The main step an instructor needs to do in order to move from traditional lecture to active learning is now that you will not have full control of the class as well as students. The instructor needs to keep in mind that they are still educating the students but the students view you as a facilitator of the course and ideas that are being shared and view among the learners.
Shundra Mosby
The traditional lecture teaching method is a complete waste of both student and instructor time. Consequently, any teacher who has even a modicum of understanding of the classroom learning environment and active-learning would immediately physically restructure their classroom to begin the active-learning process. First, they need to do away with students sitting in rows, and replace the traditional seating arrangement with the placing of students in a “horseshoe†[or circle] seating arrangement.
This will immediately increase the active-learning process between teacher and student; significantly increase peer-to-peer learning; and, in general, increase inter-activity of the students at all learning-levels (Silberman, 1996). At the same time it will substantially decrease the worthless “sage-on-the-stage†process employed by most instructors that fail to 1) obtain student-centered teaching, and who, in turn, then 2) “under-teach†80% of their students, while also then 3) blaming the students themselves for the poor teaching performance of the instructor.
Next, the instructor needs to employ the “Socratic Method†in his or her teaching as the main source of verbal inter-action and inculcation in the classroom—with the goal of having the students talking/discussing learning topics 70% of the time during class periods—with the teacher only talking 30% of the time (Moran & Malott, 2004) .
No; it's factually not true. Factually, all student motivation is the product of the external contingencies of learning. Therefore, student learning is really only a product of the external schedules of reinforcement established by the teacher (Skinner, 1953, 1969). Consequently, student failure is a consequence of poor teaching methods, in this case the inability of an incompetent teacher to properly design the proper contingencies of learning needed for all students to learn the subject matter. The old store of most teachers to blame the student for their incompetence’s is pathetic at best—and flies in the face of the concept of “student centered†teaching.
Ben,
But isn't true that sometimes a professor cannot help a student learn because the student has no intent on learning?
Renee Shaffer
The attention span of students is actually 8 minutes, not 20. I don't know of any students--young or old---that can pay full undivided attention for more than 8 minutes.
I wrote a textbook on the subject of Active-Learning and Mastery Teaching.
If the Socratic method is used and the teacher is constantly asking the students questions---and everyone is debating and talking with each other about the subject of the day---students are less likely to get bored, will be able to stay "with" the teacher for 8 minutes, and will still, unfortunately start to stray, but don't we all?
An instructor could move the classroom from a traditional lecture to a more active-learning environment if the teacher will kindly always remember that the teacher is the one who is responsible for the learning--not the student.
Students learn many different ways. It is the teacher's responsibility to make sure that each students learns the material and to make it fun while doing it.
It seems as though today's teachers do not think that it is their responsibility to teach. It seems like teachers today think that they are to just put all of the info out there---and whoever gets it gets it---and whoever doesn't gets left behind--and fails the class.
The teacher is responsible for the success or failure of each and every student.
Melissa,
Yes and for so many learners, their attention span is only about 20 minutes so your speaking component at 15-20 min. is great.
Renee Shaffer
One thing I do in my classes to make the lecture component of the course more "alive," is only speak for 15 to 20 minutes at a time. I then ask students to reflect on a discussion question, after giving them a few moments to reflect on the question, we discuss it as a group.
Entrance and exit "quizzes" (I ask a couple of problem solving types of questions) are another effective way of making lectures more active. The quiz can be the same, but designed to gauge students' absorption of lecture content.
