Transcending Convention and Space: Strategies for Fostering Active Learning in Large Post-Secondary Classes

Andrea Quinlan,Curtis A. Fogel

doi:10.5539/hes.v4n6p43

Abstract

In 1970, education theorist Paulo Freire (1970) sharply critiqued dominant pedagogy—or what he called the banking model of education - for stripping students of their agency. In the banking model, he wrote, instructors are empowered as narrating subjects as students who become alienated as passive listening objects. In the decades since, research has repeatedly shown that a banking model of education is ineffective and inefficient. Despite this, there is an increasing trend towards large, lecture-based learning in post-secondary classrooms, fuelled largely by the turn to a neoliberal, corporatized model for higher education. Active learning pedagogy moves away from the banking model of education, toward a model that positions the student as an active participant in his or her own learning and development. While active learning has been shown to be more effective, large class sizes, classroom structures, teaching loads, and diminishing teaching resources can make it difficult for instructors to integrate active learning into large post-secondary lecture-halls. This paper explores the challenge of inspiring active learning in large classes and proposes a number of strategies for integrating active learning in large university lecture halls.

Highlights

It has long been known that learning typically requires more than listening and instead demands activation and engagement of the mind
Nor do we presume that these strategies will be effective in all classrooms-their effectiveness is dependent on many things, including the dynamics of a particular class, the discipline under instruction, an individual instructor, a classroom space, and available resources, among other things. We propose these strategies as a call for more dialogue on how post-secondary instructors can inspire active learning in increasingly large class sizes
In their report to the Association for the Study of Higher Education, Bonwell and Eison (1991) identify the largest barrier to active learning not as class size or design, but the fear of the professor. They suggest that professors fear that active learning techniques will not work; that students will refuse to participate, control will be lost in the classroom, and students will criticize the unorthodox practices of teaching

Summary

Introduction

It has long been known that learning typically requires more than listening and instead demands activation and engagement of the mind. University classroom sizes and structures tend to promote lecture-based teaching and learning Describing this trend, McKeachie (2006) indicates that in a typical post-secondary classroom setting, students are often only passively involved in their learning. The lack of teaching resources often precludes individualized instruction and long written assignments, forcing instructors to use more common means of mass evaluation, such as multiple choice and true/false exams With these increasing pressures to conform to lecture-based teaching, how can post-secondary instructors engage students in large university classes? Students do not learn much just sitting in classes listening to teachers, memorizing pre-packaged assignments, and spitting out answers They must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, and apply it to their daily lives. It is this vision of learning that we mean to explore

Strategies for Fostering Active Learning in Large Classes

Establishing Commitment

Reality Disruptions

Imagined Solutions

Arts-Based Pedagogy

Concluding Thoughts