Let Your Students Discover Your Content
Although many teachers and instructors today agree on the need to promote active involvement of students in their own learning process, there is still considerable disagreement on how best to achieve that worthy goal. Perhaps the greatest area of difference is the role of content material. There are some teachers who believe learning activities should be structured to allow students the opportunity to discover important content on their own, with minimum input from the teacher, if any. Others, however, believe the teacher still has the responsibility to determine and present content to be learned, but to structure content presentations in ways to promote active involvement. They start with the premise that the content of a well developed lecture is a valuable resource, and serves as a starting point for finding active learning opportunities. Almost all lectures have an inherent structure that can be broken into content “chunks.” Contemporary brain-based research … Read More..
Active Involvement in the Classroom – Is There Room for Individual Assignments?
In the closing years of the twentieth century, advances in computerized imaging technology gave researchers the opportunity to study how the brain actually learns. To date, their findings appear to confirm what many educators have believed for centuries. Actively engaging the mind of the learner leads to better learning than allowing them to sit back and passively receive information presented by a teacher. In theory, this conclusion is hard to dispute, although some do. In practice, finding methods to allow active involvement while at the same time ensuring sufficient time to cover required course content is difficult. One of the favorite methods of many instructors is group discussion. In situations where all members of the group are eager to participate, it is easy to assume everyone is learning. However, in the real world, this is not always the case. Individuals can and do get lost in the group process and … Read More..
Group Discussion Skills – Remember, Rome Was Not Built in a Day
Hardly a month goes by without some article appearing somewhere bemoaning the deficiencies of our traditional educational system. Even in the business pages you will find articles about how contemporary education is failing to produce students ready to work in a 21st century world where creativity, problem-solving, and independent thinking have become more important than at any time in our history. One of the most efficient and cost-effective means of promoting these skills in educational settings is the group discussion. Content of all types previously reserved for lecture notes is being turned into group discussion instructions. With some learners, the transition from a teacher-centered lecture approach to a student-centered group discussion approach comes easily. Students are thrilled with the opportunity to get actively involved and teachers are equally thrilled with the level of motivation and enthusiasm effective group discussions can generate. However, some learners struggle to make that transition. The … Read More..
The Role of the Teacher in Effective Group Discussions
In the modern world, even the popular press is jumping on the bandwagon of active learning. Traditional methods of education all over the world are under attack for their perceived inability to prepare learners for life in the 21st century. As the world increasingly goes digital and new opportunities for active involvement in an endless array of tasks appear on the Internet daily, the traditional lecture hall is viewed as a dinosaur. The fact is that incorporating digital technology in the educational setting is expensive and beyond the resources of both some businesses and schools. Group discussions, however, are a way to get students actively involved in their own learning in any educational setting and without the need for expensive, high-tech equipment. What role should a teacher or industrial instructor play in group discussions? Should the teacher determine the content of the discussion task? Or should the teacher simply be … Read More..
3 Keys to Effective Group Discussion
Teachers and Instructors everywhere committed to finding ways to increase the active involvement of students in their own learning are turning to group discussion sessions. In theory, a discussion amongst peers about different aspects of the content they are learning should be an ideal way to engage the minds of all students and thus increase their learning. In practice, however, there are significant conditions that must be present in order for a group discussion to achieve the desired affect. A group discussion is not some kind of magic bullet, guaranteed to increase what students learn and retain. Group discussion of any kind requires certain skills and conditions to be present in the participants for the discussion to be effective. Here are three of the most important keys to consider: Communication Skills Conflict Resolution Skills Participation Communication There are individuals who are simply not comfortable talking in groups, especially with others … Read More..
