The Reality-Based Learning Method: A Simple Method for Keeping Teaching Activities Relevant and Effective

Abstract

Active and experiential learning theory have not dramatically changed collegiate classroom teaching methods, although they have long been included in the pedagogical literature. This article presents an evolved method, reality based learning, that aids professors in including active learning activities with feelings of clarity and confidence. The reality-based learning method subjects each learning activity to a 4-point framework that is used by the professor in all stages, planning, implementation, and review. Its solid rationale, rigorous standards, and logical applicability are intended to ease professors’ confusion and apprehension about active and experiential learning. Furthermore, professors will find that they can truly make a difference in their students’transferability of knowledge, skills, and attitudes from the confines of a classroom to their interactions in the broader world. Finally, its applications are demonstrated in an extended diagnostic approach to the selection of an activity for one specific content area.