Active Learning Institute Educause Solutions in Action “Reaching and Engaging Today's Learners” April 20, 2009 Barbara Knauff, Senior Instructional Technologist Academic Computing, Dartmouth College Our Next Speaker: Barbara Knauff Senior Instructional Designer, Academic Computing, Dartmouth College Active Learning Institute

Educause Solutions in Action “Reaching and Engaging Today's Learners” April 20, 2009 Barbara Knauff, Senior Instructional Technologist Academic Computing, Dartmouth College

Deeper Learning Principles Social Active Contextual Engaging Student-owned Carmean, Colleen and Jeremy Haefner. "Mind over Matter: Transforming Course Management Systems into Effective Learning Environments." Educause Review, Nov/Dec. 2002, pp

Nuts and bolts Active Learning Institute Application; specific and concrete $ 500 stipend 2 days, immersion Small cohort (12 participants) Just in time for fall term course prep Institute site in Blackboard

So what’s the problem? “… students do not always complete the readings, so sometimes come to class with no ideas and questions about new knowledge.”

So what’s the problem? “The issue with which I really struggle is that […] students seem to not want to think or take responsibility for their own learning.”

So what’s the problem? “… students […] want to be fed the ‘answers’ to the test questions.”

So what’s the problem? “Another problem that new technologies may address is the range of student competence […]”

Curriculum Based on challenges identified by participants Issue-driven Faculty facilitators Model best practices: activity, discussion, engagement, relevance, particpant-ownership

Outcomes “ALI is a phenomenal asset to this college. I not only learned valuable practical content, but I also find myself sharing these ideas with my colleagues in informal discussions. It's rare to have a two-day workshop have such a strong positive impact.”

Outcomes “All in all, the Institute ranks among my most productive professional education experiences.”

Outcomes “I do not think I could overstate how much the experience, authority, authenticity, intelligence, commitment, and enthusiasm of the facilitators and other participants defined my ALI experience. They helped me see how these techniques could be used and gave me the sense that it would be OK to try using them.”

Outcomes “I was pleasantly surprised with just how incredibly useful it was.”

Conclusion Contact: DCAL: