Principles Of Active Learning Research Articles

Socijalni oblik nastavnog rada – rad u skupinama

Članak afirmira nastavu u malim skupinama učenika kao organizacijski oblik ostvarivanja načela aktivnog učenja i konstrukcije znanja kroz suradnju učenika tijekom zajedničkog rada na zadatku. Skupnim radom postiže se individualizacija nastave kroz samoaktivnost učenika i njihov aktivni angažman na organizaciji rada, određivanju tijeka aktivnosti i načina rada. Tako se učenicima pruža mogućnost upravljanja vlastitim učenjem. Ovakvom nastavom postiže se i socijalizacija učenika koji kroz suradnju, komunikaciju, međusobnu interakciju jačaju osjećaj zajedništva. Učenici se senzibiliziraju za drugačije načine razmišljanja i djelovanja, sagledavaju problem iz više različitih perspektiva. Kroz nastavni rad u skupinama uče kako pravilno rješavati nesuglasice te se pripremaju na zajedničko donošenje odluka.Radom u skupinama ostvaruju se načela aktivnog učenja. Problemskim pristupom nastavnim sadržajima jača se kritičko i divergentno mišljenje, postiže se viša kvaliteta usvojenosti sadržaja i trajnije zadržavanje stečenih znanja. Učenici su pritom motivirani za rad i aktivnost u učenju. Aktivnost i suradnja doprinose združenoj konstrukciji znanja i procesu otkrivanja, što dovodi do organiziranja i usklađivanja znanja i u konačnici do širenja znanja.Zbog svih navedenih pozitivnih efekata ovakva bi vrsta organizacije nastavne prakse trebala biti češće zastupljena u obrazovanju. Kroz članak se naglašava zahtjev proširivanja tradicionalnih nastavničkih kompetencija novima. Nastavnik treba stvoriti jasnu predodžbu alternativnih obrazaca ponašanja i treba vjerovati da ih može efikasno implementirati u svojoj nastavnoj praksi, kako bi se postigli višestruki pozitivni učinci nastave organizirane kroz rad u skupinama učenika.

Design Study Course Units "Action-oriented" Teaching

Action-oriented, practice-oriented and also is educational theory in a new concept. Action refers to goal-oriented teaching activities, both participants in the teaching process of subjective awareness initiatives, but also the objective of the operation action. This article outlines the basic principles of action learning, basic characteristics, theoretical foundation, which made the process of action-oriented the basic requirements, based on the action-oriented Design Course unit teaching and common problems.

Advancing health care quality and safety through action learning

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to demonstrate how action learning can be practically applied to quality and safety challenges at a large academic medical health system and become fundamentally integrated with an institution’s broader approach to quality and safety.Design/methodology/approachThe authors describe how the fundamental principles of action learning have been applied to advancing quality and safety in health care at a large academic medical institution. The authors provide an academic contextualization of action learning in health care and then transition to how this concept can be practically applied to quality and safety by providing detailing examples at the unit, cross-functional and executive levels.FindingsThe authors describe three unique approaches to applying action learning in the comprehensive unit-based safety program, clinical communities and the quality management infrastructure. These examples, individually, provide discrete ways to integrate action learning in the advancement of quality and safety. However, more importantly when combined, they represent how action learning can form the basis of a learning health system around quality and safety.Originality/valueThis study represents the broadest description of action learning applied to the quality and safety literature in health care and provides detailed examples of its use in a real-world context.

Problem-Centered Supplemental Instruction in Biology: Influence on Content Recall, Content Understanding, and Problem Solving Ability

To address the need for effective, efficient ways to apply active learning in undergraduate biology courses, in this paper, we propose a problem-centered approach that utilizes supplemental web-based instructional materials based on principles of active learning. We compared two supplementary web-based modules using active learning strategies: the first used Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction as a framework for organizing multiple active learning strategies; the second used a traditional web-based approach. Results indicated that (a) the First Principles group gained significantly from pretest to posttest at the Remember level (t(40) = −1.432, p = 0.08, ES = 0.4) and at the Problem Solving level (U = 142.5, N1 = 21, N2 = 21, p = .02, ES = 0.7) and (b) the Traditional group gained significantly from pretest to posttest at the Remember level (t(36) = 1.762, p = 0.043, ES = 0.6). Those in the First Principles group were significantly more likely than the traditional group to be confident in their ability to solve problems in the future (χ2 (2, N = 40) = 3.585, p = 0.09).

Interactive Journal Club: Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks.

The interactive journal club incorporates basic principles of active and adult learning in a traditional education tool to maximize opportunity to develop critical thinking, communication skills, active reflection, and personal confidence in these skills. Following the choice of an appropriate article, the Designated Leader (DL) directs the discussion by presenting the title and data from the article with instructions for their analysis but without the author’s text. The participants, except the DL, are viewing the article for the first time and are prompted in their review of the raw data to provide their own interpretation, discovery, and critique. Participants are challenged to become more adept at study design, data analysis, and presentation and have indicated by informal verbal feedback that they look forward to the interactive journal club as it is enjoyable, relevant, and beneficial. Implementation of the interactive journal club does not require significant training in the approach or extensive revision or preparation of course materials.

Student evaluation of a didactic-oriented teaching model in preclinical endodontics

Background: Current millennial-generation dental students have learning preferences which differ from students of the past. Today's dental students strongly embrace cutting edge technologies, and respond well to a pre-clinical educational curriculum which embraces Evidence-Based Dentistry. Aim: Using the elements of Chickering and Gamson's Seven Principles of Good Practice in Higher Education, this study examined the effectiveness of a contemporary teaching model which differs from the traditional passive “teaching and instruction” approach. Materials and Methods: The Institutional Review Board approved this study. Students from the combined classes of 2012 and 2013 (180 of 191) completed a 25 question survey to evaluate the effectiveness of a teaching model in Pre-clinical Endodontics. Survey questions assessed relevance of class materials, professionalism, and motivation, as well as all facets of the Teaching Model. Scoring employed a three point Likert scale: Excellent (3); Good (2); and, Poor (1). Descriptive statistics were used to determine students' perceived understanding of the course. The comparison between students' mean responses in the sophomore class of spring 2012 and the class of spring 2013 was conducted using a two sample independent t-test to test for differences in mean scores among the two groups. The survey instrument used in this class assessed encouragement of contact between students and faculty (Principle 1); development of reciprocity and cooperation among students (Principle 2); encouragement of active learning (Principle 3); prompt feedback (Principle 4); emphasis of time on task (Principle 5); communicating high expectations (Principle 6); and respecting diverse talents and ways of learning (Principle 7). Results: This paper highlights a newly designed Teaching Effectiveness Model to teach pre-clinical Endodontics to sophomore dental students. Statistical analysis of Likert scale data demonstrated a relationship between the Seven Principles and the Teaching Effectiveness Model. Conclusion: The effectiveness of this teaching model was confirmed by the high pass rate scores (98, 100%) in 2012 AND 2013 classes on the endodontic section of both the written National Board of Dental Examiners and the endodontic section of the clinical state and regional board licensing exams.

A unified framework of active transfer learning for cross-system recommendation

In the past decade, artificial intelligence (AI) techniques have been successfully applied to recommender systems employed in many e-commerce companies, such as Amazon, eBay, Netflix, etc., which aim to provide personalized recommendations on products or services. Among various AI-based recommendation techniques, collaborative filtering has proven to be one of the most promising methods. However, most collaborative-filtering-based recommender systems, especially the newly launched ones, have trouble making accurate recommendations for users. This is caused by the data sparsity issue in recommender systems, where little existing rating information is available. To address this issue, one of the most effective practices is applying transfer learning techniques by leveraging relatively rich collaborative data knowledge from related systems, which have been well running. Previous transfer learning models for recommender systems often assume that a sufficient set of entity correspondences (either user or item) across the target and auxiliary systems (a.k.a. source systems) is given in advance. This assumption does not hold in many real-world scenarios where entity correspondences across systems are usually unknown, and the cost of identifying them can be expensive. In this paper, we propose a new transfer learning framework for recommender systems, which relaxes the above assumption to facilitate flexible knowledge transfer across different systems with low cost by using an active learning principle to construct entity correspondences across systems. Specifically, for the purpose of maximizing knowledge transfer, we first iteratively select entities in the target system based on some criterion to query their correspondences in the source system. We then plug the actively constructed entity correspondences into a general transferred collaborative-filtering model to improve recommendation quality. Based on the framework, we propose three solutions by specifying three state-of-the-art collaborative filtering methods, namely Maximum-Margin Matrix Factorization, Regularized Low-rank Matrix Factorization, and Probabilistic Matrix Factorization. We perform extensive experiments on two real-world datasets to verify the effectiveness of our proposed framework and the three specified solutions for cross-system recommendation.

Using Online Active-Learning Techniques to Convey Time Compensated Sun Compass Orientation in the Eastern North American Monarch.

A common tool that animals use to navigate in a constant direction is known as “time compensated sun compass orientation.” This is a process by which animals use the position of the sun along with information from their internal circadian clocks to determine and maintain a directional heading. Many circadian scientists and educators use this process as an example of how the internal circadian clock can directly influence animal behavior. However, many students have difficulty grasping this biological process due to its multivariable nature. We have created an online module that uses the principles of active learning to facilitate student comprehension of this process. Our module contains instructional videos, practice problems and an interactive diagram. We implemented the module in an undergraduate biological clocks class at Vanderbilt University, where its use significantly improved students’ understanding of time compensated sun compass orientation as well as their ability to solve complex problems involving principles associated with this process.

Teaching Genetics: Past, Present, and Future.

Genetics teaching at the undergraduate level has changed in many ways over the past century. Compared to those of 100 years ago, contemporary genetics courses are broader in content and are taught increasingly differently, using instructional techniques based on educational research and constructed around the principles of active learning and backward design. Future courses can benefit from wider adoption of these approaches, more emphasis on the practice of genetics as a science, and new methods of assessing student learning.

Exploring medical student learning in the large group teaching environment: examining current practice to inform curricular development.

BackgroundLectures continue to be an efficient and standardised way to deliver information to large groups of students. It has been well documented that students prefer interactive lectures, based on active learning principles, to didactic teaching in the large group setting. Despite this, it is often the case than many students do not engage with active learning tasks and attempts at interaction. By exploring student experiences, expectations and how they use lectures in their learning we will provide recommendations for faculty to support student learning both in the lecture theatre and during personal study time.MethodsThis research employed a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Three focus groups, consisting of 19 students in total, were used to explore the experiences of second year medical students in large group teaching sessions. Using generic thematic data analysis, these accounts have been developed into a meaningful account of experience.ResultsThis study found there to be a well-established learning culture amongst students and with it, expectations as to the format of teaching sessions. Furthermore, there were set perceptions about the student role within the learning environment which had many implications, including the way that innovative teaching methods were received. Student learning was perceived to take place outside the lecture theatre, with a large emphasis placed on creating resources that can be taken away to use in personal study time.ConclusionsPresented here is a constructive review of reasons for student participation, interaction and engagement in large group teaching sessions. Based on this are recommendations constructed with the view to aid educators in engaging students within this setting. Short term, educators can implement strategies that monopolise on the established learning culture of students to encourage engagement with active learning strategies. Long term, it would be beneficial for educators to consider ways to shift the current student learning culture to one that embraces an active learning curriculum.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12909-016-0698-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

An Educational System for Learning Search Algorithms and Automatically Assessing Student Performance

In this paper, first we present an educational system that assists students in learning and tutors in teaching search algorithms, an artificial intelligence topic. Learning is achieved through a wide range of learning activities. Algorithm visualizations demonstrate the operational functionality of algorithms according to the principles of active learning. So, a visualization process can stop and request from a student to specify the next step or explain the way that a decision was made by the algorithm. Similarly, interactive exercises assist students in learning to apply algorithms in a step-by-step interactive way. Students can apply an algorithm to an example case, specifying the algorithm’s steps interactively, with the system’s guidance and help, when necessary. Next, we present assessment approaches integrated in the system that aim to assist tutors in assessing the performance of students, reduce their marking task workload and provide immediate and meaningful feedback to students. Automatic assessment is achieved in four stages, which constitute a general assessment framework. First, the system calculates the similarity between the student’s and the correct answer using the edit distance metric. In the next stage, it identifies the type of the answer, based on an introduced answer categorization scheme related to completeness and accuracy of an answer, taking into account student carelessness too. Afterwards, the types of errors are identified, based on an introduced error categorization scheme. Finally, answer is automatically marked via an automated marker, based on its type, the edit distance and the type of errors made. To assess the learning effectiveness of the system an extended evaluation study was conducted in real class conditions. The experiment showed very encouraging results. Furthermore, to evaluate the performance of the assessment system, we compared the assessment mechanism against expert (human) tutors. A total of 400 students’ answers were assessed by three tutors and the results showed a very good agreement between the automatic assessment system and the tutors.

Ten Tips for Engaging the Millennial Learner and Moving an Emergency Medicine Residency Curriculum into the 21st Century.

IntroductionMillennial learners are changing the face of residency education because they place emphasis on technology with new styles and means of learning. While research on the most effective way to teach the millennial learner is lacking, programs should consider incorporating educational theories and multimedia design principles to update the curriculum for these new learners. The purpose of the study is to discuss strategies for updating an emergency medicine (EM) residency program’s curriculum to accommodate the modern learner.DiscussionThese 10 tips provide detailed examples and approaches to incorporate technology and learning theories into an EM curriculum to potentially enhance learning and engagement by residents.ConclusionWhile it is unclear whether technologies actually promote or enhance learning, millennials use these technologies. Identifying best practice, grounded by theory and active learning principles, may help learners receive quality, high-yield education. Future studies will need to evaluate the efficacy of these techniques to fully delineate best practices.

Learning Strategies in Enterprises: empirical findings, implications and perspectives for the immediate future

The article examines learning strategies at the enterprise level, conceptualising them into three main dimensions: learning systems and incentives, connecting to the affective dimension of learning which behavioural learning addresses effectively; skills’ development, chiefly addressing the cognitive dimension of learning to which cognitive and action learning principles can be applied; and, work design and the organisation of work, which attend to the structural dimension of learning and socio‐cultural approaches. Through this conceptual understanding, we empirically explored the learning strategies of 194 enterprises, searching for the most pressing needs and commitments to learning. Our results show that enterprises struggle to find the optimal balance between the use of systematic and ad‐hoc arrangements of learning systems and incentives, yet they must emphasise intrinsic needs as a key business strategy, systematise certain aspects of HR, whilst minimising the negative effects of status distinction, hierarchy and bureaucracy. They must also address the pervasive effects of stress and burnouts. Most especially, enterprises must address the gap between the high valuation of soft skills and the low investment in developing them. Methods equipping enterprises with clear calculations for return on investment in soft skills' training are needed. These issues can be effectively addressed by strengthening networks and communities of practice, fostering greater awareness of public funds and public‐sponsored opportunities, investing in public‐private research and backing the greater recognition of on‐the‐job learning.

Authentic leadership and mindfulness development through action learning

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to evaluate a three-year training program based on action learning principles with regard to its effectiveness in fostering authentic leadership (AL) and mindfulness among the participants.Design/methodology/approach– Data were obtained using a mixed-method design. Quantitative data were collected using a quasi-experimental sequential cohort design with comparison group, in which 143 participants responded to a self-evaluation questionnaire up to six times over a three-year period. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with 24 managers.Findings– The results indicate that, as participants evolved through the leadership development program, self-reports of AL and mindfulness increased significantly and linearly as determined using repeated measures ANOVA, pairedt-tests, and content analysis of interviews.Practical implications– The results suggest that a leadership development program based on action learning principles can foster the development of AL and mindfulness. The core elements of action learning (i.e. working on real problems, gaining new insights in a supportive and confrontational environment of one’s peer) appear to be key to bringing about real changes in the behavior of participating managers and maximizing the chances of generating lasting effects.Originality/value– This is the first longitudinal study to demonstrate that the development of mindfulness and AL – which calls for internalization of attitudes and behaviors – can be fostered by a leadership development program. The question of whether AL can be developed through planned interventions is paramount for advancing theory and research on AL.

Responding to the needs of people with learning disabilities who have been raped: co-production in action

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to discuss a project that explored why mainstream rape support services are still failing to meet the needs of women with learning disabilities. Principles of co-production and action learning enabled a group of women, including women with learning disabilities, to share knowledge and skills and develop easy-read information leaflets.Design/methodology/approach– The project included representatives from a university, a third sector organisation and a rape crisis centre. Action learning methods were used to bring together a broad range of experience and expertise. The project was co-led by a woman with a learning disability and a lecturer in social work with people with learning disabilities.Findings– Three organisations had been toiling with a similar issue, that of responses to women with learning disabilities who had been raped. All had previously examined the problem from their own perspectives. An action learning process enabled them to explore the issues from a range of experiences, sharing knowledge and expertise and enabling them to begin to develop better service responses. While co-production may highlight competing priorities in and between organisations, it can also provide the means of managing these tensions.Social implications– The project demonstrated the importance of co-production. Working together led to a shared understanding of the barriers experienced by women with learning disabilities who experience rape and of the challenges faced by workers who aim to support them. This shared understanding enabled the action learning set to develop bespoke training and literature.Originality/value– The project demonstrates the importance of working with people with learning disabilities in order to develop services that truly meet their needs.

Developing and implementing ‘meta-supervision’ for mental health nursing staff supervisees: opportunities and challenges

AbstractThis paper reports from a study of an intervention aimed at strengthening mental health nursing staff supervision. We developed and tested a short-term group-based meta-supervision intervention as a supplement to usual supervision. The intervention drew on action learning principles to activate and inspire supervisees to develop strategies for influencing their own supervision practices. The core ‘meta-supervisory’ process was organized round participants’ reflections on the possible benefits of supervision, their perceived barriers to realizing the benefits, and the articulation of concrete actions to overcome the barriers. In this paper, we introduce previously reported findings from the study and present two novel supplementary analyses of data from the meta-supervision process. First, we analyse a transcript of an audio recording made during the intervention, which illustrates how supervisees generate empowering psychosocial resources through the group processes. Second, we analyse supervisees’ paraphrased accounts of barriers to effective supervision and their accounts of personal projects to overcome the barriers. Barriers ‘outside’ the supervision setting primarily inspired projects aimed at creating structural change, whereas barriers ‘inside’ the supervision setting inspired projects aimed at creating individual change. The meta-supervision intervention was effective in increasing participation in supervision, but it shared the same problems of resistance and reluctance as often observed in supervision in general. In the discussion, we compare our ‘bottom-up’ approach to activating supervisees and implementing supervision practices with ‘top-down’ approaches. The meta-supervision intervention illustrated the importance of engaging supervisees in their own supervision and suggested how it can have both individual and organizational benefits.

Flipping the Classroom and the Pedagogy: Using Active Learning Principles to Bring Leadership Training in Affirmative Sexuality to Public Health Education.

Flipping the Classroom and the Pedagogy: Using Active Learning Principles to Bring Leadership Training in Affirmative Sexuality to Public Health Education.

A Biofunctional Perspective on Learning Environments.

This paper proposes that the principles of learning, as highlighted by Bransford and colleagues, require biological grounding. This process essentially amounts to the facilitation of, and development of, an enriched capacity for ongoing biofunctional activity (OBA)—physical biology in action. The learning sciences’ principles of active learning, i.e., accessing prior understanding, organizing knowledge through schemas, and self-monitoring are psychological-understanding vehicles that work only in the ground of biofunctional (deep) understanding. Biofunctional understanding is a form of understanding that rises out of OBA. In this sense, biofunctional understanding juxtaposes and inherently complements psychological understanding. Without biofunctional understanding, psychological understanding becomes synonymous with superficial understanding. By contrast, in the illuminating context of biofunctional understanding, psychological understanding enables accomplishments of the kind enjoyed by experts in the rich and deep, metaphorically speaking, experiences of their respective fields of specialization. In this perspective article, I show how and why the psychological principles of active learning are ready for grounding in biofunctional understanding.

Sequential active learning using meta-cognitive extreme learning machine

This paper proposes a fast and effective sequential active learning method using meta-cognitive extreme learning machine (SEAL-ELM). The proposed algorithm consists of two components, namely the cognitive component and the meta-cognitive component. The cognitive component is an online sequential extreme learning machine while the meta-cognitive component controls the learning process of the cognitive component using a self-regulating mechanism to decide what to learn, when to learn and how to learn the arriving samples. Active learning is employed to select different strategies, namely sample deletion, sample reserve and sample learning strategy to determine whether the data will be deleted directly, reserved for later use or used immediately. This is the first time the similarity of meta-cognitive machine learning and active learning is exploited. The meta-cognition mechanism and active learning principle are utilized to reduce the labeling efforts and costs. The use of ELM greatly reduces the computation complexity of the learning process. The new algorithm is evaluated on a set of real-world benchmark classification problems. Simulation results demonstrate the usefulness and effectiveness of sequential active learning and show that the SEAL-ELM can achieve similar or better learning accuracy with a much faster learning speed compared with the state-of-the-arts algorithms.

Getting Started With Debriefing for Meaningful Learning

Debriefing for Meaningful Learning© (DML) is a method of debriefing that can be used in simulation environments and other clinical settings to foster student's reflective thinking and learning. It has been used successfully with prelicensure nursing students, graduate nursing students, and interdisciplinary health care students throughout the nursing curriculum with positive learning outcomes. This method can be challenging to learn because it uses Socratic questioning and principles of active learning to uncover thinking associated with actions, but once learned, DML can be a model for reflective thinking that students can use to develop clinical reasoning and become reflective practitioners. Moreover, DML challenges taken-for-granted assumptions in an iterative yet consistent process of group dialog that students can use long into their practice. This article describes how faculty can get started using DML and demonstrates the iterative process of the method with examples from simulation debriefing.