Transcript One BIG question – Conceptions of Active Learning

One BIG question –
Conceptions of Active Learning
Paul Wright
Wendelin Romer
Faculty of Technology,
Southampton Solent University,
SOUTHAMPTON, UK.
Centre for Active Learning,
University of Gloucestershire,
CHELTENHAM, UK
[email protected]
[email protected]
Who the hell are we?
Paul
Wendelin
Environmental scientist/marine
chemist/geographer
Archaeologist/Anthropologist
Research butterfly
Using reflexive methodology for
interpreting human remains
Promoting and evaluating Active
teaching practice
Perceptions of Active Learning
Encouraging inclusivity in university
curricula
Researching undergraduate research
and perception of Active Learning
Investigating the stuff that defines you
as you
Encouraging an understanding of the
connection between theory and
practice
This afternoon’s task

Investigate the following question:
‘What is it to be a teacher?’
You can approach this investigation in any way
you want
 Use any (or none!) of the resources, as you feel
appropriate
 We want a resolution to this investigation in 45
minutes
 Don’t reflect on this outcome...... Yet!

How was it for you?

We didn’t like smiley faces!

We don’t like the absence of structure in early experience
of self-reflection

We do like it to be honest

We do like it when it says what YOU mean, not what you
think we want to hear

So we decided to take a different tack....

Paul is a twit(terer)....but there is another way

Haiku (we would like you to write up to 3)
So, is AL the practice of the few, and from a select bunch of curricula?
No. Of papers (%)
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
HESA Return Area
Active Learning writing since 1980. Data from Web of Knowledge (2008)
Initial thoughts

We found three ‘families’ of conceptions
EXTERNAL
INTERNAL
HOLISTIC
The physicality of
‘doing’
Cognitive processing
Meld these internal and
external worlds.
Methods/Modes of
activity
Communication with
each other
Sense of ‘practice’
Reflection
Increasing maturity
Taking responsibility
Engagement
Development
Creativity
Investigation.
The Impact of AL

For students,:
◦ IMPROVING (in terms of learning)
◦ DISCRIMINATING (identifies who is motivated, prepared, and differentiates
between ‘surface’ and ‘deep’ learning)
◦ EMPOWERING (taking ownership)
◦ FUN.

For teachers:
◦ STIMULATING (requires some thought and a scholarly approach to content
and process)
◦ FUN (interactive and lively)
◦ REWARDING.

Downsides included:
◦ Sustaining AL throughout 26 weeks
◦ Needing new strategies for coping with unmotivated, unprepared or
struggling students
◦ Time pressures.
Testing the models
Respondant
UoG1
INTERNAL
UoG2
UoG3
UoG4
UoG5
UoG6
EXTERNAL
UoG7
UoG8
UoG9
UoG10
UoG11
HOLISTIC
UoG12
UoG13
UoG14
UoG15
UoG16
UoG17
UoG18
UoG19
UoG20
UoG21
UoG22
UoG23
UoG24
UoG25
UoG26
UoG27
UoG28
UoG29
UoG30
UoG31
UoG32
UoG33
UoG34
UoG35
SSU1
SSU2
SSU3
SSU4
SSU5
SSU6
SSU7
SSU8
SSU9
SSU10
SSU11
SSU12
SSU13
SSU14
SSU15
SSU16
SSU17
Response A
Response B
Response C
Testing the models
Respondant
UoG1
INTERNAL
UoG2
UoG3
UoG4
UoG5
UoG6
EXTERNAL
UoG7
UoG8
UoG9
UoG10
UoG11
HOLISTIC
UoG12
UoG13
UoG14
UoG15
UoG16
UoG17
UoG18
UoG19
UoG20
UoG21
UoG22
UoG23
UoG24
UoG25
UoG26
UoG27
UoG28
UoG29
UoG30
UoG31
UoG32
UoG33
UoG34
UoG35
SSU1
SSU2
SSU3
SSU4
SSU5
SSU6
SSU7
SSU8
SSU9
SSU10
SSU11
SSU12
SSU13
SSU14
SSU15
SSU16
SSU17
Response A
Response B
Response C
Some initial conclusions
•
•
•
•
•
Most respondents identified conceptions that suggest that they
believe student activity promotes learning.
Ongoing debate about what this passive/active dimension looks like
in class. Different teachers view student activity differently.
People perceive Active Learning (as the pedagogy) as ‘learning by
doing’
There is a dissonance between people’s ideas/concepts, and the
experiences they describe of AL in practice
This could result from uncertainty about what the pedagogy is, how
to apply ‘it’, or being less confident about applying ‘it’

“I think that one of the key ideas in active
learning for me is to get the students to
understand WHY they are learning
something – what the reason is for doing it.
In this sense I wonder if the standard
presentation at the front of the class by a
lecturer can be active learning as well, as long
as the students understand why they need
this information”
Interviews
We are presently at different places with
this part of the Project.
 We share five aspects in the perception of
AL

◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
Conceptualisation
Values
Academic Freedom
Process
Support and Resources
Conceptualisation

Active Learning as a pedagogy is about
‘learning by doing’

There is a difference between AL as a
pedagogy and what ‘learning actively’ is

The way in which it was conceptualised
informed its value
Value

How respondents valued ‘doing’ related
to their engagement with the pedagogy

These values were positive, negative,
ambivalent or ‘open’

These were related to their own
experiences of learning, teaching, the
pedagogy, and personal preferences
Academic Freedom

Use of ‘two definitions’ (the respondent’s and the
‘University’s’)

Threat to teaching quality (also related to value of
‘learning by doing’)

Perception of loss of academic freedom and recognition
of their expertise through ‘direction’

Neutral perspective through respondents already feeling
‘comfortable’ in their own practice
“Sometimes it’s just kind of perversity, I think.
Thinking this is flavour of the month. I will
resist it. If you are told by the Vice Chancellor,
or some folks, that this is what the university
is all about, and you think ‘Well, I think we do
that in our own way, anyway’, so there is a
kind of perverseness about it, a kind of
resistance to being co-opted. Do you know
what I mean?...........it is perverse because you
know in your heart of hearts that is well
intentioned, and a good thing”
Process

Valuing and engagement varied depending
on whether it was considered as a
wholesale approach, or an element within
a strategy of pedagogic approaches

Strong positive response around using
practical/experience/activity in the
curriculum where relevant and subject
applicable, but not necessarily associated
with AL as a pedagogy
Support and Resources

The possibilities of using AL were viewed
as being constrained by resources
◦
◦
◦
◦
Time to do prepare and do
Support for development
Doing AL in big classes as problematic
Concern over how AL could be used in
certain subject areas, that are less ‘practical’
So, is AL the practice of the few, and from a select bunch of curricula?
No. Of papers (%)
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
HESA Return Area
Active Learning writing since 1980. Data from Web of Knowledge (2008)
Return to the text
To listen and yet it is easy to forget
To see/perceive and yet it is easy to
remember/record
To be/act as and yet it is easy to understand
New insights?

Not just ‘doing’, but ‘being’

Sense of ‘embodiment’, and ‘thinking as’

No sense of first two lines being used
negatively

The final character contains the ‘heart
radical’ – mind and heart
Thoughts so far

We can identify a range of conceptions that
teachers hold, concerning AL

By and large, an individual views AL as a
complex mix of the physical and cognitive

It is not just ‘learning by doing’, and, in fact, it
NEVER was!

The need to introduce practice that promotes
self-reflection and internalisation of learning

We (Wendelin and Paul) need to join our work
up
AL, Signature Pedagogy, Threshold Concepts

Signature pedagogies (Shulman, 2005):
◦ Characteristic forms of teaching and learning that organise ways
to prepare future practitioners for their professional work
◦ Possessing a deep structure
◦ “ . . . a set of assumptions about how best to impart a certain body of
knowledge and know-how. And it has an implicit structure, a moral
dimension, that comprises a set of beliefs about professional
attitudes, values, and dispositions”
◦ “disclose important information about the personality of a
professional field—its values, knowledge, and manner of thinking,
almost, perhaps, its total worldview” (Candol, 2007)
AL, Signature Pedagogy, Threshold Concepts

Threshold Concepts (Meyer & Land, 2003):
◦ Described as a ‘portal’, which opens new ways of seeing one’s
subject domain
◦ “Grasping a threshold concept is transformative because it involves
an ontological as well as a conceptual shift.We are what we know.
New understandings are assimilated into our biography, becoming
part of who we are, how we see and how we feel.When academics
announce that they are a sociologist, biologist, etc, they are
announcing both their expertise and their identity, an identity which
marks an arrival from being a student of sociology, biology, etc. to
someone who thinks and acts like an ‘ologist’ of one kind or another.
Those concerned with linking teaching and research are keen to
progress this identity journey among their students.” (Cousin, 2007)
“One's action ought to come out of an achieved
stillness: not to be a mere rushing on..”
D. H. Lawrence