Active learning techniques

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In the image, this tutor is 'feeding' information into the students brains. How well do you think these students did in their end of term test?

The picture is an exaggeration I hope, but you have probably been in lessons where you are just expected to absorb the information.  This is called passive learning and it is not very effective.





In most of the sessions that you take part in at college you will be asked to 'do' something, i.e. actively learn. So,

• what exactly is active learning and how does it help you?  
• what are the strategies that teachers use for active learning?
• what  strategies can you use to develop your own active learning skills?

Active learning

Active learning is any learning activity where you doing something yourself which helps you to understand the learning outcomes of the session.  When active methods are compared with traditional methods they produce an improvement of up to a grade and a half.  In GCSE terms that would be a C grade to a good B, or possibly an A grade.  (Hattie, 2008) (Petty, 2009)

Teaching Strategies - what do teachers do?

Tutors will use a variety of active learning methods to help you understand the session topic.  Here are some of the most common strategies used.

Asking questions
Some students think that tutors ask questions to 'test' them, pick on them, or check if they are paying attention.  However, the main reason for asking questions is to get you to think about [actively learn] the topic. It doesn't necessarily matter if you can't answer or can only get the answer partly correct when you are asked a question for the first time.  What matters most is that you are trying to make sense of the topic.

Group discussions
Discussing a topic in groups helps you process the information with other learners.  You may be able to help others in your group by explaining a point they don't understand - that will also help your learning. You will also be able to get used to using any new vocabulary that has been introduced.

'Doing' activities


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Wikipe-tanCrazy.gif

Any practical activity that your teacher sets will help your learning.  This can be anything from completing practical exercises, making a poster, to producing a video.  All these activities will help to give you a deeper understanding of the topic.

These are just some examples of strategies a teacher will use to help you gain a better understanding of the topic.  As long as you are doing anything other than listening, that is active learning which will improve your achievement.

Learning strategies - what can you do?

http://www.teachit.so/activelearning.htm

 

If you look at this diagram it seems like reading is not very effective - you are only likely to remember 10% of what you have read!  So does this mean that there is no point in reading anything?

If you look at the chart again you can see that reading is effective if you turn it into an active learning activity. 'Doing' something while you are reading, could increase your ability to remember the information by up to 90%.

Sometimes sessions are naturally tutor led. For example, you might be asked to read something from a text book, listen to the tutor giving you information, or you might be asked to watch a video.  These are all passive learning activities which you need to switch to active learning.  Here are some tips: 

Do

• Write down at least 3 questions you can ask about what you have read, or after the lecture/video has finished 
• Translate the information into your own words and summarise.
• Organise your notes in some form (it could be as a mind map, a flowchart, diagrams or lists)
• Review your notes while the text or lecture is still fresh in your memory. Fill in any gaps you see and
• Write a blog post to reflect on the activity.
• Click here for some more note making ideas for before, during and after a class activity.

take the information and make it yours

Don’t

• Don’t try to write every word – select the major points and important information
• Don’t write complete sentences, streamline with abbreviations and symbols, organise – leave out the small connecting words (such as was, the, this).

Are you an active learner?

Click on the image below to take a quiz to find out if you are an active or a passive learner.  When you have completed the quiz you will be given some active learning tips.

http://www.wvu.edu/~wellux/activepassive/activepassive.html

 

References

Faculty of Humanities, University of Manchester. (2015). Reflective Learning. Available: http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/studyskills/essentials/reflective_learning/reflective_learning.html.

Hattie, J.  (2008), Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta- Analyses Relating to Achievement, London, Routledge  http://visible-learning.org/hattie-ranking-influences-effect-sizes-learning-achievement/hattie-ranking-teaching-effects/

Petty, G.  (2009), Teaching Today - a Practical Guide, Cheltenham, Nelson Thomas. http://geoffpetty.com/for-teachers/active-learning/

Create labels to categorise your posts

Blogs always show posts chronologically, so to be able to find posts easily again you will need to categorise each post.  Most blogging and web platforms call these categories '[hash] tags' but confusingly, Blogger calls them labels.  Never mind, categories or tags or labels - its all the same thing.

The easiest way to create a label is to click on New Post.  On the right hand side you will see the labels link:

After you have created the labels, add a gadget to your blog to show them in a list or a cloud.  Then when you want to see all the posts for a particular subject or topic area you will be able to click on the relevant label.

Learning Outcome

By completing this activity you:

• used digital skills [content curation]
• used independent learning skills to display a gadget on your blog.

Create your blog

You will be using Blogger to create your blog.  The main purpose of your blog is to be a learning journal for the AAT Study Skills unit, but you also might want to use it for your own personal use, either now or later.   It is yours for ever so think carefully about what you are going to call the blog, then go to blogger.com and create it!

You can follow the instructions in this link which are from the Blogger Help Centre.  You can get to these instructions again at any time by scrolling down to the bottom of the main dashboard page.
Tip: When you are following instructions on screen it can be easier to have the instructions open on one side of your screen, and the document you are working on open on the other side.
To snap the current window to the left side of the desktop press the Windows logo key and the Left Arrow.  Then open another Internet Explorer and snap it to the right side by pressing the Windows logo key +Right Arrow.

This video also shows you how to set up a blog from scratch.  It is 15 minutes long so you may want to come back to it later to look at some of the extra features. 

At this stage don't worry too much about the layout of the blog - you can make any changes to personalise it later.

Learning Outcomes

By completing this activity you:

• were actively learning
• used problem solving skills
• used a range of digital skills