Page 19 - Campus Technology, May/June 2018

21ST CENTURY CLASSROOM dian schaffhauser
10 Steps to Achieving Active Learning on a Budget
Active learning often means revamping classrooms to enable more collaborative, hands-on student work — and that can be costly. Here’s how to achieve the pedagogical change without the high expense.
ACTIVE LEARNING is a great way to increase student excitement and participation, facilitate different kinds of learning activities, help people develop skills in small group work, promote discussion, boost attendance and give an outlet for technology usage that stays on track. It also requires remaking classrooms to enable that hands-on, collaborative student work — and that can often mean a six-figure price tag. But at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH, a $12,000 experiment proved successful enough that the institution now sports two permanent active learning classrooms as well as a brand-new active learning lab. Here are the 10 steps this school with just under 2,000 students followed on its road to active learning victory.
1) Let the Pedagogy Lead the Business Case
Saint Anselm’s journey began with discussions at its annual summer faculty institute, which examined new ways of teaching, flipped classes, project-based learning, active learning “and things of that nature,” reported Kim Round, head of Instructional Technology and Design (IT&D), a division of Information Technology. While many faculty
Mobile desks in one of Saint Anselm’s active learning classrooms can be joined in various puzzle-piece formats to facilitate a multitude of configurations.
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CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY | May/June 2018
Kimberlee Round, Saint Anselm College