- What does active learning look like in your course? Will students be examining case studies, solving problems, analyzing data, writing, or presenting in class?
- In what ways do the activities resemble the scholarly work of the discipline?
- Will students engage with each other in small groups or work independently to complete these activities?
- What are the advantages of using active learning to accomplish the goals of the course, compared with more traditional passive learning methods?
- How will the skills that are built during active learning help students perform well on the graded assessments such as homework, quizzes, or exams?
22Feb’22
What is the Value of Describing Active Learning in Your Syllabus?
Evidence shows that active learning, in which students spend at least some time in class practicing the type of work they will be expected to do in exams and papers, improves student learning. However, many students aren't sure what they should do in active learning classes or even why they are being asked to learn in this way.
Active learning classes, sometimes referred to as SAIL classes, can be most effective when instructors explain in advance what will happen and why.
Questions to Consider
Policy Examples from Penn Professors
CHEM 2220: Physical Chemistry II, Undergraduate Lecture
This class will be different from some other lecture-based courses you may have taken in the past. The majority of class time will be devoted to in-class worksheets, discussions, and Q&A with short lectures at the end of class. Students will work on worksheet problems in groups of 4-5 that are assigned by the professor and the TA. These groups can be shuffled before the first exam but will remain the same for the rest of the class. Class time will be focused on learning the concepts, deriving important relationships, and putting these concepts together as a group with the help of the instructor and TAs. Short lectures and short quizzes will follow towards the end of the class. This type of course organization is sometimes known as the "Active Classroom.” Research shows that active classrooms enhance learning, in particular for math heavy classes such as CHEM 2220.
LING 0600: Introduction to Sociolinguistics, Undergraduate Lecture
This course is a SAIL course, which stands for Structured Active In-class Learning. Instead of only listening to lectures and taking tests, you will have opportunities to learn by engaging in the same kinds of activities that working sociolinguists do every day: reading papers, discussing case studies, collecting and analyzing data, and writing reports about what you have learned. And just like a working sociolinguist, you will do a lot of these activities collaboratively with others.
MATH 1400: Calculus, Part I, Undergraduate Lecture
The guiding principles of instruction in this course are built around the National Research Council report "How People Learn." The report draws on cognitive and behavioral science research to identify markers of effective learning environments:
- Focus on Learners. The center of activity in this classroom will usually be at your table with other members of your assigned group. The purpose of group activity is to wrestle with new ideas, balanced on the edge of "just manageable difficulty," together with the help of your peers. At all times, you have the right to expect clear and organized information about course content and expectations. This includes direct and transparent identification of the skills you will gain, how those skills will be used, and the standards by which your skills will be assessed. The professor and the TA(s) will always be there to provide guidance and support but are far from the center of attention. It is critical that students in this course adopt a growth mindset towards the course.
- Focus on Knowledge with Understanding. Activities are designed to balance routine practice with deeper exploration to illuminate the fundamental principles that underlie the body of facts in this course. Research shows that developing your own personal perspective to organize facts around these underlying principles is a key part of growing along the spectrum of expertise. You must always expect to spend more time thinking deeply about the "why" and the "how" of the material than you might otherwise do in a lecture-based format. You must also expect to engage in explicit "metacognitive" thinking about your own intuition, instincts, and thought processes.
- Focus on Feedback and Formative Assessment. Students in an active classroom can expect frequent feedback. In the classroom, this feedback is often instantaneous and informal and comes from your peers and from the professor and TA(s). It is always encouraged to share your questions with others and to adapt and update your own ideas and answers in response. On class work, homework, and midterm exams, you can expect multiple opportunities to demonstrate proficiency over time.
- Focus on Community Formation. It is important for students in an active classroom to value not just their own success but the success of others as well. Success in active classes requires developing comfort with the uncertainty and struggle that come with learning in a very public environment. You must always support and encourage others and have the right to expect others to support and encourage you.