![]() The truth is that you can go to a bunch of sessions about about inquiry-based learning (IBL) and still not know how to implement it. Roadblock #2: It’s difficult to find adequate training and support to implement active learning. We should try not to alienate people but to welcome them into dialogue with us about teaching. In your zeal for a particular active learning technique, don’t forget that any particular teaching strategy is not going to be the magic bullet that will solve everyone else’s problems. Sometimes the active learning folks can behave like they’re members of a cult, so be careful about how you talk about active learning with your colleagues who aren’t into it.(Common myths: You can’t “cover” as much material if you use active learning or you can’t do active learning if you have too many students in a class.) Be aware of common myths about active learning and how to rebut them. If there are other folks at your institution who have had success with active learning, talk to them and find out how they measured success. Read and use the CBMS statement about active learning. There is a ton of research about active learning. Have evidence about active learning at your fingertips.If your department is not supportive, seek administrative support. How is teaching innovation viewed? Is it ok to not get stellar teaching ratings one semester when you try something new as long as you can describe what you did, show evidence of self-reflection and improvement? Most administrators are reasonable and understand that tenure processes are not supposed stifle teaching innovation. Get clarification from them about what the tenure and promotion expectations are. Especially if you’re a junior or pre-tenure person, know who you can trust to tell you the truth about the prevailing attitudes and practices are at your institution. Don’t be naive about your departmental/institutional culture.If your institution has a teaching and learning center, find folks there who can support you. Look for people at your institution in other disciplines. Are there folks in your department who use active learning? Talk to them. Some possible strategies to overcome these roadblocks: Unless we get our institutions to expect faculty to spend on teaching, folks won’t do it. Many people will say that teaching matters, but when the rubber meets the road, what do senior people in department and on reappointment committees really think about spending time on teaching instead of research? At many schools, especially research-intensive schools, spending time on teaching is a hindrance. Reappointment/promotion practices and departmental culture often discourages teaching innovation.Sometimes, they are even seen as a good thing because of a commitment to upholding “high standards” and seeing Calculus courses (or intro math) as gatekeeper courses. In many institutions, high DFW rates are not seen as a problem. If departments don’t seem something as needing to be fixed, then they won’t invest the time to fix it.In our discipline, lecture is still dominant and it is uncomfortable to go against the dominant culture.Roadblock #1: Department/institution culture is often not set up to encourage teaching innovation Here’s a link to Debbie’s notes on active learning based on her presentations at 2017 JMM. Here are some of my thoughts on the institutional and personal roadblocks that prevent faculty from implementing active learning in mathematics courses. Larissa, Kimberly Presser (Shippensburg University), and I spoke. Why hasn’t it been more widely adopted? Debbie Gochenaur (Shippensburg University) and Larissa Schroeder (University of Hartford) organized a panel discussion at the 2017 Joint Mathematics Meetings on this subject. The CBMS put out a strong statement advocating for “institutions of higher education, mathematics departments and the mathematics faculty, public policy-makers, and funding agencies to invest time and resources to ensure that effective active learning is incorporated into post-secondary mathematics classrooms.”Īctive learning has been around a while. As I posted last October, the evidence in support of the benefits of active learning for student learning is very robust.
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