Learning Activities In Courses Research Articles

From a well-prepared teacher to an on-the-spot facilitator: a reflection on delivering an active learning course

Abstract In this article, I describe my experience of preparing and delivering a brand new computing undergraduate course in a new university and in doing so, share how the special institutional push of the active learning pedagogy of the university changed the way I prepared and delivered the course, and ended up transforming my own view of teaching. I was faced with an unusual cohort of students who were already familiar with active learning styles in classes, were proactive, vocal, and argumentative, were not afraid of making mistakes and of challenging the authorities, were extremely articulate expressing themselves and who had worked in a project- and team-based setting throughout the programme. As such, a very different method of teaching needed to be in place, not for the purpose of improving the in-class engagement, but out of necessity. In the process of creating and running this course, I witnessed a major shift in the allocation of my time, efforts and other resources: from general to specific, from teaching to advising to observing, from elaborate preclass preparations to impromptu, in-class discussions, thus bringing all my design skills and experiences to the table.

Language, relationships and skills in mixed-nationality Active Learning classrooms

Based on a phenomenological exploration of Chinese students at a UK university business school, this article supports a growing body of research questioning the assumptions underpinning the putative Socratic/Confucian dichotomy of academic cultures. Beginning with a review of research literature on the experiences of Chinese students on Active Learning courses, the main part of the study is based on an analysis of qualitative interviews conducted in English and Mandarin. Findings suggest that, whilst Active Learning pedagogies are perceived as supporting their learning on these modules, for some students the ‘double-learning agenda’ entailed by these pedagogies can make their classrooms an uncomfortable space. The conclusion makes a strong case for reconceptualising the ‘language problems’ reported by many international students as ‘conversational problems’, and for recognising the nexus of language, relationships and meta-cognitive skills as legitimate areas for intervention by teachers in their role as facilitators of Active Learning.

The effect of active learning methodologies on the teaching of pharmaceutical care in a Brazilian pharmacy faculty.

BackgroundIn recent years, pharmacists have been involved in expanded patient care responsibilities, for example patient counseling in self-medication, medication review and pharmaceutical care, which require graduates to develop the necessary competences. Consequently, reorientation of pharmacy education has become necessary. As such, active learning strategies have been introduced into classrooms to increase problem-solving and critical thinking skills of students. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance and perceptions of competency of students in a new pharmaceutical care course that uses active learning methodologies.MethodsThis pharmaceutical care course was conducted in the first semester of 2014, in the Federal University of Sergipe. In the pharmaceutical care course, active learning methods were used, consisting of dialogic classroom expository, simulation and case studies. Student learning was evaluated using classroom tests and instruments that evaluated the perception of competency in pharmaceutical care practice. Furthermore, students' satisfaction with the course was evaluated.ResultsThirty-three students completed the four evaluations used in the course (i.e., a discursive written exam, seminars, OSCE, and virtual patient); 25 were female (75.75%), and the median age was 23.43 (SD 2.82) years. The overall mean of student scores, in all evaluation methods was 7.97 (SD 0.59) on a scale of 0 to 10 points, and student performance on the virtual patient method was statistically superior to other methods. With respect to the perception of competency in pharmaceutical care practice, a comparison of pre- and post-test scores revealed statistically significant improvement for all evaluated competences. At the end of the semester, the students presented positive opinions of the pharmaceutical care course.ConclusionsThe results suggest that an active learning course can enhance the learning of pharmaceutical care competences. In future studies it will be necessary to compare active learning to traditional methods.

Helpful Tips for New Users of Active Learning

Helpful Tips for New Users of Active Learning

“Bugs on Bugs”

Diverse communities of arthropods and microbes provide humans with essential ecosystem goods and services. Arthropods are the most diverse and abundant macroscopic animals on the planet, and many remain to be discovered. Much less is known about microbial diversity, despite their importance as free-living species and as symbionts. We created “Bugs on Bugs” as an inquiry-based research project in which students investigate both arthropod and microbe diversity by collecting arthropods and culturing their symbionts. “Bugs on Bugs” was developed as a multiple-course project in which students from different disciplines specialize in parts of the project and collaborate in project design and data analysis. We provide instructions for use of “Bugs on Bugs” in active-learning courses, share experiences in which a biodiversity course and a microbiology course completed “Bugs on Bugs” together at our institution, and share suggestions for implementation based on our experiences.

CAPTIvatE: Building Blocks for Implementing Active Learning

Active learning is an instructional model that focuses on shifting the responsibility for learning to students by increasing engagement. However, the lack of a comprehensive structure for guiding faculty in designing active learning courses makes it a challenge to create an effective learning environment and a positive experience for instructors and students. We propose a set of key elements which impact the success of an active learning implementation: content delivery, active learning methods, physical environment, technology enhancement, incentive alignment, and educator investment. These constitute the basic elements that should be considered in developing and implementing an active learning course, dividing the design of such a course into manageable components. Our proposed scheme and the related benefits are illustrated and evaluated for three courses. Through a range of metrics we present preliminary evidence that students in courses implementing these elements learn more while exerting similar effort, demonstrate greater understanding of course content, and establish closer connections with fellow students as well as instructors. These outcomes plainly demonstrate the benefits of this approach, and place a clear impetus on instructors to consider the use of this schema in their courses.

Global Internship as an Active Learning Course (Toward an Industry.University Collaboration in Internships)

Global Internship as an Active Learning Course (Toward an Industry.University Collaboration in Internships)

Recent research in science teaching and learning.

Recent research in science teaching and learning.

A methodology for improving active learning engineering courses with a large number of students and teachers through feedback gathering and iterative refinement

In the last decade, engineering education has evolved in many ways to meet society demands. Universities offer more flexible curricula and put a lot of effort on the acquisition of professional engineering skills by the students. In many universities, the courses in the first years of different engineering degrees share program and objectives, having a large number of students and teachers. These common courses are expected to provide the students with meaningful learning experiences, which could be achieved by using active learning. The use of active learning in engineering courses improves traditional teaching by promoting students’ participation and engagement, although active learning courses can be very sensitive to differences in learning paces or team conflicts; this being a challenge for the widespread adoption of active learning in courses with many students and teachers. This paper proposes a methodology that facilitates the detection and reaction to problems in active learning engineering courses with many students and teachers. This methodology is based on gathering feedback (from students and teachers) and decision-making processes at selected milestones. The methodology integrates intra-edition mechanisms in order to detect problems and react as the courses are being taught, and inter-edition mechanisms to ensure the persistence of necessary changes in the courses design. The methodology has been successfully applied during four consecutive editions to improve an undergraduate active learning programming course with an average of 257 students and 9 teachers per edition. An extended validation of expert educators suggests that this methodology can also be applied to traditional engineering courses.

Understanding Evolution: Why Evo-Devo Matters

The idea of evolution is counter­ intuitive for many people, because it conflicts with particular human intuitions—namely, design teleology and psychological essentialism. Humans tend to intuitively explain organisms’ characters as those of artifacts—that is, being intentionally designed for the role they visibly serve (design teleology) and remaining fixed and determined by that role (psychological essentialism). Because a major difficulty for students and the public is to understand how very different forms could have evolved from common ancestors through natural processes— something antievolutionists often contend is inconceivable—we argue that evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) can help address these erroneous preconceptions about evolution. Evo-devo provides evidence that large morphological change is possible and that it does not necessarily require major changes in the genome. Gilbert (2003) and Arthur (2004) have also suggested taking development into account when teaching evolution. Research in science education has shown that even an active-learning course with integrated evolution content may have only moderate learning outcomes. In a study of college students published in BioScience (Nehm and Reilly 2007), knowledge of natural selection content was discussed in 90% of the classes attended by an intervention group. The participating students had all completed an undergraduate introductory biology course; furthermore, most had previously heard about natural selection at school. However, although 70% of these students employed more than four key evolutionary concepts in their responses to the final test, importantly, only 30% of them did so without misconceptions. Why? Conceptual development research has shown that particular, deeply rooted, and strongly held intuitions generate misconceptions, which arise during early childhood and persist into adulthood. These intuitions make the idea of evolution seem entirely counterintuitive and, consequently, difficult to understand. First, it seems that teleological intuitions in combination with an early awareness of intentionality may make people think about the parts of organisms in the same way that they think about the parts of artifacts. This does not necessarily mean that people consciously consider organisms to be artifacts but, rather, suggests that they unconsciously think of both organism and artifact parts in terms of intended uses. For example, seeing an eagle flying does not make people think of it as an artifact, as they would do for an airplane. However, it may be the case that seeing an eagle flying by using its wings makes people think of these wings as they do of those of an airplane—that is, as parts made for an intended use. Whether there is a conscious, intentional agent behind this, which is correct for artifacts, is a distinct question, subordinate to the idea that organisms’ parts serve an intended use. It is the unconscious, intuitive idea of an intended use (intended for some purpose and perhaps intended by someone) that makes design teleology an important conceptual obstacle to understanding evolution. Second, the notion of a set of characteristic properties that determine category identity may prevent us from realizing the enormousness of the existing variation within each category. Consider the following sentences: The eagle is flying by using (1) its wings.

Anatomic and Clinical Pathology Boot Camps: Filling Pathology-Specific Gaps in Undergraduate Medical Education

The Liaison Committee on Medical Education began an initiative to change medical education across the United States in the early 2000s. With the explosion in medical science knowledge, the need arose to teach selected fundamental information both in a contextual and in an active learning manner. To identify ways to address gaps in training and knowledge that became apparent following implementation of learner-centered teaching methods, with devotion of more time to Internet-based learning and less emphasis on face-to-face lecture time. There was a dramatic departure from or de-emphasis of many traditional courses, such as embryology, gross anatomy, microscopic anatomy, and pathology, to the integration of these sciences into system-based active learning courses. This change in medical school curricula produces a medical graduate who hopefully thinks differently but certainly lacks subject-specific knowledge for a variety of medical specialties. Pathology residency programs have developed "boot camps" for the initial months of residency training both to provide the necessary foundation of pathology-specific medical science and to introduce basic skills and processes required for practice of anatomic pathology and laboratory medicine. The College of American Pathologists Graduate Medical Education Committee sent a questionnaire out on the Program Directors Section Listserv; the results are discussed and 3 boot camp programs are described. Boot camps have 2 purposes: (1) to teach or strengthen knowledge required to practice pathology and (2) to introduce basic skills and processes that will be used during the practitioner's career.

The Impact of Elective Active-Learning Courses in Pregnancy/Lactation and Pediatric Pharmacotherapy

To implement and evaluate the impact of 2 elective courses, Pregnancy & Lactation and Pediatrics on student acquisition of knowledge and development of lifelong learning skills related to these special populations. Two 3-credit elective courses were implemented using various student-driven learning techniques, such as case-based exercises, group presentations, pro-con debates, and pharmacist "grab bag" questions. Strong emphasis was placed on medication literature retrieval and analysis, and a wiki was used to create an electronic resource for longitudinal use. Pre- and post-course tests showed significant improvement in knowledge related to pregnancy, lactation, and pediatrics. Pre- and post-course confidence and ratings on satisfaction survey tools also revealed significant improvement in several domains relating to lifelong-learning skills, knowledge related to medication use within these special populations, use of technology to enhance learning, and overall course design. The combination of student-directed learning techniques used in 2 pediatric-concentration courses is an effective teaching model.

An Active-Learning Course Model to Teach Pharmacotherapy in Geriatrics

To describe the development, implementation, and assessment of a geriatric pharmacotherapy elective course emphasizing a patient-centered approach and active, self-directed learning strategies. The course content included fundamental concepts in aging, geriatric syndromes, activities involving assessment of medically complex older adults, presentation of controversies in clinical geriatrics, book and film clubs, an Adopt-a-Patient project, and scientific and reflective writing. Students participated in site visits to interview and interact with older adults. Student evaluation of the course was assessed with the teaching evaluation tool, an end-of-semester survey, a follow-up P4 survey, and reflective writings. Students strongly agreed that course goals were achieved. Learning how to communicate with older adults and assess complex medication regimens were the areas of highest importance to students. P4 students strongly agreed that skills learned in the course were important to their success in advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs). A pharmacotherapy course emphasizing active and self-directed learning in geriatrics through innovative teaching was adaptable to doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) students at various stages of their training and improved students' perceptions of aging.

Rethinking Online Space: Encouraging Student Immersion for Online and Hybrid Courses

Active learning and student-centered courses have been important goals for education research because they appear to provide better, more effective learning environments for students. This article provides ways to bring a student-centered perspective to online and hybrid courses. By using rhetoric and composition theories that inform critical pedagogical stances, the author calls for incorporating online writing spaces for students across the disciplines. Because writing and thinking are connected, the author advocates that online and hybrid courses ask students to (re)present their understanding of course content online in order to have students move away from passive learning. These online spaces, similar to e-portfolios, are semester-long projects that allow students more chances for reflecting on the course material through media with which contemporary students are already familiar. Additionally, the online spaces in which students compose form an online learning community for individuals to showcase their work and, more importantly, their understanding of the course material. The article concludes by showing readers that students showcasing their work online makes the medium (the Internet) their message.

Classroom Active Learning Complemented by an Online Discussion Forum to Teach Sustainability

This paper identifies some of the pedagogical benefits of an active learning course delivery complemented by an online discussion forum to teach sustainability by evaluating the case of a geography master's course. The potential benefits and some challenges of an active learning course delivery to teach sustainability in geography and related disciplines are considered. This case study further supports past research that suggests e-learning as a complement to the classroom (1) increases the opportunities for student participation; and (2) enhances the participation of students who may feel more inhibited to engage in discussions in a traditional classroom setting.

Expanding Voluntary Active-learning Opportunities for Pharmacy Students in a Respiratory Physiology Module

To expand voluntary active-learning opportunities for bachelor of pharmacy students enrolled in a third-year human physiology and pharmacology course and determine whether the additional course components improved learning outcomes. Additional voluntary active-learning opportunities including a large-class tutorial, additional formative assessment, and an online discussion were added to the Respiratory Physiology Module of the course. Examination scores were compared with those from previous years. A questionnaire was administered to assess students' perception of the active-learning components. Mean examination scores increased from 69.3% +/- 24.4% in 2003 to 88.9% +/- 13.4% in 2004 and 86.9% +/- 17.6% in 2005, after the addition of the active-learning components. Students' overall perception of the value of the active-learning activities was positive. The addition of voluntary active-learning course components to a required pharmacy course resulted in improved student examination scores, and decreased failure rate, and were accomplished at low cost and with little additional staff time.

A Self-instructional Model to Teach Systems-based Practice and Practice-based Learning and Improvement

When mandated as resident competencies in 1999, systems-based practice (SBP) and practice-based learning and improvement (PBLI) were new concepts to many. To describe and evaluate a 4-week clinical elective (Achieving Competence Today-ACT) to teach residents SBP and PBLI. ACT consisted of a four-week active learning course and follow-up teaching experience, guided and supported by web-based materials. The curriculum included readings, scheduled activities, work products including an improvement project, and weekly meetings with a non-expert preceptor. The evaluation used a before-after cross-comparison of ACT residents and their peers. Seventy-eight residents and 42 faculty in 18 US Internal Medicine residency programs participated between 2003 and 2005. RESULTS AND MAIN MEASUREMENTS: All residents and faculty preceptors responded to a knowledge test, survey of attitudes, and self-assessment of competency to do 15 tasks related to SBP/PBLI. All measures were normalized to a 100-point scale. Each program's principal investigator (PI) identified aspects of ACT that were most and least effective in enhancing resident learning. ACT residents' gains in knowledge (4.4 on a 100-point scale) and self-assessed competency (11.3) were greater than controls' (-1.9, -8.0), but changes in attitudes were not significantly different. Faculty preceptors' knowledge scores did not change, but their attitudes became more positive (15.8). PIs found a ready-to-use curriculum effective (rated 8.5 on a 10-point scale). ACT increased residents' knowledge and self-assessment of their own competency and raised faculty's assessment of the importance of residents' learning SBP/PBLI. Faculty content expertise is not required for residents to learn SBP/PBLI.

Brain mapping in cognitive disorders: a multidisciplinary approach to learning the tools and applications of functional neuroimaging

BackgroundWith rapid advances in functional imaging methods, human studies that feature functional neuroimaging techniques are increasing exponentially and have opened a vast arena of new possibilities for understanding brain function and improving the care of patients with cognitive disorders in the clinical setting. There is a growing need for medical centers to offer clinically relevant functional neuroimaging courses that emphasize the multifaceted and multidisciplinary nature of this field. In this paper, we describe the implementation of a functional neuroimaging course focusing on cognitive disorders that might serve as a model for other medical centers. We identify key components of an active learning course design that impact student learning gains in methods and issues pertaining to functional neuroimaging that deserve consideration when optimizing the medical neuroimaging curriculum.MethodsLearning gains associated with the course were assessed using polychoric correlation analysis of responses to the SALG (Student Assessment of Learning Gains) instrument.ResultsStudent gains in the functional neuroimaging of cognition as assessed by the SALG instrument were strongly associated with several aspects of the course design.ConclusionOur implementation of a multidisciplinary and active learning functional neuroimaging course produced positive learning outcomes. Inquiry-based learning activities and an online learning environment contributed positively to reported gains. This functional neuroimaging course design may serve as a useful model for other medical centers.

Active learning and reflection in product development engineering education

Traditional engineering courses at tertiary level have been traditionally theory-based, supported by laboratory work, but there is now a world-wide trend towards project-based learning. In product development education, project-based learning is essential in order to integrate the disciplines of design, marketing and manufacturing towards the common goal of creating a new product. The process of development consists of a set of activities, tools and methods that are themselves evolving and improving with practice. A successful active learning course in product development education is presented in this paper as part of undergraduate engineering education, within the context of a fourth year course in New Zealand. The industry sponsored individual projects support active real-life learning and reflection. The paper presents ways in which active learning can be enhanced within the learning outcomes of a project-based paper. These methods can be adopted in educating engineering students of any discipline to better prepare them for their future careers.

Teaching for Deeper Understanding and Lifelong Learning

A growing body of research confirms that active approaches to learning offer many advantages over traditional instructional methods, including improved retention of information, conceptual understanding, and problem-solving skills. Content coverage in active-learning courses can be facilitated through careful selection and design of activities that guide student learning. Importantly, activities should engage groups of students in cooperative questioning, problem solving, analytical reasoning, and critical thinking. Focused instruction and reflection on thinking and learning help students develop as intentional learners.