Hello, I admit I haven't followed much of this dialogue, but I know from experience that good active learning technique can be very effective, but bad active learning technique is basically like winging it in front of the class. I have had teachers do this and they should get slammed on evaluations for it. You also have to evaluate your audience. If they aren't receptive then you need to figure out a way to change that. You may have to make a slow change into active learning or only use it in certain situations. My two cents...
Kevin On Sat, Jan 23, 2010 at 12:28 AM, Sarah Berke <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi, > > I want to briefly respond to David Lawrence's comment from several days > ago, > about evaluation scores declining when he switched to active learning. > This > comment probably hit home for anyone who has tried active learning: > > > >>> I watched my evaluation scores decline when I switched to "active > > >>> learning." ...It was also unreasonable for me to expect them to ask > questions > > >>> relevant to the material we discussed in class. I had students > > >>> complain they didn't learn anything from me > > For anyone who has ever been in this boat, you are not alone--this is a > common phenomenon when introducing active learning methods to a student > body > that is accustomed to traditional lecture-based methods. Based on my own > experiences, and those of various colleagues, I would guess that most > instructors got similar comments when they first switched over from > lecturing. I am fairly new to active learning myself, but I've talked with > colleagues who have been doing it for years, and everyone says that it > really does get better (particularly if many faculty in the department all > start using it). I think comments like "I didn't learn anything" stem from > problems with metacognition. How do you know when you've learned > something? Memorizing 30 vocabulary words is a concrete achievement, you > can point and say "There, I learned these words". But interpreting data, > or > designing an experiment, or predicting the outcome of a perturbation to a > system are all rather amorphous--there's no one thing to point to and say > "I've learned this". That can throw students for a loop. Furthermore, the > level of energy and preparation required to participate in a > learner-centered classroom can push students out of their comfort zones, > particularly if they are accustomed to the ease of showing up and taking > notes through a lecture. I am not trying to dismiss your student's > comments, I'm just pointing out that some negative comments might have more > to do with feeling uncomfortable in a new situation than with learning > science per se. > > Happily, none of these issues are insurmountable. The trick is to help > students be aware of their own progress, and to bring them on board with > the > goals of a learner-centered classroom. That is easier said than done, and > it might take several years of trying before you land on the best way to > accomplish that for your particular student body (but then, most new > classes > take several years before you're happy with them, right?). > > Most importantly, none of these issues mean that your students were > actually > not learning. You know what your students accomplished based on their > exams, papers, and class participation. You probably know that they > actually learned a lot, far more than they may have realized at the time. > > If you are convinced that active learning is better for students (and there > are good data to support that), then keep on truckin'. And pat yourself on > the back--changing the way you teach is a challenge, and your willingness > to > try says more about you as an instructor than any given crop of > evaluations. Finally, if you have any colleagues who are also trying > active > learning, get together regularly and compare notes. It will help a lot. > > Best wishes, > Sarah > _________________________________ > Sarah K Berke > Postdoctoral Researcher > Department of the Geophysical Sciences > University of Chicago > 5734 S. Ellis Ave > Chicago, IL 60637 >
