Active Learning Strategies

What is Active Learning?	Motivating & Engaging Students	Collaborative/Cooperative Learning
Problem-/Inquiry-Based Learning	Other Resources

College faculty have become increasingly comfortable with Active Learning, which here means any of a variety of strategies or pedagogical projects designed to place the primary responsibility for creating and/or applying knowledge on the shoulders of students. For some, active learning means transforming traditional classroom practices through problem-based learning or collaborative projects; others move learning beyond the walls of the classroom through community service-learning activities. Active Learning techniques do not make the teacher's job easier. In fact, these teaching strategies usually require a lot of up-front work from teachers (creating effective problem sets or contacting community service groups, for example), and likewise, require careful attention from teachers during the process. However, research suggests that these strategies greatly increase students' retention of both knowledge and skills.

What is Active Learning?

Active Learning (Kathleen McKinney, Sociology)

Citing Meyers and Jones (1993), McKinney points out that active learning "derives from two basic assumptions: (1) that learning is by nature an active endeavor and (2) that different people learn in different ways." Includes a brief overview of different active learning strategies.

Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom (Charles C. Bonwell & James A. Eison)

Bonwell and Eison define active learning as "instructional activities involving students in doing things and thinking about what they are doing." A simple Q&A format addresses issues of how to create more "active" classroom spaces and what barriers teachers should be
aware of.

Navigating the Bumpy Road to Student-Centered Instruction (Richard Fedler & Rebecca Brent)

Offers suggestions for dealing with resistance from students as teachers attempt to move their classes from spaces where students only "receive" knowledge to spaces where students are co-creators of knowledge.

Motivating and Engaging Students

Examining Student Engagement at Illinois State (Val Famer-Dougan & Kathleen McKinney)

Farmer-Dougan and McKinney define engagement, report on empirical evidence at ISU, and conclude that class format, grade satisfaction, task identity, computer use, and peer relationships have significant impact on student engagement.

Faculty Perceptions of Student Engagement (Lana Berardi & Tom Gerschick)

The authors report that faculty tend to share an intuitive definition of student engagement, and they note that faculty "may incorrectly assess the relationship among race and ethnicity, social class, gender and student engagement."

Strategies for Engaging Students (Val Farmer-Dougan & Kathleen McKinney)

Several brief suggestions for making students more active and engaged participants in their own education, including connecting class topics with students' lives, offering students choices in their learning, as well as using writing and various technologies.

Collaborative/Cooperative Learning

Collaborative v. Cooperative Learning (Ted Panitz)

Panitz distinguishes between collaborative learning (which he refers to as a "personal philosophy" that involves the "sharing of authority") and cooperative learning (which he defines as a "set of processes" designed to assist learners in accomplishing a particular task).

Cooperative Learning: Increasing College Faculty Instructional Productivity (David W. Johnson & Others)

Defines cooperative learning as "the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other's learning."

Issues to Consider and Decisions to Make When Using Cooperative or Collaborative Assignments (Kathleen McKinney, Sociology)

McKinney offers teachers a series of heuristic questions to help guide them in making up-front decisions that will affect the outcomes of their forays into cooperative/collaborative pedagogies.

Stages of Group Development (Susquehanna U)

This site covers several aspects of groups working together, including how to establish effective groups.

What is the Collaborative Classroom? (Tinzman et al.)

The collaborative classroom is a space of shared knowledge and shared authority. The authors explain the roles that teachers and students can play in collaborative learning.

Working in Groups: There is no "I" in Groupwork (San Francisco State)

Working in a group can be a challenge. Make the most of your group learning experience and learn ways to deal with conflict or avoid it altogether.

Problem-/Inquiry-Based Learning

Problem-Based Learning: An Introduction (James Rhem)

Explains the basics of problem-based learning, defined here as "an instructional strategy in which students confront contextualized, ill-structured problems and strive to find meaningful solutions."

Problem-Based Learning Initiative @ Southern Illinois School of Medicine

A useful site which includes information on how to structure micro- and macro-level PBL.

Using the Internet to Promote Inquiry-Based Learning (David Jakes et al.)

This e-paper "describe[s] a structured approach to inquiry-based learning that uses the World Wide Web as a primary information resource. Specifically, we address an intuitive 8-step process that begins with an essential question and ends with a knowledge product produced by students, typically completed in a cooperative setting."

Other Resources

Active Learning on the Web (B. Dodge, San Diego State U)

Active/Cooperative Learning: Best Practices in Engineering Education (Arizona State)

Alexander Astin's Theories of Involvement: A Summary (K. Hutley)

Bibliography of Problem-Based Learning Resources (Milner)

Bibliography of Student Engagement (CTLT)

Bibliography on Active and Cooperative Learning (R. M. Felder, North Carolina State U)

Bibliography on Active Learning (OSU)

Center for Problem-Based Learning Research and Communication (Samford)

Cooperative/Collaborative Structures Explicitly Designed to Promote Positive Interdependence Among Group Members (J. Cuseo)

Creating Life-Long Learners (J. Manahan)

Encouraging Students' Intrinsic Motivation (K. McKinney)

Encouraging Students to Prepare for Class: A Polylog

Inquiry Page at UIUC

My Students Are Not Engaged in Course Materials: What Do I Do? (V. Farmer-Dougan & K. McKinney)

National Survey of Student Engagement (Updated Annually)

Problem-Based Learning Clearinghouse

Problem-Based Learning Network (Illinois Math and Science Academy)

Supporting and Facilitating Self-Directed Learning (C. Lowery)

Teacher's Reflection on Collaborative Learning in Class (N. Wiersema)

Ted's Cooperative Learning E-Book (T. Panitz)

Web Links for Inquiry-Based Learning