10 Steps to Active Learning

I was looking through Stella Cottrell’s “The Study Skills Handbook” the other day and came across a piece on ‘Active Learning’. I believe this is one of the most important factors in studying at university. After going through GCSE and A-Level experiences, there is too much emphasis on passive learning.

With passive learning, the student waits to be given what is supposedly important. It’s more a case of take the information that’s put in front of them and try to remember it, or copy it down without really knowing what the overall picture is.

Active learning, on the other hand, is about engaging with the subject and taking on the bigger picture. The student gets involved with the information and seeks out further ideas for development.

Another kind of active learning! (photo by EUSKALANATO)

If you’ve ever heard a student say, “I couldn’t answer the question because the teacher didn’t teach us that,” then you’ve seen an effect of passive learning. Maybe you’ve said that yourself in the past. The learning tends to be in isolation.

When you get to university, you’re propelled into a setting that relies strongly on doing your own work, conducting your own research, using your own initiative. This is why active learning plays such a strong part in studying toward any degree in Higher Education.

So I’d like to share with you 10 strategies that Cottrell suggests to take your learning further and my thoughts and agreements with the suggestions:

1. “Prepare for lectures” – While many turn up for lectures, possibly without even knowing the title of it, let alone the subject matter, you can walk in with a 20-minute basic understanding of the topic of discussion for that day. When you hear the lecturer speak, the words will make sense and you will sense the direction in which the talk is going. The content may be more focused and technical in manner, but your initial search on Google, a brief read of the main Wikipedia page, and flicking through the topic in your textbooks will be worth it’s weight, because you can get on with processing the information and asking questions as you go along, while others will be writing down whatever they hear, because they haven’t had the basic insight that you have.

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Pushing Daisies and being swayed by suggestion

I was checking through various news items early this morning and noticed something that’s worth mentioning to you:

No matter how clever we think we are at bypassing other people’s suggestions, we regularly pick up on bias, opinion and interpretation without noticing.

Consider this…ITV1 started showing an American programme, Pushing Daisies, as part of its weekend peak-slot lineup.  In my opinion, it’s good fun (remember, that’s my opinion).  ITV have made a big marketing push for the show.  They want you to like it too, naturally.  If you missed the first episode, you can watch it on the ITV catch-up feature (UK only, I believe).  I found the introductory opening on YouTube too:

The first episode to air in the UK had 5.7million viewers, according to overnight figures.

So how does that sound to you?  Brilliant, Reasonable, Rubbish?

According to The Guardian, Pushing Daisies ‘wilts’ on its debut, after viewing figures “failed to live up to expectations”.  It’s probably wise to ask, whose expectations?

BBC News called the figures “a relatively strong showing for a US import”.

Brand Republic also mentioned “relatively strong” figures that were “solid, if not spectacular”.

I don’t want to start analysing the figures themselves, or start breaking down the different age ranges of viewers.  I just find it interesting that 5.7million viewers has been seen in both a positive and negative light.  The same information has resulted in different opinions.

Different opinions are to be expected, but we need to be aware that they are constantly fed to us in order to maintain a sensible balance in life.  If I had only read the article in The Guardian, I might have thought it a shame that the show may not have the oomph in place to keep running here in the UK.  But if I’d only read the Brand Republic article, I could have walked away quite pleased with the results.  Who knows?  As it stands, I see the figure as a good start and I hope it stays that way, or gets better with word of mouth.  I hope this because I like the programme.  That’s the bias.

While many of us try to keep an open mind about things, we’re still swayed by what we consume, whether we like it or not.  It’s worth remembering not to blindly accept what we see, even if it’s based on facts and figures.  It’s the least we can do to fighting the daily barrage.

Twitter Time

For those of you in the know, I’ve finally set up a Twitter account.

For those of you who aren’t aware of Twitter, I’m now writing brief updates (no more than 140 characters…them’s the rules) and providing various EduLinks throughout the day.  You can find the Twitter box to the side of the page.

Twitter Logo

Regular readers will have noticed more sporadic posting than usual.  Still 2 or 3 regular posts each week, but a lack of EduLinks.  It’s all because I’m preparing for the birth of my first child.  Woo!

So rather than feel overwhelmed after the birth, I wanted to arrange provision for TheUniversityBlog.  I thought the best way of doing that was to prepare loads of blogging topics, start writing about a zillion posts, and do it in the time I would usually sort out EduLinks posts.

That’s why Twitter seems a good idea.  I can keep you updated outside of standard blog posting, and I can post over general links as and when I discover them.  Let me know how you feel about it as I go on.

My Twitter account is at http://twitter.com/universityboy and you can follow me (subscribe to my Twitter feed) there or simply check the side of the page here on TheUniversityBlog.

Keep up with my short updates and EduLinks at Twitter

More scope for linking up?

I saw an article on the This Is Exeter website, “University link makes waves in education“.  Students from Exmouth (University of Plymouth) and York have come together on a project for Education Studies.

I wonder why universities don’t collaborate more often.  It’s always felt like an exciting prospect to me.  So it was great to hear that students from different universities had joined forces, resulting in a book entitled “Making Waves in Education”.  It will be available to Plymouth and York university libraries, as well as online as an e-journal for students at other universities to read.

Your own university is probably a huge enough resource, without wanting to look to other unis for collaborative links.  But if you have a specific focus and you can’t find what (or who) you need within the walls of your own institution, it’s worth remembering that there are many thousands of students and academics across the country who may want to get together on a project.

Who knows, it could prove the beginning of a beautiful friendship…