Active teaching to manage course difficulty and learning motivation

Given the recent reported common occurrence of mediocre or substandard academic performance by students in colleges and universities, it has become essential to identify pedagogical factors that might lessen or reverse this trend. Kolb’s experiential learning, Pintrich’s student learning motivation, and cognitive load theories were used as a framework to assess active teaching moderation of the effects of course difficulty on course performance and learning motivation. Hierarchical ordinary least squares (OLS) regression was used to analyse the data. Research subjects were recruited from a medium-sized historically Black college and university (HBCU) students enrolled in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and Business (i.e. management, economics, or accounting) classes. Active teaching was a positive predictor of course grade and learning motivation. Course difficulty was a negative predictor of course grade. Interaction analysis revealed that increases in active teaching reduced (i.e. moderated) the negative relationship between course difficulty on both course grade and learning motivation. Overall, the findings suggest that student learning outcomes are certainly a function of pedagogy (e.g. active teaching), psychological/affective (e.g. learning motivation), and learning content complexity. Active teaching environments should (1) address both cognitive load and emotional responses attributed to difficult coursework, and (2) provide efficacy building opportunities during instructional delivery.     

Embedding engaged learning in high enrollmentlecture-based classes

Engaged learning opportunities have become powerful foundations upon which students build lifelong skills and organizational capacities. Research has empirically validated the long-term positive learning impacts of active and experiential learning opportunities for students. As such, institutional administrators and external stakeholders have encouraged and, in some cases, required that faculty use engaged teaching methods. At the same time, difficult economic circumstances continue to batter higher education, with class sizes increasing to improve efficiencies and reduce instructional costs. The confluence of those two trends has resulted in calls to integrate engaged learning opportunities in large higher education classes, engendering special challenges for educators. It is within this particular gap—practical guidance for transforming passive course designs to active ones—that our article contributes to the international higher education literature. We share our experiences implementing engaged learning practices into large university classes over a 4-year period, guided by an experiential learning theoretical framework. By analyzing text from our individual teaching journals and collaborative post-mortems, we are able to introduce an integrative model highlighting important contextual and logistical issues that must be considered: pre-class planning, in-class facilitation, assessments and feedback, training and renorming student expectations, and institutional context. We end the article with caveats and ethical considerations when introducing engaged learning into large classes.     

Implementing Experiential Learning Activities in a Large Enrollment Introductory Food Science and Human Nutrition Course

ABSTRACT:  Experiential learning activities are often viewed as impractical, and potentially unfeasible, instructional tools to employ in a large enrollment course. Research has shown, though, that the metacognitive skills that students utilize while participating in experiential learning activities enable them to assess their true level of understanding and mastery of the subject matter. The objectives of this study were to (1) create and implement 2 experiential learning activities in our introductory, large enrollment course and (2) evaluate their cognitive and affective impact on student learning. For the 1st activity, completed in class during the nutrition and health section, the instructional team asked the students to complete a dietary intake assessment. For the 2nd activity, completed via the course website, the instructional team asked the students to complete a food safety survey prior to the commencement of the food microbiology and processing section to assess the students' own personal food safety behaviors. The students were asked to evaluate both the cognitive and affective aspects of the experiential learning activities by completing a reflective questionnaire after participating in each activity. The majority of the students that participated in the experiential learning activities reported that the activities helped them learn the course material (97% for the dietary intake activity and 77% for the food safety activity) and that they liked participating in the activity (85% for the dietary intake activity) or were engaged by the activity (77% for the food safety activity). These results indicate that experiential learning activities can be successfully created for and implemented in large enrollment courses.     

Environmental service learning: outcomes of innovative pedagogy in Baja California Sur,Mexico

This article reports on a longitudinal study of a two‐semester middle school environmental learning course that departs from traditional Mexican expository pedagogies through the incorporation of experiential and service learning approaches. In the short term, course participants acquired a heightened awareness of environmental issues, augmented their environmental perceptions and consciousness, and complemented all this with environmentally responsible behaviours. Two years after completing the experiential course, students retained pro‐environmental attitudes and behaviours and unexpectedly exhibited an expanded role in intergenerational learning. The research adds to the handful of studies in this cross‐disciplinary field through qualitative methodologies that refine our understanding of the outcomes of experiential environmental learning.     

Mastery learning and students' attributions at the college level

This study was designed to determine whether the more favorable learning conditions provided by mastery learning procedures result in higher levels of achievement and more internal attributions on the part of college students. One hundred twenty-two undergraduate students enrolled in a general education course at a large state university participated in the study. Results showed that although students in mastery-taught sections did attain significantly higher levels of achievement no differences in attribution change were identified. Possible reasons for the lack of attribution change are discussed.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association Montreal, Canada, 1983.     

Experiential learning,self-beliefs and adult performance in Senegal

Ability to update skills constitutes a key element in the process of improving adults' performance. Professional skills are usually updated through engagement in active learning by connecting prior experiences to new ones and also sharing information with others through reflection and hands-on activities. Such learning processes can be achieved through experiential learning. Experiential learning can lead to creation of retrievable knowledge, which can be applied to their daily professional activity. Results of this study indicated that experiential learning needs to be rooted in the culture and values of the social environment in which adults live. Further, individual characteristics may influence the impact of experiential learning on adult professionals' abilities to reach higher levels of performance. A random sample of 126 farmers was selected. Data were collected through a questionnaire and were examined by quantitative as well as qualitative data analysis techniques.     

Reflective learning in distance education

This article addresses one of three major challenges which it is argued, currently face distance education, namely its claimed over-reliance on behaviourist approaches to teaching and learning. In particular, the derivation of principles of course design which can be applied irrespective of difference of context, content and learners, has not proved to be a realistic and effective way forward. Fortunately, the practice of distance education has not been limited to applied behaviourism only, and has included approaches which draw upon social constructivist and cognitive approaches to learning. These have worked well in combination with regular feedback to students in programmes at undergraduate level at the UK Open University (UKOU). Other conceptualisations of learning have also begun to make an impact, notably the experiential and the relational. The former emphasises reflection on direct experience and the transformation of existing knowledge. The latter reveals the shaping influence of students conceptions in these areas. Distance education already has many examples of activities and projects which require students to process existing and new experience in relation to course concepts and goals. A number of courses at the UKOU are also encouraging students to review their own learning approaches and to be proactive about their study methods. A case study of two courses is introduced, as an example of teaching approaches which foster reflection on experience, integrated with conceptual learning, and reflection by the learner on their own learning process in parallel with the study of course content. Evidence is provided from evaluation of the extent to which these learning process oriented course materials, have affected the learned outcomes students identify for themeselves. The integration of a reflective component into assessment of the course has been especially effective. Students report changes most frequently at the level of general awareness of purpose of study and learning transfer, rather than in the area of detailed study skills.     

The contribution of reflective learning to experiential learning in business education

Abstract

Experiential learning theory states that reflection is just as important to learning as action. However, business educators often overlook reflection in their experiential learning activities, especially when it’s understood as a dialogue process. Drawing on reflective learning theory, we explored the case of an undergraduate business programme that has been combining experiential learning with three different reflective learning mechanisms for the past ten years. Results show that: (1) reflective dialogue is central for ensuring that impressions from experience translate into better-defined learning outcomes, (2) this dialogue process greatly benefits from a closely guided process, and (3) different reflection mechanisms contribute differently to the learning process. Considering how fast experiential learning has popularised in business schools, this study alerts educators to the importance of combining their experiential learning activities with a guided process of reflection. Otherwise, educators risk students extracting meagre, wrong or misleading impressions from their experience.     

The “How” and “What” of learning physics

Recent research on student learning in higher education has increasingly focussed on experiential aspects of how students approach their studies and what they learn from their studies. In this paper we describe the results of a study using phenomenographic research techniques, which focusses on student learning in a first year university physics course. The study, using interviews with sixteen volunteer students from the course, shows that only those students who actively sought to change their conceptions of the subject matter did so, while those who sought only to reproduce that subject matter did not.     

Brokering dialogue between secondary students and teachers to co-construct appropriate pedagogy in reduced-size classes

This study focuses on how two teachers working in reduced-size secondary classes of the same grade adapted their pedagogy as a result of a brokered dialogue between myself as researcher and 43 grade 10 students from the teachers’ classes. Research was carried out over the course of one academic year. First, students’ perspectives on studying in a reduced-size class were elicited before they were invited to suggest ways of improving the teaching and learning. These interviews were transcribed and given to the teachers of these classes. Next, these teachers were interviewed to gauge their opinions on what the students had reported in the earlier interviews. At a later stage, their teaching was observed to determine whether, and to what extent, the two teachers had attempted to incorporate changes based on the feedback from pupils. The study showed that the pupil voice is a very powerful and constructive trigger for enacting teachers’ pedagogical change and developing our understanding of students’ learning processes. Findings demonstrate that teachers responded positively to their students’ perspectives despite initial apprehensions. Implications for professional development and good practices in reduced-size classes are also presented.     

Obstacles to learning from experience and principal training

This paper discusses the obstacles to on-the-job learning for school administrators. Applying Kolb's (1984) experiential learning model to understanding the on-the-job preparation of administrators, it describes how characteristics of the work, properties of the organization, and norms of the occupation make this form of learning often slow, unreliable, counter-productive, and biased. The four stages of experiential learning (concrete experience, reflective analysis, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation) are analyzed and applied to the learning of school principals with particular attention to the obstacles to effective learning at each stage. Finally, the paper suggests ways that those who prepare, train, and work alongside principals can improve the quality of learning-from-experience for novice as well as veteran administrators.Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Education Research Association in Chicago, April, 1985.     

Applying enterprise: active learning environments for business Higher National Diploma students

This article details an approach to teaching entrepreneurship to Higher National Diploma (HND) students that combines lecture-based and experiential learning processes to increase student learning, comprehension, and entrepreneurial skills. A UK university redesigned an entrepreneurship course to have students design and implement business plans for a pop-up shop and an event in the local community, while working closely with instructors and outside stakeholders. The lectures used in the lessons were designed to complement the enterprise activities and be immediately applied in group work settings. Data were collected from student reflections and analysed against instructor reflections to highlight both the success and challenges of this approach, as well as any areas of dissonance between student and instructor observations. While the benefits of active and experiential learning processes are highlighted in the literature, this article examines these teaching methods specifically in a HND context, an area in which research on the benefits of these teaching methods for developing entrepreneurial students and for developing students prepared for undergraduate education has been limited.     

On the bus and online: instantiating an interactive learning environment through design-based research

The World Health Organization converted an award-winning experiential learning course that takes place on a bus traveling down the “cold chain” for time- and temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical products in Turkey to an online interactive learning environment through design-based research. Similarities and differences in the objectives of the two courses as well as the overlap in the learning activities, tools, and technologies deployed in courses are delineated. Many learning activities from the real bus course were successfully moved to the online course, but a few learning activities from the bus course could not be replicated in the online environment. However, several new and arguably more effective learning activities were implemented online that could not be accomplished on the bus. Design principles for developing online experiential learning environments were derived from the design-based research.     

Facilitating deep-strategy behaviors and positive learning performances in science inquiry activities with a 3D experiential gaming approach

ABSTRACT

Facilitating students’ deep-strategy behaviors and positive learning performances of science inquiry is an important and challenging educational issue. In this study, a contextual science inquiry approach is proposed for developing a 3D experiential game to cope with this problem. To evaluate the impacts of the game on students’ science learning approaches, learning achievements and problem-solving awareness as well as the learning behavioral patterns of the students with different learning achievements, a quasi-experiment was conducted in an elementary school geoscience course. The participants were two classes of sixth graders. One class was the experimental group who learned with the 3D experiential game, and the other was the control group who learned with the conventional technology-enhanced learning approach. The experimental results showed that the students learning with the 3D experiential gaming system showed better learning achievements, problem-solving tendency, deep learning strategies, and deep learning motive than those who learned with the conventional technology-enhanced learning approach. Moreover, the higher-achievement students showed more behavioral patterns of deep learning strategies than the lower-achievement students. The findings of this study provide a good reference for helping lower-achievement students improve their learning performance.     

To blog or not to blog: Student perceptions of blog effectiveness for learning in a college-level course

Blogs have the potential to increase reflection, sense of community and collaboration in undergraduate classrooms. Studies of their effectiveness are still limited. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the use of blogs in a large lecture class would enhance students' perceived learning. Students in an undergraduate nutrition course were required to engage in blog conversations over the course of the semester to promote reflective learning. Sixty-seven undergraduates responded to a survey with dimensions on perceived learning and sense of community. Sense of community and computer expertise were identified as significant predictors of perceived learning, when controlled for age, gender, and previous blogging experience. While a majority of the students reported that blogging enhanced their learning and led them to think about course concepts outside the classroom, fewer perceived value in peer comments. Implications for integrating blogging into undergraduate classrooms are discussed.     

Perceived learning,critical elements and lasting impacts on university-based wilderness educational expeditions

This study examined participants’ perceptions of learning, critical elements, and lasting impacts of their wilderness expeditions. Fifty-seven students, who completed a for-credit wilderness canoe expedition between 1993 and 2007 at the Augustana Campus, University of Alberta, participated in the investigation. Perceived learning most commonly related to nature and place appreciation, outdoor skills, group living, and self-awareness. Critical elements for learning were the experiential approach, group living, and nature and place immersion. In terms of lasting impacts of the expedition, perceived learning had changed since the expedition for 88% of students, especially in the areas of self-awareness, group living, and greater appreciation of the experience, due to reflection and the passage of time. Furthermore, the expedition had a lasting impact on students’ personal and professional lives, especially related to life experience, nature appreciation, confidence, and skill development. The findings support the notion that wilderness educational expeditions can provide significant and long-lasting learning (uniquely in the area of nature and place appreciation). Finally, because of the nature of educational expeditions, they lend themselves to the implementation of sound experiential pedagogical practices that promote active, engaged, and relevant learning.     

Disruptive silence: deepening experiential learning in the absence of technology

Technology plays an integral role in the lives of the majority of the US population. As technology becomes integrated into young people’s lives, questions arise regarding its effects on learning. This exploratory study draws on interviews with students who attend university in the United States to determine how separating students from technology deepens experiential learning. Participants were interviewed following a study abroad course to New Zealand, during which they were disconnected from technologies such as cell phones, the Internet and social media. In the interviews, students discussed their feelings of being disconnected and describe how disconnecting impacted their overall experience. Participants agreed that disconnecting from technology had positive effects on experiential learning and the global experience. Major themes that emerged include students’ enhanced immersion and engagement, the value of disconnection in providing opportunities for personal growth and the difficulty of initial separation from technology as a result of conditioning.     

Exploring an experiential learning project through Kolb's Learning Theory using a qualitative research method

Experiential learning pedagogy is taking a lead in the development of graduate attributes and educational aims as these are of prime importance for society. This paper shows a community service experiential project conducted in China. The project enabled students to serve the affected community in a post-earthquake area by applying their knowledge and skills. This paper documented the students’ learning process from their project goals, pre-trip preparations, work progress, obstacles encountered to the final results and reflections. Using the data gathered from a focus group interview approach, the four components of Kolb's learning cycle, the concrete experience, reflection observation, abstract conceptualisation and active experimentation, have been shown to transform and internalise student's learning experience, achieving a variety of learning outcomes. The author will also explore how this community service type of experiential learning in the engineering discipline allowed students to experience deep learning and develop their graduate attributes.     

Gender neutrality improved completion rate for all

The purpose of the present study was to investigate if we could improve retention by redesigning an online programming course from a gender perspective, while maintaining the focus on preferable and sustainable learning approaches. The study builds on results from an earlier study that investigated the relationship between approaches to learning and course completion and involves 1067 students that responded to the short version of the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST) in 2010, 2012 and 2013. Three principles for course material design were identified; gender neutral and non-biased messages, emphasize the interdisciplinary approach and link to everyday examples. Responses to ASSIST were analysed in relation to performed changes in the course literature from a gender perspective. The probability to complete the course increased with 7% points for all students, in particular for men, and decreased for students with a high score in surface approach to learning, especially among women.     

Space matters: The impact of formal learning environments on student learning

The objective of this research is to identify the relationship between formal learning spaces and student learning outcomes. Using a quasi‐experimental design, researchers partnered with an instructor who taught identical sections of the same course in two radically different formal learning environments to isolate the impact of the physical environment on student learning. The results of the study reveal that, holding all factors excepting the learning spaces constant, students taking the course in a technologically enhanced environment conducive to active learning techniques outperformed their peers who were taking the same course in a more traditional classroom setting. The evidence suggests strongly that technologically enhanced learning environments, independent of all other factors, have a significant and positive impact on student learning.