Modified Lecture
Implementing Active Learning does not need to be an all or nothing endeavor. Foundational Active Learning researchers
recognized the benefits of lecture with its: (a) ability to reach large audiences,
(b) effectiveness for students who prefer to learn by listening; and (c) importance
in modeling scholarship and sharing of the faculty member's original research (Bonwell
& Eison, 1991).
While lecture does have benefits, "research suggests that the exclusive use of the
lecture in the classroom constrains students' learning" (Bonwell & Eison, 1991).
Fortunately, simple modifications to the lecture structure can increase opportunities
for students' to engage in active learning.
Strategies for Bringing Active Learning Into Lecture
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The APA dictionary of psychology definition of chunking explains how the mind is able to organize information into different 'chunks'. The
process of entering information into memory is supported by the ability to organize
and classify information.
Organizing information into discrete segments can increase student attention, facilitate
information processing, and give students opportunities to encode information into
short-term memory. Organizing lecture content can decrease the cognitive load on
the working memory and support student learning.
Resource
Video: Chunking an online lecture to accomodate cognitive load and active learning.
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One of the easiest strategies for implementing active learning within a lecture is
to simply plan brief pauses throughout the lecture to allow students time to process
chunks of information.
Acftivities to Try:
- Consolidation of notes
- Responding to a reflective question
- Partner-Pair-Share
- Polling or quick question
- List 3 things to remember
- One thing I still want to know
- Compare & Contrast
- Self-assessment
Small Teaching Strategy (Lang, 2021)
Pause-Predict-Ponder (p. 24)
In this strategy, pauses occur throughout lecture prior to another chunk of material
being introduced. Students make predictions about upcoming content, explain why they
made their predictions, and evaluate the accuracy of their predictions after receiving
instruction.
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Guided notes are teacher-provided hand-outs with a framework of the lecture with missing
pieces. They are given out prior to the lecture and students record information.
The organizer can provide onceptual context for details entered by students throughout
the lecture and can facilitate connections of new information to larger concepts through
the framing of the material.
Small Teaching Strategy (Lang, 2021)
Provide the Framework (p. 101)
"Help your students make sense of course lectures by providing with the framework
at the outset" (p. 101).
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Early active learning researchers recognized quizzing students as a way to "involve
students in doing something and getting them to think about what they are doing" (Bonswell
& Eison, 1991).
The use of assessment as learning within the classroom has become more understood, and including formative assessment within a lecture involves students in their own learning and provides feedback for
both instructor and students.
Small Teaching Strategies (Lang, 2021)
Jim Lang (2021) discusses using quizzes/tests within a lecture as assessment for/as
learning. Two "Small Teaching" strategies where tests/quizzes can be added to a lecture
to increase active learning include predicting activities and retrieval practice.
Predicting Activities
Predicting activities are a way to activate prior knowledge. They can be used prior
to introducing any chunk of content.
"Ask students (individually and collectively) to tell you everything they know think
they know about the subject" (Lang, 2021, p. 29) prior to teaching.
- Pre-Testing
- Polling w/reflection/discussion
"Generating a prediction, detecting one's own error, and correcting oneself are the
very foundation of effective learning" ((Dehaene, 2020, p. 209, in Lang, 2021).
Retrieval Practice
Providing students opportunities to extract information they have already learned
from their memory.
Quizzes and tests are opportunities for students to challenge themselves as they do
the work of remembering.
- Formative Assessments
- Review Activities
- Practice
- Application
- Questioning
"The more students practice retrieval, the better they learn" (Lang, 2021, p. 59).
