Increasing Student Academic Success Through Interactive Learning

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Increasing Student Academic Success Through
Interactive Learning

• Presented by
• Dr. Barbara M. Montgomery
• Colorado State University-Pueblo Colorado, USA

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RELATIONSHIP OF TEACHING AND LEARNING

• Definitions
• Teaching content and methods
• Learning knowledge, comprehension, application,
  analysis, synthesis, evaluation
• Models
• Hypodermic Model Teaching ? Learning
• Interactive Model Teaching lt-gt Learning

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Challenges to Learning Students

• Insufficient finances
• Lack of connection
• Misfit with institutional culture
• Withdrawal from academic and social life
• V. Tinto, 1996

• Academic difficulty
• Inability to adjust
• Weak completion goal
• Vague life goals
• Lack of commitment

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Challenges to Learning Faculty

• Competing priorities
• Traditions and models
• Isolated pedagogical research
• Lack of professional development resources
• Minimum institutional rewards

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Costs of Student Underachievement

• Economic lost intellectual capital, tax
  revenue, productivity
• Social lost stability (volunteerism, charitable
  giving, family cohesiveness)
• Higher Education lost prestige, efficiency
• Personal lost opportunities, earnings, life
  satisfaction

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Who is responsible for student learning?

• The student
• The faculty
• The institution
• All of the above

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Factors Promoting Student Achievement

• Student-faculty contact
• Student cooperation
• Active learning
• Prompt feedback
• Time on task
• High expectations
• Respect for diversity
• Chickering Gamson, 1991

• Progressive learning
• Synthesizing experiences
• Integrating experiences
• On going skill practice
• Assess learning/feedback
• Informal contact with students
• Special attention to early years
• Jones Ewell,
  1993

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Traditional Interactive Learning

• TRADITIONAL TEACHING
• Teaching-centered
• Faculty dominate
• Students attentive
• Focus knowledge, comprehension

• INTERACTIVE LEARNING
• Learning-centered
• Faculty direct
• Students engaged
• Focus application, analysis, synthesis,
  evaluation

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Interactive Learning Methods

• Group discussion and projects
• Question-answer dialogue
• Case study debates
• Faculty/student interaction out of class
• Peer tutoring
• Internships
• Service learning
• Community research projects
• Faculty/student research

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Research Findings

• Knowledge acquisition
• Mastery of content
• Problem-solving skills
• Critical thinking skills
• Persistence
• Psychosocial benefits
• For summary see Braxton, et al., 2000
  Pascarella Terenzini, 2005

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Learning Communities

• A group of students take two or more thematically
  linked courses
• Peer support groups collaborative learning
• Student interaction and engagement
• Synthesizing experiences
• Integration of students academic and
  non-academic lives
• Research Enhanced learning, academic
  development (see Johnson, Johnson Smith,
  1998 Pascarella Terenzini, 2005 Mansfield et
  al., 2004)

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Supplemental Instruction

• Key Characteristics
• High risk courses
• Peer mentors as model students
• Supplementary seminars on study and learning
  skills

• Promotes
• Collaborative learning
• Student engagement
• Proactive, not reactive interventions
• Higher level of learning
• Higher graduation rates
• Pascarella Terenzini, 2005

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Colorado State University-Pueblo

• 2004 2005
• Learning Communities Writing in the disciplines
• Supplementary Instruction
• 9.3 point increase in student retention rate
• Positive response from students and faculty

• 2006
• Learning Communities in mathematics, writing
  sciences courses
• First-year Seminar
• Expanded Supplemental Instruction
• Comprehensive data tracking

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References

• Braxton, J., Milem, J. Sullivan, A. (2000).
  The influence of active learning on the college
  student departure process Toward a revision of
  Tintos theory. The Journal of Higher Education,
  71 (1), 569-590.
• Chickering, A. Gamson, Z. (1991). Applying the
  seven principles for good practice in
  undergraduate education. San Francisco
  Jossey-Bass.
• Johnson, D., Johnson, R. Smith, K. (1998).
  Cooperative learning returns to college. What
  evidence is there that it works? Change, 30,
  26-35.
• Jones, D. Ewell, P. (1993). The Effect of
  State Policy on Undergraduate Education State
  Policy and Collegiate Learning. Denver,
  Colorado Education Commission of the States.
• Mansfield, N., Commander, N. Fritz, W. (2004).
  Freshmen Learning Communities meeting the
  Needs of Commuting Students at an Urban Research
  University. Metropolitan Universities, 15 (1),
  122-134.
• Pascarella, E. Terenzini, P. (2005). How
  College Affects Students A Third Decade of
  Research. San Francisco Jossey-Bass.
• Shapiro, N. Levine, J. (1999). Creating
  Learning Communities. San Francisco
  Jossey-Bass.
• Tinto, V. (1996). Reconstructing the first year
  of college. Planning for Higher Education, 25,
  1-6.