Actively Learning About Active Learning

Based on the fact that this blog is being written for an asynchronous online course, I'm going to assume that most of the people reading this are quite familiar with taking education into their own hands. Taking personal accountability for learning is one hurdle to jump, but engaging with and synthesizing the material takes a person's learning another step ahead. These are the fundamental concepts behind active learning. 

In our current attention economy, it can be difficult to get the younger generation of students to understand why education is so important. Passive listening won't cut it with all the other distractions out there, which is why students need to be actively engaged in their work. In this blog post, I will look into an active learning example about the American Revolution, then analyze current efforts for active learning and my personal connections to it.

The Activity

Creating my Padlet about this activity was an active learning experience in itself as I am unfamiliar with this platform, but doing so provided valuable insights on how to get students absorbed in their studies. 

Image Source: Created by author

As you can see, I thought this was a great baseline for an active learning activity, but I still believe there could be more to the assignment to have students take control of their learning. It accomplishes the goal of active learning since it is an engaging way to get the students to be creative, but in my opinion, the poster could have gone one step further. Creating a comic would make it a more notable experience as developing dialogue from a historical figure or event would show a better level of understanding from the students. 

In the Future

I absolutely believe that teachers should keep active learning in mind while trying to plan their lessons. Having a class take responsibility for their own work will not only give the teacher more time to come up with more ideas that enrich student learning, but leaves the class in better standing for the future by exposing them to this self-starter mentality.

Jennifer Gonzalez, a former middle school teacher who now instructs teachers on various teaching methods, says that a standard lesson plan is made of 5 steps:

1. Anticipatory set (developing student interest)

2. Direct instruction 

3. Guided practice and application 

4. Independent practice and application, and 

5. Assessment.

The time for active learning would fall under part 4 of the lesson, and it would be good practice for teachers to establish a set of goals that students should be able to meet by the end of this step. Based on some of the educational frameworks we’ve learned, looking towards the future is crucial in determining how successful a student is in their studies to see if there is still room for growth. 

Active learning also can and should be adapted in a library setting. Since it most strongly resembles classroom instruction, the best example of active learning in this space would be through maker studio classes. Typically with some guidance, people can make their visions a reality in these spaces. This honestly seems like it would be the ultimate test of active learning; give people a place to start and see what they are able to accomplish.