Learning does not occur through hearing alone. Learners need to actively think about the ideas, processes, and skills they are learning to ensure they are understood, will be remembered, and can be applied. Even the largest courses can have active components during lectures that make it more likely the educators and students are both spending their class time in a way that makes a difference. A simple rule for this is the 10:2 ratio. It implies for every 10 minutes of lecture time a student needs 2-minutes of social processing to make sense of it.
Simple strategies
- Have students problem solve in pairs. This is most effective when the problem is authentic, like a case study or a common analytical task for the discipline. During this approach, students are practicing, getting feedback from each other, reflecting, and they are engaged in experiential learning.
- Have students turn and talk to each other about the implications of a new idea you introduced or why it matters. Strategies similar to think-pair-share are ideal for ensuring large classes can still be interactive.
- Use formative assessment strategies to check what your students understand or can apply right after you teach something important. This can be as simple as a multiple-choice question that all students answer using a tool like Poll Everywhere. USask also has other technologies that support active learning, including Canvas groups and discussion boards.
- Provide opportunities where students could receive feedback from their peers. Instructors don't have time to provide all that feedback in a large class - but feedback is helpful in both improving and remembering, and there are many other people in the room who can help. Giving feedback also refines our own understanding, so your students are learning when they give and receive feedback.
Advanced strategies
- Consider "flipping" your classroom so students watch your lectures as short videos, and practice together with you there to help and explain. See physics professor Eric Mazur's description and results.
- Respond to disengagement or poor attendance with regularly organized, short group work in your classes so students get used to problem solving and working together more often with their "minds-on". Using group work for learning instead of graded projects increases student learning and decreases their frustration with unfair grades for the whole group.
Did you know that USask is now routinely redesigning spaces to make them active when classrooms are refreshed?
Get Help
The Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching and Learning (GMCTL) offers one-to-one consultations, workshops, and a variety of services to enhance teaching and learning at USask. We can support colleges, departments, faculty, sessionals, graduate students, and teaching assistants.
If you are unsure who to connect with for support, email our team.