Virginia Tech® home

Promoting Active Learning

Try These Simple, Active-Learning Strategies

Whether the class is a seminar-style discussion or a traditional lecture, LLI students are going to want to be engaged. Here are a few proven strategies to get participants involved:

Prepare a few good questions:

  • Emphasize open-ended questions (“how,” “why”),  not just single-answer or “yes”/ “no” questions. Of course, students will be less likely to engage with a question that is too broad (“what did you think about the reading?”) 
  • Questions should be paced to allow time for thought to develop. Even a 5-second wait can encourage reflection.
  • They should be capable of eliciting answers that others could build on with your prompting.
  • They should be legitimate questions, not just “fishing expeditions” for the highly specific answer the teacher may have in mind. 

Listen and respond to your students:
 You can vary your responses in the following ways:

  • Restate what the speaker has said to reinforce the point.
  • Invite the student to elaborate: "Tell us more about that."
  • Ask for clarification: "What do you mean by that?"
  • Expand the student's contribution: "That's right, and to follow up on that point…"
  • Acknowledge the originality of the response: "That's a good point. I hadn't thought of that."
  • Connect the students' response with other students' comments.

 

Admit when you don't know the answer
You'll lose more credibility by trying to fake an answer than by stating that you don't know. If you don't know the answer to a student's question, say so, "That's a good question. I'm not sure about that." Then follow up in one of the following ways:

  • ask the class if anyone knows the answer (be sure to verify any responses)
  • suggest resources that would enable the student to find the answer
  • volunteer to find the answer yourself and report back at the next class
     

Experiment with active learning techniques.
Break out of lecture or general discussion mode occasionally to engage students in simple activities that promote active learning.

  • Think/Pair/Share: Students reflect on a question or an issue defined by the instructor, jotting down a brief note or two, and then discuss with the person sitting next to them. The instructor then calls on a sampling of students to share with the rest of the class.

  • What I know already: LLI students bring all kinds of expertise and life experiences to their learning. If you’re just about to move into a new unit, ask participants to identify three things they already know about the subject and use these points to launch the lesson.

  • Class polling: It seems there is always too much to cover in an LLI course. Open a class by giving a quick preview of the options and asking students to vote by show of hands on the specific questions, cases, or texts they want to prioritize.

Reflect on your own teaching/connect with other LLI instructors:
Tips and strategies can be helpful, but some instructors may wish to confer about their teaching with a real person, an experienced LLI peer. Instructors may request to be paired with a course consultant, with whom they can discuss their plans for the course and reflect on day-to-day  teaching. The relationship is entirely voluntary. Instructors and their consultants set their own agendas and agree on how frequently they confer. Contact Jerry Niles (jerryniles@comcast.net).


Material in the section on questions was adapted from Question Strategies. Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo.Creative Commons License.

Need additional resources on active learning pedagogy?

Cornell University, Active Learning in Online Teaching
https://teaching.cornell.edu/resource/active-learning-online-teaching?_ga=2.99389022.1928429621.1707254717-294584948.1707254717

Center for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, Virginia Tech, Sample Active Learning Strategies
https://teaching.vt.edu/teachingresources/active-learning-and-interactive-lecturing.html

Interactive Techniques,  Kevin Yee
http://www.fctl.ucf.edu/TeachingAndLearningResources/CourseDesign/Assessment/content/101_Tips.pdf

Preventing Death by Lecture,  Sharon Bowman 
http://bowperson.com/sharons-articles/