georgia. She is also the editor-in-chief of the CBE-Life Science Education journal. Dolan’s lab investigates science research in an education context, including scalable ways of involving students in research… Continue Reading