Active Learning in Higher Education

Baldwin, Lynne

doi: 10.1177/1469787418816154pmid: N/A

Ellis, Robert A; Bliuc, Ana-Marie

doi: 10.1177/1469787417721384pmid: N/A

As online learning technologies are becoming an integral part of the learning experience at university, the quality of student learning is increasingly shaped by their experience of using these new artefacts. In many cases, the research frameworks investigating the contribution of online learning technologies to quality outcomes are yet to have explicitly identified their role and contribution. Adopting a Student Approaches to Learning perspective, the study described in this article analyses how online learning technologies are qualitatively situated in relation to inquiry by investigating associations among approaches to online learning technologies, perceptions of the learning context, and academic achievement. The findings indicate that there are consistent and distinct patterns of associations between the different aspects of the learning experience that reveal the role of online learning technologies in the student experience of learning. The findings suggest that qualitative differences in how students use online learning technologies and differences in how they perceive online learning technologies are logically related to the quality of outcomes. The discussion highlights an appropriate role and location of online learning technologies in the Student Approaches to Learning framework in order to help researchers, students, teachers and university leaders better understand their contribution to qualitatively different experiences of learning. It suggests principles for a more effective design of learning tasks based on the results which indicated deeper engagement both online and in-class.

Mahoney, John W; Harris-Reeves, Brooke

doi: 10.1177/1469787417723243pmid: N/A

Collaborative testing has been shown to enhance student performance compared to individual testing. It is suggested that collaborative testing promotes higher order thinking, but research has yet to explore this assumption directly. The aim of this study was to explore the benefits of collaborative testing on overall performance, as well as performance on higher order thinking questions. It was hypothesised that, compared to individual test results, students would perform better overall and on higher order thinking questions under collaborative testing conditions. It was expected that these differences would be equal when comparing students of different academic abilities (i.e. ‘upper’, ‘middle’ and ‘lower’ performers). Undergraduate students completed an individual followed by a collaborative test as part of summative assessment. Analyses revealed that with the exception of upper performers, students performed better overall on the collaborative test. Additionally, regardless of their academic abilities, students performed better on the higher order thinking questions under collaborative conditions. This improvement was equal across different academic abilities, suggesting that collaborative testing promotes higher order thinking even when taking into account previous academic achievement. The acceptability and application of collaborative testing is discussed.

Swanson, Elizabeth; McCulley, Lisa V; Osman, David J; Scammacca Lewis, Nancy; Solis, Michael

doi: 10.1177/1469787417731201pmid: N/A

This article reports a synthesis and meta-analysis of intervention studies investigating the effects of team-based learning on content knowledge outcomes. Team-based learning is a particular set of instructional components most often used in higher education classrooms. Authors of team-based learning reviews report that team-based learning improves students’ end of course grades, test performance, and classroom engagement. Students report that team-based learning is interesting, allows for deeper understanding of content, and prepares them more effectively for assessment and course performance. A total of 30 studies were located and synthesized. In total, 17 studies met criteria for a meta-analysis, yielding a mean effect size estimate of 0.55, p < 0.001 across all measures. Moderator analysis indicated that group size moderated the magnitude of effect to a statistically significant degree, with smaller group sizes contributing to additional effects. The meta-analysis is followed by a confirmatory synthesis of the remaining 13 studies. Implications for instruction incorporating the use of team-based learning are described.

Wright, Mary C; Bergom, Inger; Bartholomew, Tracy

doi: 10.1177/1469787417735607pmid: N/A

Small class size is often used as an indicator of quality in higher education, and some research suggests that instructors in smaller classes more often use activities that are learner-centered and that involve physical and mental activity on the part of learners, such as group work, simulations, and case studies. However, we have little information on how instructors change their pedagogical practice when they teach in large- versus small-class settings. In this study, we examine alignment between intended and enacted teaching strategies, or initial plans and specific ways in which instructors reported altering their teaching in the context of a university policy shift to smaller classes. Furthermore, we examine instructional challenges in this shift to call attention to professional development needs of small-class teaching and to best leverage the benefits of such activities for student performance and retention.

Roberts, David

doi: 10.1177/1469787417731198pmid: N/A

An important contemporary challenge to the large-group lecture in higher education is that it encourages passive learning which is claimed to be out of sync with academic rhetoric and social needs. Attempts to change this practice have salvaged some aspects of the higher education experience for students, but they have not transformed the learning environment that is the most usual one, that is, one characterized by lectures, into an arena of active learning. This article tests recent multimedia learning propositions which claim that using certain images dislocates pedagogically harmful excesses of text, reducing cognitive overloading and exploiting underused visual processing capacities. The experiments yielded unpredicted results, which indicates that the use of certain images can also prompt students to become active co-producers of knowledge. This is not about visual aids, where images are a side-bar to a traditional lecture. This is about images as the medium through which active learning is energized. Marshall McLuhan famously remarked that ‘the medium is the message’. But for this article, the message is the medium.

Sharma, Amit; Van Hoof, Hubert B; Ramsay, Crystal

doi: 10.1177/1469787417731200pmid: N/A

The study reported here investigated reading among students from the perspective of how students choose to use their time and whether they self-ration it. A survey of undergraduate students found that their self-reported allocation of time to academic activities other than reading was positively correlated to the reading that they did and that students’ reading was significantly correlated to their belief of being time constrained. Furthermore, the study found that students’ participation in nonacademic activities had a negative correlation to the reading they did for their courses. Finally, the study also found that students who allocated time for reading earlier than the day of class/lecture were more likely to complete these readings than those who allocated time closer to the day of class/lecture. This article argues that both students and faculty should have greater awareness of the choices students make in how they allocate their time and toward reading and other related activities.