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Faculty Development - Rowan-Virtua SOM: Active Learning Techniques

Resources for clinical and academic faculty

Active Learning Techniques

This is a collection of Active Learning Tips that I've assembled as part of my final project work from the Resilient Mindsets in Medicine program from the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) and Motivate Labs.

The Resilient Mindsets curriculum focuses on creating a GPS Connection: Growth Mindset, Purpose & Relevance, and Sense of Belonging.
More on Mindset GPS

If you'd like even more suggestions than what's on this page, please see - Interactive Techniques from the University of South Florida

Please email any comments or suggestions you have for this list to garwoods@rowan.edu. 

Techniques

  • Wait-Time: "Wait time refers to two specific practices where instructors deliberately pause. First, wait time #1 constitutes a 3-5 second pause between asking a question and soliciting an answer. Second, wait time #2 is a 3-5 second pause after a student responds. This time allows students to think about the question and develop a response, either to the instructor’s question or a peer’s response."
    • Benefit(s): Mental breathing space; Time to process an individual answer.
    • More information on the Technique
  • Minute Papers: "The One-Minute Paper is a classroom assessment technique and active learning strategy that is used to collect student feedback and assess student learning about a topic. At the end of class, students briefly respond to one or two questions. Plan to allow students at least ten minutes at the end of class to respond and adjust time parameters based on student needs. Questions can be tailored based on the type of information one wishes to collect."
  • Muddiest Point: "The activity asks students to identify the most confusing point in a lecture, class session, or assignment. Students can take a few minutes to write down the most difficult or confusing part of the lesson, lecture, or reading. The guiding question might be, 'What was the most confusing concept that we discussed today?' After collecting the responses, instructors can address those difficulties with additional resources. This could take the form of a slide presentation or some notes. The information should always be new, not just a repetition of previously presented material "
    • Benefit(s): Provides students an opportunity to review content and identify what they're struggling with. This technique also provides an opportunity for faculty to address those areas most challenging to students.
    • More information on the Technique
  • Gallery Walk: "Gallery Walk gets students out of their chairs and actively involves them in synthesizing important concepts, in consensus building, in writing, and in public speaking. In Gallery Walk, teams rotate around the classroom, composing answers to questions and reflecting upon the answers given by other groups. Questions are posted on charts or just pieces of paper located in different parts of the classroom. Each chart or "station" has its own question that relates to an important class concept."
    • Benefit(s): Social Learning, Small Groups, Peer Learning/Support, Physical Movement.
    • More information on the Technique
  • Think-Pair-Share: "Students share and compare possible answers to a question posed in a class session with a partner before addressing the larger class." 
    • Benefit(s): Students connect to each other and explore their knowledge of a topic with a peer. This activity allows students to discuss a topic from their own understanding with someone who is also learning it. This helps to reinforce working with others to learn and building a community of learners.
    • More information on the Technique
  • Jigsaws: "In a jigsaw, the class is divided into several teams, each preparing separate but related assignments. When all team members are prepared, the class is re-divided into mixed groups, with one member from each team in each group. Each person in the group teaches the rest of the group what he/she knows, and the group then tackles an assignment that pulls all of the pieces together to form the full picture, hence the name jigsaw."
    • Benefit(s): Social Learning, Small Groups, Peer Learning/Support, Ability to cover larger amounts of content.
    • More information on the Technique
  • Three-Step Interview: "For the three-step interview, students are grouped into small groups of three. Each group member assumes the role of interviewer, interviewee, and reporter/note-taker, and each student should be allowed to play each role. To help explain the process, each student will be named A, B, and C. After the three-step interview process is completed, the students are given extra time to share and consolidate the information "
    • Benefit(s): Encourages students to think about the information they have been taught, expands their ability to question, think, and generate answers, provides each student with the opportunity to voice their opinions, and promotes equal participation
    • More information on the Technique
  • True/False Cards: "Distribute index cards (one to each student or group) on which a statement is written. Half of the cards will contain statements that are true and half false. Students decide if theirs is one of the true statements or not, using whatever means they desire. Variation: designate half the room space for those who think their statements are true and the other half for false."
    • Benefit(s): Application of Knowledge, Possible Collaboration (in Groups).
    • More information on the Technique
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  • Discussion Row – Students take turns sitting in a front row to answer questions posed in class; this provides a group that will ALWAYS be prepared and interact with teacher questions. While some teachers ask for volunteers and provide them with extra credit, this can also be done as a revolving assignment with different students assigned to the Discussion Row on different dates. 
    • Benefit(s): Application of Knowledge, Ensures classroom interaction, Student voices, and vocabulary included
    • More information on the Technique
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  • Fishbowl – "To encourage student participation, a fish bowl is a good approach for discussing dilemmas or debates. Some of the students sit in an inner circle (the fishbowl), and the others are around the edge observing the discussion. Allow the students in the inner circle time to prepare ideas and questions in advance while you brief the students who are observing what they should be listening for. The idea is that the participants in the inner circle are more likely to get involved than they would if it was a large group discussion, and the students observing learn from their peers."
    • Benefit(s): Engagement with content, Enables connection between topics/sub-topics
    • More information: 
      • Western Sydney University - Fishbowl
         
  • Concept Mapping – "Concept maps are a powerful tool for identifying relationships among ideas you learn in class. Understanding these relationships and depicting them visually can help you learn course material at a much deeper level and retain it better, too. Concept maps are highly personalized and provide an opportunity to organize course material in a way that makes the most sense to you.."
    • Benefit(s): Engagement with content, Enables connection between topics/sub-topics
    • More information:
  • Empty Outlines – The teacher provides students with an empty/partially completed outline and gives them limited time to fill in the blank spaces. Students can work alone or in groups, depending on what is being assessed. Students can work individually and then with a partner or group to fill in the blanks. Individual students can make note of what they still need to learn. 
    • Benefit(s): Engagement with content, Encourages active learning/thinking, Student-Student interaction
    • More information on the Technique
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  • Focused Listing – "Focused Listing directs students’ attention to a relevant term, name, or concept from a particular lesson or class session and asks them to list several ideas closely related to that focal point. It is helpful to quickly determine what learners recall as the essential points of a particular topic."
    • Benefit(s): Engagement with content, Enables connection between topics/sub-topics
    • More information on the technique 
  • Peer Instruction (Can be used in combination with polling): "Peer Instruction (PI) is an evidence-based, student-centered pedagogy originally introduced in 1991 by Eric Mazur in his physics classroom at Harvard University. It’s a highly engaging, active learning strategy that encourages students to create knowledge among themselves. This is most often implemented as 1. Pose question/poll; 2. Have students discuss/review answers in groups; 3. Poll again"
    • Benefit(s): Student-student connection, Time to rationalize and defend conclusion, Application of information/learning
    • More information on the Technique
  • Just-In-Time Teaching – "Students prepare for class by reading from the textbook or using other resources posted to the web and by completing assignments (called WarmUps and Puzzles) online. These assignments often have complex answers; students’ work outside class prepares them for more complete work in class. The students’ answers are delivered to the instructor a few hours before class starts, allowing the instructor to adapt the lesson as needed."
    • Benefit(s): Engagement with content, Enables connection between topics/sub-topics
    • More information: