Faculty Perceptions about Barriers to Active Learning Joel Michael Analysis and Critique

Traditional Teacher’s Role Teacher in front of class Writes on blackboard Students write Emphasizes rote memorization Memorize facts Students do not talk

Active Learning From Paper “Active learning involves building, testing, and repairing one’s mental model of what is being learned” What does this mean?

Active Learning Teacher interacts more with students Get students involved in learning process Ask questions Class discussion on material Emphasizes how to use knowledge Use vivid examples Students more likely to remember Students tend to forget a lot of rote memorization!

Active Learning The author assumes this is a better teaching style Is it better? How would you measure this? Tests may reflect the teacher’s style

Active Learning Education is moving in this direction in U.S. May be good for many business and introductory courses Courses with advance math This teaching style may be harder to apply I usually spent a week trying to understand advance mathematics

Active Learning Some courses require rote memorization History Times, Names, Events, etc. Political Science Structure of Gov., Leaders, etc. Higher level history and political science courses could use more active learning Students need a foundation of basic knowledge

Active Learning Word used often is facilitated Teacher facilitates learning Used in University of Phoenix

Barriers to Active Learning Author lists many barriers to this teaching style Student Barriers Faculty Barriers Pedagogical Barriers I critiqued some of them

Barriers to Active Learning Students Students do not know how Students do not know how to prepare for lectures Students will not do it Student heterogeneity Heterogeneity means students have different ethnic and social backgrounds How? Possible richer discussions

Barriers to Active Learning Students Reason for barrier Students are used to traditional style of teaching since school Rote memorization dominates education in U.S. Grades 1 – 12

Barriers to Active Learning Faculty Requires more preparation time Teacher has less control of classroom Colleagues do not use this method

Barriers to Active Learning Faculty Poor student evaluations From experience Evaluations tend to correlate with the grades Better grades leads to better evaluations

Barriers to Active Learning Faculty “Lack of teacher maturity” Have no idea Usually teacher is more mature than students Faculty reward structure Teachers usually have fixed salaries Could be bonus for good test scores Teachers do not know how to do it

Barriers to Active Learning Pedagogical Issues Pedagogical – teaching Classrooms do not lend to this style Classrooms are inanimate Takes too much time and content suffers Student assessment is more difficult Give same tests Class size

Barriers to Active Learning Pedagogical Issues Difficult to predict outcomes Difficult to ensure “quality control” Each class, students learn the same material

Barriers to Active Learning Pedagogical Issues Not enough resources Teachers always complain about this Standard class times A class is 50 minutes

Criticism Do you have any complaints about article? Is it a good article?

Criticism Author never defines active learning! He gave some vague definition Psychologists are very good at doing this! Along with economists, etc.

Criticisms Valid Criticisms Students are used to traditional style Faculty are used to traditional style As a person gets older, the less likely they can change Some faculty do not like questions Students may ask a question that the professor does not know

Criticisms “Quality Control” Some criticisms are ludicrous! Dynamics of classroom could change with different students I had classes that were fun and some classes I did not like Valid criticism Some criticisms are ludicrous!

Criticisms More preparation time Classroom size In the beginning, teachers may need more time to prepare As they get used to it, it becomes easier Learning Curve Classroom size Bigger the classroom, the more difficult Also true for rote memorization

Criticisms If active learning works, then use it. It also depends on instructor’s personality

Barriers to Active Learning Faculty Teachers may not implement active learning U.S. Federal and states gov.s are passing laws Many students are behind Many U.S. schools are weak Laws make the teacher responsible for students’ scores on national tests National tests Determine how well student’s scored compared to the national average

Barriers to Active Learning Faculty I do not like this Forces teachers to emphasize test scores Teacher has to focus on material for national exam I do not think it is the teacher’s fault! Thus, teachers are not likely to switch to active learning Teachers are not likely to experiment with new method School is more worried about test scores.

References Michael, Joel. 2007. “Faculty Perceptions about Barriers to Active Learning.” College Teaching 55(2): 42-7.