Interactive TeachingDr Emma Kennedy

emma.kennedy@qmul.ac.uk

Centre for Academic and

Professional Development

Queen Mary, University of

London

Active Learning

Student-centred & requires students to participate

“Tell me and I forget; teach me and I may

remember; involve me and I will learn” –

(attributed to Benjamin Franklin).

“anything that involves students in doing things and thinking about the things they are doing" (Bonwell & Eison, 1991,

p. 2).

"anything course-related that all

students in a class session are called

upon to do other than simply watching,

listening and taking notes“ (Felder & Brent,

2009, p. 2).

“requires students to do meaningful learning

activities and think about what they are

doing” (Prince, 2004, p. 1).

Why Interactive teaching?

Keep students engaged &

involved

Check students’

understanding

Learn from students!

Help students

learn

What does active learning look

and feel like?

In tables– draw on the whiteboard if you like, and/or describe

a) Words/images to describe active learning.

b) Words/images to describe passive learning

What are they doing in class?

What do they do before and after class?

How do they interact with their peers? 10 minutes in groups

(then feed back)

Keeping students motivated &

involved Benefits

to attending

(What’s in it for me?)

“Students in […]co-operative learning classes not only performed at

a level above their peers [who had lectures] but they also were more

positive about their learning experience.” (Anderson et al, 2005).

Thaman et al (2013) positive feedback from students: “Analysis of […] student feedback revealed that most of the students agreed that active learning strategies

helped them to create interest (89.4%) and better understanding (94.1%) about the subject.”

Help students learn more

effectively

“Years ago Donald Bligh (1972) reviewed nearly 100 studies comparing lecturing with other methods, mostly group discussions or

reading. He found the following:

1 Lectures are relatively effective for presenting information, but unsupervised reading is more effective. Accessing information using search engines is now

much easier still.

2 Lectures are quite ineffective for stimulating higher order thinking.

3 Lectures cannot be relied on to inspire or to change students’ attitudes favourably, although many lecturers believe their own lectures do.

4 Students like really good lectures; otherwise they prefer well-conducted group work.” (Biggs & Tang 2011, 136)

Check students’ understanding

Asking for student responses allows you to correct any misconceptions – either immediately or at the start of the next

session.

“Students […] have a twofold problem: of following what they are hearing and of writing notes for later reference. They can’t do both simultaneously so they alternate between listening and

writing. But while they are writing the gist down, the lecturer is sentences ahead. Their notes are therefore a random sample of a fraction of what the teacher was saying. And with only a

fraction of the trees, they have to reconstruct the whole wood” (Biggs & Tang, 2011, 143)

As experts in our subject, we forget the sheer number of ways in which students may misunderstand our subject, the number of

“silly” mistakes they might make in their thinking.

Teacher learns from students

Thaman et al (2013): “There was also a very positive feedback from

the faculty of the department and some of

the other faculty in the institute.” – active learning

strategies may require more preparation but they

are also more enjoyable for teachers.

Expose students to the most up-to-date research – and get their views on it. How do they respond to ideas that are relatively new to the field; how do

they integrate those ideas into what they have

already learned?

Is active/interactive teaching more enjoyable

than just lecturing?

Interactive teaching – small groups

Where do we go wrong?

Discussion is not interactive by its very nature: Michael (2006), “active learning doesn't just happen; it occurs in the classroom when the teacher creates a learning environment that makes it more likely to occur”.

Foster (1981) study of tutorials: tutor talk = 86 %; student-student interaction = 8% of the session.

How can we get better?

Encourage peer interaction, small-group discussion within the group and give responsibility to students.

Avoid tutor takeover: be comfortable with silence, ask questions and allow students time to reflect.

What could you do in your small-group teaching?

Interactive teaching – large groups

Where do we go wrong?

“Sustained and unchanging low-level activity requires concentration. Sitting listening to a lecture is such an activity. Yet it requires concentrated effort to follow lecture content. […] The low-level outcomes usually gained from the lecture are in large part due to the unbroken activities of listening and note-taking”(Biggs, 2011, 137)

How can we get better?

Prince (2004) pp. 3-4: introducing even small amounts of activity to the standard lecture improves retention of information & engagement.

Stop the ‘unbroken’ note-taking activity and give students a chance to reflect and understand what they have just written down, & to check their understanding

These two graphs show the

changing performance of

students during a 90 minute

lecture: without

questions/breaks (L) & with

questions every 15 min (R).

(Biggs & Tang 2011, 137)

How interactive is your teaching?

10 minutes in pairs or 3s – come up with a couple of points for each person’s own practice.

Review your current practice in terms of interactivity: do you lecture students too much, talk too much in small-group

activity? Or did you do this in the past? Why might you have done this, and what is the effect?

Techniques

Audience Response Systems or

technology such as Kahoot

Student-led seminars

Debates Quizzes/competition

Problem-solvingArrange furniture if

possibleQuestions to answer

before the class

Questions to answer after the class –

hand in or keep?

Help with note taking: regular

pauses to check comprehension?

Learning partners/informal discussion breaks

Minute papers: 60 seconds to answer

a question

Group swaps/syndicated

learning

How could you make your

teaching more interactive?Look at the techniques on the previous slide. How would you integrate some of these into your own teaching practice in the future? What might be the effect? How would you measure that effect (assessment, student feedback, observation)?

15 minutes in pairs/3s: come up with at least one technique for each of you to integrate in the future.

What do you hope the result will be? How will you know if it has worked?

References Anderson et al (2005). Comparison of student performance in cooperative learning

and traditional lecture-based biochemistry classes. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, 33: 6, pp. 387-393.

Biggs, J & Tang, C. (1999, 2011) Teaching for Quality Learning at University. Open University Press.

Bonwell, C. C., & Eison, J. A. (1991). Active learning: Creating excitement in the classroom (ASHE–ERIC Higher Education Rep. No. 1). Washington, DC: The George Washington University, School of Education and Human Development.

Freeman et al (2014). ‘Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics’. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 111:23, 8410-8415.

Michael, J. (2006). ‘Where’s the evidence that active learning works?’ Advances in Physiology Education 30:4, 159-167.

Prince (2004). ‘Does active learning work? A Review of the Research’ Journal of Engineering Education 93: 3, 223-231.

Thaman et al (2013). ‘Promoting Active Learning in Respiratory Physiology’ National Journal of Physiology, Pharmacy & Pharmacology 3: 1, 27 – 34.

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