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Teach Talk

Active Learning, Part III
What Do the Students Think?

Donna M. Qualters

The last two Teach Talk columns have discussed "active learning" in the context both of the literature and its application at MIT. As you have already seen, active learning is fairly easy to implement and has proven to be beneficial in learning retention. But what do students think? Do they enjoy coming in and "engaging" with material, or would they rather sit quietly and take notes (and maybe sleep)? In Course 16 (Aeronautics and Astronautics) we decided to find out! Course 16 is piloting a new model which will provide the context for developing engineering education called CDIO (conceive – design – implement – operate) which is closely connected to the theory of active learning. In the fall of 1999, 113 students were surveyed from five pilot classes using active learning. We used a qualitative methodology, asking students to respond to the following four open-ended questions:

This kind of qualitative methodology is designed to describe different perspectives of the same event and facilitates an understanding of how individuals interpret their social context (Bogdan & Biklen, 1992, Galser and Stauss, 1967). Since the classroom can be viewed in a social context where there are potentially different perspectives of what occurs, applying qualitative methods to the data best allowed us to assess students' responses to active learning in the classroom.

Their candid replies were enlightening, dismaying, helpful, and hopeful at the same time. Four important ideas emerged from the analysis: (1) the students generally had a positive attitude toward active learning techniques, (2) these techniques were perceived to improve the learning environment, (3) these techniques were perceived to improve their learning, and (4) these techniques promoted thinking about how they learn and thus helped them to articulate their individual learning styles.

The negative perceptions centered on three areas: they reported concern about the in-class time these activities took, they feared they would not cover all the material in the course, and they were anxious about changes in classroom expectations.

Below are the students’ voices as they wrote about how they felt regarding the experience of active learning in their classes. In responding to the strengths and weaknesses of active learning, some students were overwhelmingly positive.

"Three words – real world experience! I cannot emphasize the value of learning through doing, and the CDIO experience capitalizes on every possible facet of this concept. The CDIO idea is very strong, very, very strong. I’ve learned to deal with many real-world problems and issues that are inconceivable in a traditional lecture/blackboard environment. This class has been the single most educational experience I’ve undergone at MIT. Furthermore, this class has been the most exciting class I’ve had at MIT."

"Very good. Stronger than other classes in the fact that it is hands-on experience which is very important. You can compare it to [this class in the past] and you get to do hands-on work and that makes this class better, you have integration of material."

"The in-class exercises and concept quizzes help a lot because they let me know how much I learned and the professor knows what we didn’t understand."

Others were more pragmatic about the activities.

"The active learning exercises are very helpful, forcing me to internalize concepts to such a degree that I am able to use them. It also helps break a kind of notetaking zombie mode and prevents me from falling asleep in class."

"The [new techniques] break up the monotony, changes the focus, which helps keep us awake, lets us see whether or not we’re processing information correctly and lets us have it explained differently by peers."

For some, active learning was a connecting technique. It helped connect and integrate the material in a more coherent fashion and allowed students to establish a personal connection with the faculty.

[Active learning] helps me see the relationship between what we’re doing [in class] and real life. It cements what we do."

"In-class exercises are good because you put the material into practice right away. I like the self-assessment because I feel a better relationship with the professors."

"The in-class exercises are helpful, I think. It gives a good indication of whether or not I’ve really understood the concepts."

"The strengths of these techniques are that they make the class interesting and it allows for a new way to absorb the materials for it allows the student to argue their point (and) in order to make a successful point, you have to have understood the material."

However, as in all changing environments, there was some resistance and concern about the new techniques. The biggest drawback from a student perspective was the time element. Many felt that doing these activities took away from class time. Some feared they would not cover all the subject matter in the syllabus. Interestingly, no one mentioned the amount of material they might retain would be different, only the amount covered.

"Fun and helps me learn but TOO TIME CONSUMING."

"Less material covered, less theory, less class time!"

There was also a degree of anxiety about some of the techniques like cold calling (calling on a student who does not have his/her hand raised) and reading quizzes.

"I don’t like cold calling. The lectures are fast enough that sometimes it’s hard to keep up at the simplest level, and then if you get called on it’s frustrating to have to try and answer a question."

Lastly, I guess it is a matter of perspective. After reading this student’s comment I was not sure if this was a positive or a negative….

"New techniques are sometimes stressful, you actually have to think actively in a class!"

In assessing if active learning improved their ability to learn the material, students were overwhelmingly positive.

As they described it, the new techniques led to active engagement with the material that gave instant feedback on knowledge and skills. This in turn allowed them to better assess their knowledge and skills which led to more efficient studying which allowed more effective learning.

"This is a good way to check my understanding of the material."

"Generally all students are confused about similar topics in the lecture. With the new techniques we can stop the progression before it’s too late to clean up the muddy parts!"

"Examples and working them in class are improving my ability to absorb and learn the material in class instead of taking notes and having to go over them in detail later (when I can’t ask questions). Stopping to work an example gives me time to ponder the material and formulate questions. Most of my time in the traditional method is spent copying the notes on the board."

For a few students though, it appears to be a matter of coping with change in the classroom or being flexible in their learning style. Some students felt these techniques did not match their learning style, or the different feel of the classroom made them uncomfortable.

"No (not enjoyable), but I think I’m being reluctant to change."

"I’m a big fan of blackboard use because it actually puts the student through the thinking process, rather than just putting up pages of equations on the overhead."

"No, they’re not helping. Usually even if I get lots of sleep, I simply don’t feel like actively participating in class because it requires too much effort."

Remembering that there are many dimensions to learning, we asked students a question about the affective domain and whether these techniques made learning more enjoyable. Most agreed that learning was either less boring, more enjoyable, or for some, actually fun! The students described a less pressured classroom atmosphere, and the enjoyment of learning and working with peers.

"Absolutely! While I sometimes fear being called on if I’m lost on a concept, [cold calling] keeps me alert. I also derive immense satisfaction and learning out of figuring out a problem in class and explaining it to my partner next to me."

"As I said, I enjoy the class a lot. Problem sets are actually fun and I feel less pressure in this class because we’re all working together."

"Yes, working with other students promotes a healthy social atmosphere in the classroom. Also being able to work on projects is a lot of fun. It makes the work seem more like play time since we are doing something we enjoy but still learning."

The surprisingly few negative responses in this category were around the anxiety of cold calling and reading quizzes. Even students who were ambivalent still had positive things to say.

"The method [active learning] makes it frustrating at times since you’re not sure where to go next, but ultimately the sense of accomplishment achieved is greater."

"Reading quizzes are a subject of dread, but other than that the added elements make the class more interesting."

"No, if anything class is less enjoyable. This may not be a bad thing, but these techniques do force us to pay closer attention which is not more enjoyable."

Lastly, there is literature that tells us that the more students know about how they learn the more effective learners they will be. We asked Course 16 students to reflect on what had occurred this semester, and to tell us how they learn and how these new methods relate to their learning style. Almost to the person, these students described themselves as concrete, hands-on learners. This is not surprising, as David Kolb has shown through his learning inventory, engineers are concrete/experiential learners. But the active learning techniques made students more aware of how they learn. This was best summarized by a student who told us:

"I best learn in an environment where I am asked to think for myself and come up with solutions. When I feel encouraged to think a lot and be creative and work the problems out, I learn far more than when I am asked to memorize solutions. I like how [with this method] we’re given credit if we come up with some weird idea and fail to succeed in the task. You really encourage us to think for ourselves in addition to remembering formulas and such."

The results would indicate that students feel that active learning has value to them not only in the cognitive domain (what they learn), but in the affective domain (how they feel about the learning environment) as well. Course 16 is cautiously optimistic about the success of these experiments.

The data also tells us there are a number of challenges ahead. First, we have to institute a more effective assessment system to document quantitatively, as well as qualitatively, that active learning actually increases learning. Second, this data makes us realize that we must help students in the process of change. Many students come with expectations of very passive classroom experiences, and that expectation needs to be changed by continually apprising students of what we are doing, and more importantly, why we are doing it. We need to let them know that learning is about more than "covering material" or "gathering facts"; learning is about integrating and using information in a meaningful way. As one student so eloquently put it: "They [active learning techniques] ask me to embrace the knowledge such that I can begin to work with it which makes me much more careful about understanding!"

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