Homecoming: Axiom 5 – Strategies for Active Learning in Lecture-Based Direct Instruction Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. ~ Barak Obama Faculty and students spend quite a lot of time together. The federal government defines a credit hour1 as requiring “one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of two hours of out-of- class student work each week for approximately fifteen weeks” or “at least an equivalent amount of work . for other activities as established by an institution, including laboratory work, internships, practica, studio work, and other academic work.” The term “hour” usually refers to 50 minutes of instruction or 150 minutes per week for lecture classes.a Therefore, the question we’ll address in this axiom is: how can we best use those 150 minutes to maximize our students’ learning? First, let’s take a moment to understand how our the human brain works during lectures. Current cognitive science tells us that adult learners can pay attention to a lecture for about 15 minutes, delimited by two factors: working memory and interference. Working memory is how the brain processes new concepts, attempting to link incoming data to existing knowledge. We actively pay attention as we receive and work with unfamiliar ideas and information. However, our capacity to take in new information decreases as input from the ongoing lecture continues to flow toward us, creating interference when we are still trying to make sense of the earlier information we received.2 It’s like the famous episode of I Love Lucy where Lucy and Ethel work in a candy factory– the candies keep rolling in faster than the friends can wrap them, so they stuff them in their mouths, hide them in their hats, and even put them inside their shirts. It’s hilarious with Lucy and Ethel, but not nearly as funny when you’re sitting in a lecture hall overwhelmed by information, struggling to take notes fast enough to keep up with the professor. We faculty believe we’re doing the right thing as educators by communicating as much course content as we can, but this method is counterproductive simply because of how students’ brains process incoming information. In other words, the longer we lecture, the more we create a Laboratory, studio,or practicum courses have differing class time requirements because students do more of their work in the presence of the instructor and less outside of scheduled class times than in lecture courses. We might also consider that these types of courses already utilize active learning such as artistic creation or performance, hands-on scientific processes, or the refinement of professional skills. cognitive impediments for our students, which is contrary to our goals. The solution is to interrupt the flow of our lectures with breaks for active learning. Nevertheless, the thought of stepping away from lecturing can be uncomfortable. We faculty know how much content we must cover with our students. It can feel like our class sessions are already too short to convey all the information we want our students to know. If we can’t use every minute for lecture, how can we still be sure our students are going to learn? The solution lies in reframing the problem to consider instruction differently. First, let’s assume you’ve created a PowerPoint presentation of the lecture you want to deliver. You know the presentation has taken up the entire class session when you’ve taught it in previous semesters. However, you’d like to try some active learning strategies even though you know it might mean you won’t cover all of your slides in class. What should you do about the unfinished part of the presentation? I’d like to offer three suggestions. 1. The easiest solution is to post the entire PowerPoint presentation to the class site on your institution’s LMS (Learning Management System) and tell students that part of their homework is to finish reading the rest of the slides online after class. 2. Many of us spent a great deal of time during emergency remote teaching creating video lectures for our courses. You could repurpose those lectures and try a flipped model of teaching. Post the videos to the LMS and assign students to view your recorded lectures BEFORE class. This strategy frees up your whole class session for discussion and active learning. 3. Reconsider your lecture thoughtfully to decide how you could shorten it. What are the most essential points that students must know for the exams in your course? What must they know before they enroll in subsequent courses in this major? What content could you omit? What ideas could you convey through a different channel like a reading assignment or video? When there’s not enough time to fit everything in, it’s time to focus on the essentials. Incorporating active learning into your lecture class is about finding a new rhythm for instruction. Consider the following diagram showing a 75-minute lecture classb divided into alternating sections for lecture-based direct instruction and active learning (abbreviated as “AL” in the image). The professor teaching this class would lecture for ten minutes, then pause for a 5-minute active learning element, b Institutions often schedule classes twice a week for 75-90 minutes, or three times a week for 50-60 minutes. This example presumes the course is held twice a week for 75 minutes each time. lecture for another ten minutes, then conduct another 5-minute active learning element, and so on, ending with a 5-minute wrap-up. This structure works with what we know about how people learn because breaking up the flow of words gives our brains time to digest the information they already received. It also gives students opportunities to interact with one another, which builds classroom community and strengthens the social aspects of learning. Sample Model of Direct Instruction + Active Learning Lecture AL Lecture AL Lecture AL Lecture AL Lecture Wrap-Up 10 min 5 min 10 min 5 min 10 min 5 min 10 min 5 min 10 min 5 min This model is most definitely not required – it’s just one idea among many about how we could divide a class session into a new rhythm for learning. Individual Engagement Strategies Next, let’s consider some active learning strategies that students can do individually. We have both high-tech and low-tech options at our disposal. If you were a student or faculty member in the 1990s or 2000s, you might be familiar student response systems, which required students to purchase a handheld remote (a clicker) to participate in classroom polling or answer multiple choice questions during lectures. Today’s version of this technology utilizes students’ ubiquitous mobile devices through online polling applications such as Doodle, PollEverywhere, Mentimeter, Slido, and more. Most of these apps have free versions available, although many also have a premium edition giving faculty access to more features by purchasing a service plan. However, before we go deeper into the pros and cons of online polling, let’s talk for moment about access, inclusion, and technology. Just because the vast majority of our students seem to own a smartphone doesn’t mean that we won’t inadvertently exclude some students who don’t have a device like this. Inequitable resources were very evident during the pandemic, when many of our students struggled with remote learning because they lacked basic requirements like fast, reliable home wi-fi, webcams, or up-to-date computers capable of running the necessary software we expected them to use. Therefore, it would be wise to check-in with your students to see if they have the necessary technological tools and capacities, and plan how you could help those who lack these resources . For example, when Ohio State University transitioned from a standard clicker system to a smartphone- based app, the university created a plan that allowed students to purchase an inexpensive wi-fi enabled tablet for the same price as the clickers that had formerly been required university-wide.3 After you’ve verified that all your students can participate, the next step to using online polling is to research the apps available and select one that meets your needs. You’ll need to invest a little time in learning how to use the app, and you should also help your students access the app before you plan to employ it in class. Next, plan breaks in your lecture where you’ll pause and use the app to pose a multiple-choice question, practice problem, or survey item, embedding it into your presentation. Students respond to the question when prompted, and the app immediately directs their answers to you, showing how many students answered correctly and providing on-the-spot information about students’ learning. Instant polling has several advantages. First, it puts students’ smartphones to good use by engaging their interest in your teaching. Next, it encourages every student to participate. Usually, only one or two students get a chance to answer when the professor asks a question in class, but with online polling, every student can respond. Likewise, online polling allows shy or anxious students to participate more actively while remaining safely anonymous. Third, using a projection system to show incoming responses gives students immediate feedback and lets them see how their answers compare to their classmates. Faculty can see whether students understand a concept and re-teach or review on the spot if misconceptions or errors are apparent.