iCochise - Principle 3: Active Learning
Good practice in undergraduate education encourages active learning.
Introduction
Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much by just sitting in classes listening to lectures, memorizing prepackaged assignments, and spitting out answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write reflectively about it, relate it to past experiences, and apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves.
The online environment must be at least as active as the traditional classroom. This, though, is hardly a challenge if the traditional classroom includes only a passive 50-minute lecture. It seems odd that educators have known for many years that lecture is the least effective way to teach a class; yet, too many college classes include little more than lecture activities.
Notes
One of the traditional methods used to keep students engaged in active learning was the simple act of taking notes. The Web includes tools to encourage students to take and post class notes online.
Note Tools
Diigo. This site permits people to add sticky notes to websites, store and share links, and do all sorts of other notetaking. If you are using the Web for research, it's worth a look. You may also like to know that Diigo has an app for the iPad and Droid; so you can use it with your mobile devices.
Evernote. This is an online notepad. Students will be able to make quick notes about whatever crosses their minds, save those notes online, and then access them from any computer with a web connection. The free version is fine for most students, but the Premium version includes iPad and Droid apps.
Also, consider NoteMesh for collaborative class notetaking. This is a specialized wiki application which is recommended in both Principle Two and Principle Seven on this site.
Simulations
One of the chores computers handle very well is simulation. For many years, pilots have relied on flight simulators to help them learn to work with aircraft in challenging environments. Simulators help teah astronauts, nuclear power plant operators, medical technicians, and many other people. With simulators, instructors can teach very difficult lessons in a way that keeps from putting innocent people at risk.
Students in less glamorous professions can also profit from simulators. There are simulators available in many disciplines; though the better ones can be rather pricey. Most good simulations must be installed on a computer and run offline; however, following is a short list of a few simulators available online for free.
Simulator Tools
Auscultation Assistant - This is a medical word that means to listen. Doctors and nurses use auscultation when they listen to your heart and lungs with a stethoscope. Many heart problems can be diagnosed by just learning how different medical conditions sound. This web site presents different heart sounds and describes what they mean.
Cartes du Ciel - This "Sky Chart" program is different from the other simulations listed. This is a free program, but must be downloaded and installed on a computer; it is not run online. This is an astronomy program that catalogs thousands of stars and draws charts of the sky as it appears on any given night and from any location on earth. Cartes du Ciel is a "planetarium in a box." There are versions available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, so all common operating systems are covered.
Chemistry Lab is a way to mix chemicals and observe the results. This is much safer than actually handling dangerous chemicals in a physical lab and may give students a bit of experience with chemistry concepts. This simulator can be run online, or it can be downloaded and run from the student's computer at home.
Jamestown - This is a short simulation requiring the user to make some decisions about the Jamestown colony. Those decisions (like what types of crops to plant) will eventually lead to a "score" for the leader of the colony.
Microscope - This is an online microscope with a number of prepared "slides" to look at. The light source and intensity, focus, and other factors can be controlled for a view of a hair or other interesting objects.
Natural Selection Lab is a simplified way to demonstrate evolution. It involves a colony of creatures who learn to eat flying "blobs;" and the most efficient creature eventually passes on genes that change the entire population.
Physics Lab - This is a series of 80 physics simulators from the University of Colorado covering motion, sound and waves, work, heat, quantum phenomona, light, electricity, and more. These can be run online or downloaded to use in a lab and are excellent simulators.
Roller Coaster - This simulator invites folks to build a roller coaster and is designed to teach lessons related to elementary physics (such as gravity and acceleration).
Traffic - This is a very simple simulation of a traffic intersection. The number of cars and trucks entering the intersection can be controlled, and various problems can be introduced (like closing one lane due to construction). It doesn't take long to create a really nasty traffic jam.
Games
Marc Prensky has written a provocative essay entitled "Digital Natives." In that essay, he posits that people under the age of about 20 are "Digital Natives" whose brains are physically wired differently from those of us my age, who are "Digital Immigrants." Marc maintains that the best way to teach digital natives is through games.
Games Tools
Tads. Of course, there are hundreds of games available (most of rather dubious educational quality). However, if you ever wanted to try your hand at creating a game of your own you will want to download and learn Tads. This system permits instructors to create a text-based game that can be used to teach a lesson. For example, a composition instructor could create a game where a character wanders through a forest solving puzzles related to various parts of speech. In the end, the student has studied the parts of speech, but has enjoyed doing it. While creating a game is not the easiest skill to master, it is rewarding for students who would become more actively engaged with their lessons.
SecondLife. This is a virtual world where people control avatars and attend functions together. In SecondLife, instructors can create traditional classrooms and invite students to join them there; but why copy the real world? Instructors can build, for example, Dantes' Inferno and a class can meet there for a discussion of literature or meet in a giant, walk-through heart for a discussion of anatomy.
Nobel Prize Games. The Nobel Prize web site has a number of clever games that help students learn about the various Nobel awards. For example, there is a game where students have to test the blood of three victims and then give them the proper type of blood to save their lives (the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physiology was for the discovery of blood types).
Timeline
Students can create timelines online that will help them to "lock in" dates, places, and people.
Timeline Tools
xTimeLine. Instructors or students can create and share timelines on this site. If someone wanted a nice timeline showing the history of a discipline or even a biography of someone's life, this would be the place to do that work. Of course, there are already dozens of timelines written by other students and instructors already available there, which could be used in class.
Case Studies
There are thousands of case studies available online. Instructors can rather easily find one or more for any given discipline with a Google search.