David McConnell sees both benefit and paradox in active learning.
McConnell, a professor of marine, earth and atmospheric sciences at North Carolina State University, spoke to members of the geology department at KU last week about his research into active learning and his work in helping others adopt active learning techniques in their classes.
“What just happened?” Carl Luchies asked his graduate teaching assistant.
They stood at the front of a lecture hall in early 2013, watching as 120 normally subdued engineering undergraduates burst into spontaneous conversation.
Luchies, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, had just given the students a problem to work on and told them it was a collaborative quiz due at the end of class. Students could work with anyone in the room, he said.
“Anyone?” they asked.
By Doug Ward
Matthew Ohland talks confidently about the best ways to form student teams.
In a gregarious baritone punctuated by frequent, genuine laughs, he freely shares the wisdom he has gained from leading development of a team creation tool called CATME and from studying the dynamics of teams for more than two decades.
By Doug Ward and Mary Deane Sorcinelli
BOULDER, Colo. – Symbolism sometimes makes more of a difference than money in bringing about change in higher education.
By Doug Ward
One poster offers to explain the chemistry of the world’s most popular drug.
Another teases about the fatty acids that make T-shirts feel soft.
Still another promises secrets about the oils used in making the perfect chicken nugget.
None of them offers its secrets outright, though. And that’s just how Drew Vartia, a postdoctoral teaching fellow in the chemistry department, wants it.
By Doug Ward
I’m frequently awed by the creative, even life-changing, work that students engage in.