Mastering the Art of Facilitation: Empowering Educators to Foster Active Learning

Presenters: Bill Davis and Nancy DeVore
Active learning and student-centered learning are closely connected and often go hand in hand. Student-centered learning shifts the traditional teacher-centered approach to an approach that centers around the needs, interests, and goals of the student, and it recognizes each student is unique. Student Centered learning implies that their learning experiences should be tailored to their individual needs. Active learning theory on the other hand, prioritizes the learner’s active engagement and it requires active participation, repetition of opportunities. It is a developmentally appropriate theory that is reinforcing to students, and it limits distractions, and it is easy to apply across a wide range of adult learners in open access learning institutions. Active learning is simply the process of doing and observing, and the process of dialogue with self, and dialogue with others.
In our combined years of higher education teaching experience, we have seen firsthand how active learning enhances student engagement in higher ed open access learning institutions. Active learning promotes a deep understanding of content, and it fosters the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Open access educators can apply specific active learning methods in their classrooms, curriculum, and in their one-on-one student mentoring and coaching sessions. Active learning can be easily integrated into an educator’s teaching philosophy. Active Learning methods include identifying relevance, activating prior knowledge, directing attention, elaborating, chunking, and organizing. In this presentation, attendees will gain a deeper understanding of student-centered learning, active learning, and the presenters will focus in and fully explain two active learning methods to show attendees how to apply them successfully in open access higher education. Examples will be provided.
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