Active learning is a type of teaching that aims to get students more involved in the learning process. Traditional learning is characterized by passive learning, in which students sit and listen to a lecture. Students feel bored after spending the entire day in class, sitting down and doing little else. They become disengaged with the lectures and lose focus. Here’s when active learning comes in handy. Making learners more involved in the learning process is part of the active learning process.
Students participate in activities such as reading, writing, discussion, and problem-solving to encourage analysis, synthesis, and assessment of class information during active learning. Seven elements underpin active learning, according to past research.
- The fundamental premise of active learning must be done with a specific goal in mind. The work must be relevant to the learner, comprehending what they are learning and why they are studying it.
- There should also be time for reflection when the learner considers the significance of learning.
- The third premise is that students must evaluate what they are learning critically. They must assess the information rather than merely listen to a lecture or read. The learner must also evaluate their approach to the content and decide which learning tactics are most effective.
- Fourthly, there is a negotiation that takes place between students and professors. Students must be actively involved in their learning and discuss their objectives and purposes with their instructors.
- The fifth principle, from the standpoint of a teacher, is that all learning assignments must be situation-driven. To put it another way, it’s critical to provide assignments relevant to learning objectives.
- There must also be some context and complexity in learning. When students see how their knowledge relates in a real-world setting, they learn more effectively.
- Finally, learning is aided by involvement. Students will become bored with their studying and disinterested in the content if they are not engaged.
7 Benefits of active learning
1. Encourages collaboration: Collaboration is a key component of most active learning methods. Students gain the skills they’ll need to cooperate in the workplace by working in breakout groups.
2. Encourages people to take risks: Students may resist the transition to active learning at first; after all, it’s simple to sit in class and take notes (or zone out) until the teacher finishes speaking. Active learning forces students to step outside of their comfort zones by encouraging them to take risks.
3. It necessitates student preparedness: No one is invisible in an active learning classroom. When students don’t take the time to prepare, it’s obvious right away, so they’re more motivated to show up – both mentally and physically.
4. It improves retention: According to Dale’s Cone of Experience, students recall around 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear, and 90% of what they do. Classrooms with active learning are, well, more active. To reinforce their learning, students frequently apply their concepts, work on collaborative projects, or use methodologies such as design thinking or the agile process.
5. Encourages innovative thinking: One of the most important talents for the future workplace is creativity, which is also one of the most difficult to teach using traditional approaches. Active learning teaches students that creativity takes more than a eureka moment to emerge – it takes effort and hard work. Students observe how both private contemplation and group interchange may lead to greater ideas and more original solutions to issues after a lot of experience exercising their creative muscles.
6. It boosts participation: Students who are actively involved in their studies are actively studying. They digest ideas and develop deeper knowledge, whether they are fixing a problem, discussing an issue, or investigating a notion.
7. Enhances critical thinking skills: Active learning emphasizes learning from passively (and potentially uncritically) consuming knowledge to actively engaging with sources and views. Students also learn to develop stronger arguments, challenge presumptions, and spot logical jumps when they present their thoughts.
Active learning strategies
- Case studies
- Self-assessment
- Group discussion
- Group evaluation
- Think-pair-share
- Informal groups
- Jigsaw discussion
- Interactive lecture
- Brainstorming
- Role-playing
- Peer review
- Triad groups
- Active review sessions
The Power of Narrative Learning
Narrative-based learning is a learning approach based on the idea that humans describe their experiences via narratives, which serve as cognitive frameworks, a method of communication, and a tool for framing and interpreting their impressions of the world.
Narratives have been used to enhance learning and cognition since early human society, and they are still used in current classrooms. However, narrative learning strategies are becoming more common in virtual settings such as serious games and instructional simulations.
How can training scenarios and videos stand out amid an onslaught of new digital learning trends? The solution, ironically, is found in one of humanity’s oldest technologies: storytelling.
Make no mistake: storytelling is a technology, just as revolutionary as the printing press or the blog, in disseminating and storing knowledge. The human brain is designed to learn via tales, acquiring essential lessons from other people’s experiences. Using a great story to boost someone’s engagement and retention gives you exceptional access.
The human brain is programmed to learn via tales, and we can learn a lot from other people’s experiences. This is especially true in the learning business, where tales serve as the foundation for training, scenarios, and films that assist learners in going from beginner to expert. These stories must go beyond basic cookie-cutter storylines in which Charles meets the new software system and clicks his way to success since learners are clever. Instead, they must be extremely entertaining while keeping laser-focused on the learning goal. That is the purpose of the story-based learning strategy presented: to give a systematic but adjustable way for creating strong, immersive tales that transform the protagonist’s (story’s most prominent character’s) observable and interacted experiences onto the page.
The goal of the narrative learning approach is to provide a systematic yet customizable method for creating powerful, experiential narratives that translate the protagonist’s (story’s most prominent character’s) observed and interactive experiences onto the learner, just as the best stories have always done.
The Narrative Learning Model may assist in formalizing the informal, often hazy, creative process of telling a compelling tale; it’s a method for creating interesting material that fulfills learning objectives while also improving the learning experience.
The story learning methodology enables customizable tales methodically. Learners are engaged in this narrative due to the appropriate tale tensions, resulting in the essential eustress and real performance enhancement.
The training, situations, and videos that assist bridge the gap between entry-level and expert learners are built on stories.
January 26, 2022
