TBAL: Technology-Based Active Learning in Higher Education

Yaron Ghilay,Ruth Ghilay

doi:10.5539/jel.v4n4p10

Abstract

In many institutions of higher education worldwide, faculty members manage lessons based on information transfer whereas their students become passive listeners. According to international research, passive learning has disadvantages mainly because students do not engage in the lesson. The study introduces a new model for higher education called TBAL: Technology-Based Active Learning. It intends to face the challenge of transfer to active learning, using mobile devices in face-to-face courses. Following a research undertaken at the Neri Bloomfield School of Design and Education (n = 67), the new model was found to be very successful. Students, who participated in the research, reported that courses based on TBAL principles, improved their learning process, were very experiential and had a significant contribution for better participation, collaboration and teamwork. The TBAL model was found to be applicable to courses based on text reading, in particular, but it may be also suitable for quantitative courses, subject to appropriate adjustments.

Highlights

The study introduces a new model called Technology-Based Active Learning (TBAL)
It means that there was a replication of the results found in the first year (2013-2014) in the second (2014-2015)
Passive learning is problematic mainly because students are not engaged in the lesson and in many cases, lots of them are disconnected from what takes place in class (Bonwell & Eison, 1991; Michel et al, 2009)

Summary

Introduction

The study introduces a new model called Technology-Based Active Learning (TBAL). TBAL is designed to improve learning in face-to-face courses in higher education. It enables students to become active learners and improve their learning quality. Such an improvement is a result of better studying experience and a lot of opportunities students have to participate and express themselves. Lectures in higher education consist of teachers verbally communicating information to the students, and students passively receiving and encoding it in their memories (Boyer, 1990; Michel, Cater III, & Varela, 2009; Stewart-Wingfield & Black, 2005). Many studies (Bonwell & Eison, 1991; Michel et al, 2009) suggest that the passive method may not be the most effective way for students to learn. Research advocates for teaching techniques that encourage students to actively engage with the material because classroom engagement has been found to promote deeper levels of thinking and better facilitate encoding, storage, and retrieval than traditional lecture (McGlynn, 2005; Peck, Ali, Matchock, & Levine, 2006)

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Results

Conclusion