Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom (ERIC Digest). ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education. Research consistently has shown that traditional lecture methods dominate college and university classrooms. If more active methods are to be adopted, we need to better understand the nature of active learning, the empirical research on its use, the common obstacles and barriers that give rise to faculty members' resistance to interactive techniques, and how faculty can make real the promise of active learning.

Creating Learning Centered Classrooms. What Does Learning Theory Have To Say? (ERIC Digest).. Stage, F., Muller, P., Kinzie, J. & Simmons, A.. Reviews concepts underlying creation of learning centered classrooms, including: how college students learn, barriers to students' learning, and classroom techniques to promote learning among college students.

IDEA Papers - Focusing On Active, Meaningful Learning (No. 34). Kansas State University. Defines active and meaningful learning and explains how cooperative learning and critical thinking strategies can be used to promote these forms of learning. Provides examples of using small, unstructured cooperative learning groups to enhance active learning and how to apply critical thinking strategies within a human A&P course.

What is Active Learning?. University of California - Davis Teaching Resource Center. A brief summary of active learning concepts. Answers three basic questions: What is Active Learning? Why Active Learning? and How To Incorporate Active Learning Into Your Classroom (with eight examples). Includes links to major active learning Web sites.

Active and Cooperative Learning in The College Classroom. Paulson DR & Faust, JL. Broadly defines active learning as anything that students do in a classroom other than merely passively listening to an instructor's lecture. Offers and describes dozens of active learning techniques, grouped into 6 categories: Individual Exercises, Questions & Answers, Immediate Feedback, Critical Thinking, Share/Pair, and Cooperative Learning. Provides a good list of references.

Active Learning. McKinney, K. Defines active learning and offers several examples of in-class active learning techniques used in small and large classes, and with all levels of students. Examples include think-pair-share, collaborative learning groups, student-led review sessions, debates, student generated exam questions, mini-research proposals or projects, case studies, journals or logs, and concept mapping.

Active Learning. University of Minnesota - Center for Teaching and Learning. Describes a number of simple student-pair activities designed to promote active learning and provides general guidelines for such activities. Also outlines how to plan active learning activities and lists some keys to success. Includes suggestions for further reading.

Active Learning: Getting Students to Work and Think in the Classroom. Stanford University. Defines active learning and outlines several techniques you can use to challenge your students to move beyond memorization to higher levels of understanding. Examples include variations from the traditional lecture method, questioning and discussion techniques, and role play and case studies. Also discusses barriers to implementing active learning activities. From Stanford University's Speaking of Teaching, Vol. 5, No. 1.

Alternative Modes of Teaching and Learning. University of Western Australia - Centre for Staff Development. Offers menu-based access to brief descriptions and examples of active (alternative) modes of learning. Modes include critical pedagogy, discovery learning, case-studies, problem-based learning, project-based learning, experiential learning, simulated experience, apprenticeship, service learning, action learning, coaching, mentoring, portfolios, reflective journals, collaborative/cooperative/group-based learning, peer teaching, independent study, learning contracts, and self-directed learning.

Alternative Strategies and Active Learning. University of North Carolina - Center for Teaching and Learning. Describes the use of 7 active learning strategies: Peer Teaching, Cooperative Learning Groups, Case Studies, Simulations, Games, Out-of-Class Written Assignments and In-Class Exercises.

Classroom Structures Which Encourage Student Participation. Bergquist, WH & Phillips, SR. A handy table comparing the use, preparation for and limitations of several discussion methods. Excerpted from Bergquist, W.H. & Phillips, S.R. (1975). 'Getting students involved in the classroom', in A Handbook for Faculty Development. Council for the Advancement of Small Colleges, Washington, D.C.

From Teaching to Learning: Part III. Lectures and Approaches to Active Learning. Seeler, D C, Turnwald, GH & Bull, KS. Explores some of the practical issues related to active learning and discusses ways in which the instructor can improve upon the lecture in order to increase student learning and activity. Methods include questioning, modified lecture formats, brainstorming and tests and quizzes. From the Journal of Veterinary Medical Education, 21 (1), 1994.

Ideas on Teaching - Active Learning. University of Oklahoma - Instructional Development Program. Provides a model of designed to conceptualize the learning process in a way to assist teachers in identifying meaningful forms of active learning. This model assumes that all learning activities involve some kind of experience or some kind of dialogue. The two main kinds of dialogue are "Dialogue with Self" and "Dialogue with Others." The two main kinds of experience are "Observing" and "Doing."

Quick before It Dries: Setting the Pattern for Active Participation from Day One. Adams, S.. Describes a variety of techniques designed to generate active student participation from the start, making it much easier to elicit discussion during the rest of a course.

Using Active Learning in the Classroom. Florida State University. Chapter 8 in Instruction at FSU: A Guide to Teaching & Learning Practices. Defines active learning and provides numerous suggestions on how apply its various methods, including active listening & writing, visual-based active learning, brainstorming, collaborative learning, peer teaching, role playing & simulations, problem-based learning, case studies, and class discussion.

What is Active Learning?. University of Minnesota - Center for Teaching and Learning. Discusses the basic elements of active learning (talking, listening, writing, reading); defines four broad categories of active learning classroom strategies (individual activities, paired activities, informal small groups, and cooperative student projects); and outlines the key questions to ask when planning an active learning activity.

Getting Students Involved in the Classroom. Bergquist, WH & Phillips, SR. Examines three common causes of student non-involvement in the classroom: one-way instructor communication; involvement-avoiding student learning styles a lack of specific classroom structures which encourage participation. Excerpted from Bergquist, W.H. & Phillips, S.R. (1975). 'Getting students involved in the classroom', in A Handbook for Faculty Development. Council for the Advancement of Small Colleges, Washington, D.C.

Making Active Learning Work. University of Minnesota - Center for Teaching and Learning. A tutorial designed to define and elaborate on active learning methods, as well as illustrate (using video scenarios) some of the common problems faculty face when implementing these strategies. Provides a useful set of recommendations for making active learning work and a bibliography of web resources on these methods.

Navigating the Bumpy Road to Student-Centered Instruction. Felder, RM & Brent, R. In student-centered instruction (SCI), the burden of communicating course material shifts from the instructor to the students. To succeed, instructors need to understand how the process works, take precautionary steps to smooth out the bumps, and wait out the inevitable setbacks until the payoffs start emerging.

Recommendations for Making Active Learning Work. University of Minnesota - Center for Teaching and Learning. Provides dozens of specific recommendations to help address common obstacles to active learning in the classroom, including how to: overcome student resistance; counter student complaints; maintain control of your classroom; manage time pressures; handle dysfunctional groups; and ensure quality peer review of writing.

How to 'Activate' Medical Students in the Office Teaching Setting: Giving Students Permission to Be Active Learners. Taylor, CA & Lipsky, MS. Medical students must learn to be self-directed, lifelong learners. The basic assumptions concerning adults as learners suggest that they are best motivated to learn when they are active participants in their learning. Although faculty development programs have been designed to assist clinical faculty in learning new, more student-active ways to facilitate learning, these new strategies can only be successful if students accept their role as active learners. By preparing our students to take a more active role, we can increase the probability that both the student and community preceptor will have a rewarding experience. From the column 'For the Office-Based Teacher of Family Medicine' in Family Medicine.

Novice Instructors and Student-Centered Instruction: Identifying and Addressing Obstacles to Learning in the College Science Laboratory. Winter, D, Lemons, P, Bookman, J & Hoese, W. Identifies and analyzes some problems with student-centered instruction in introductory college science and math laboratory courses, including those associated with interactions between the instructor and students and the instructors ability to monitor the learning environment. Provides practical suggestions for dealing with such problems. From the Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 2(1), 2001.

Active Learning. National Library of Medicine. A dynamic search of the NLM Medline database on this topic using the NLM PubMed interface.

Active Learning Bibliography. Ohio State University. A relatively recent (2000) collection of books and monographs covering active learning methods in higher education. Maintained by the Ohio State University Office of Faculty and TA Development.

Active/Cooperative Learning. Foundation Coalition. Addresses the following questions related to active/collaborative learning (ACL): Why don't we teach the way students learn? Why should you care? How can I get started? What does research indicate? How much material can be covered using ACL? How much time does it take to adopt ACL? Are there workshops? Who are some people who can help? What are some resources? Emphasis is on engineering education, but a good resource nonetheless. Funded by the National Science Foundation.

Learning-Centered Teaching. University of Massachusetts - Lowell. Provides examples and models of learning-centered teaching, in which students take responsibility for their own learning. Topics include Objectives, Content Issues, Instructional Activities, Motivation, and Learning-Centered Syllabi & Course Materials. Based on the work of University of Massachusetts - Lowell faculty.

Selected Resources for Active Student Learning. University of Delaware - Center for Teaching Effectiveness. A recent collection of selected books and video resources covering active learning methods in higher education. Maintained by the University of Delaware Center for Teaching Effectiveness.