The Effect of Different Active Learning Environments on Student Outcomes Related to Lifelong Learning (original) (raw)
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Role of faculty in promoting lifelong learning: Characterizing classroom environments
IEEE EDUCON 2010 Conference, 2010
Calls for educational reform emphasize the need for student-centered learning approaches that foster lifelong learning. To be a lifelong learner includes characteristics consistent with those of self-directed learners, such as being curious, motivated, reflective, analytical, persistent, flexible, and independent. Educational research has shown that the building of these aptitudes involves a complex interplay among nearly every aspect of human development. Instructor support of students' self-directed learning (SDL) development relies on understanding and balancing these factors in the classroom. Engineering educators play a critical role in influencing outcomes related to SDL through their design of courses that support students' transitions from controlled to autonomous learning behaviors. This study will examine a variety of engineering courses and pedagogical approaches. Each will be characterized using instructor course information, videotaped classroom observations of instructor-student and student-student interactions, student and instructor responses to surveys, and focus groups. Finally, the students' capacity for SDL will be measured using the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire.
2014 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) Proceedings, 2014
Despite the recognized importance of self-directed and lifelong learning for today's graduates, the processes by which learners become self-directed, and the roles that pedagogy and learning climate play in these processes, remain unclear. To better understand students' growth as lifelong learners, we conducted a two-year pilot study of engineering students at two institutions. The study approach was based on established motivation theory, as well as social-cognitive frameworks for selfregulated learning. Quantitative results revealed that students at both institutions reported autonomous motivations and an emphasis on learning over grades -encouraging indicators of lifelong learning. Students showed positive beliefs about learning, with both groups endorsing constructive over reproducible knowledge, dynamic over fixed learner ability, social over individual learning, and relatively high comfort with ambiguity. Unfortunately, the quantitative portion of the study did not reveal many significant temporal changes in students' selfdirected learning development. In this paper, we explore possible reasons for the lack of significant quantitative temporal shifts, from both theoretical and methodological perspectives. We examine questions of survey construct relevance, time scales for change, situational versus contextual level data, and group size. Insights gained from this pilot-scale study may serve to inform future investigations of lifelong learning.
Lifelong Learning: A Skill Needed Today for the Engineers of the Future
Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association, 2017
This paper will focus on our efforts to introduce the lifelong learning graduate attribute into the classroom environment required by CEAB for engineering accreditation. ENGN334: Intro to Mechatronics is a third year focus area elective course in the new engineering degree at UPEI. It gave the opportunity to develop a syllabus in which the students were encouraged to proactively participate in developing their own weekly learning goals based on the proposed list of topics. From their weekly submissions and subsequent reflections, we tried to answer if the students were setting realistic goals, assessed against SMART learning goals, and how the balance of the short and long term goals changed over the semester. It is therefore the objective of this paper to examine how effective it could be to promote realistic goal setting through professional skill development (PSD) intervention and proactive self-directed learning.
Lifelong Learning Program for engineering students
Proceedings of the 2012 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), 2012
Lifelong Learning (LLL) is critical for engaged citizens of the modern knowledge economy. Development of such generic or key competencies should be integrated throughout curricula along with specific competencies in the disciplines such as engineering. This is a common educational goal in higher education in the USA and in Europe inside the Bologna Process. To enhance the capability of students to articulate their lifelong learning competencies, we developed a "Lifelong Learning Competencies for Engineers" program. This was presented as a workshop in a senior design course at the University of San Diego. The workshop includes presentations on lifelong learning competencies and specific recommendations for engineers as well as an active learning exercise that helps students recognize their lifelong learning competence developed throughout their undergraduate career. After the workshop, the students improved their awareness of the importance of LLL for their future careers. Since lifelong learning spans disciplinary and national boundaries, this program could be adopted by other engineer educators and adapted by educators from a variety of fields.
Ac 2009-2157: Facilitating Lifelong Learning Skills Through a First-Year Engineering Curriculum
2009
Engineering accreditation criteria, as well as the Engineer of 2020 report, list lifelong learning as a critical attribute of future engineers. While exercises can be embedded in engineering curricula that promote independent learning, assessing the level at which lifelong learning has been achieved is difficult. The first year engineering curriculum at Louisiana Tech University provides activities that support development of lifelong learning skills. Examples include the requirement of student attendance at professional society meetings or service functions and independent research into global and societal issues that are likely to influence their careers. Our project-based curriculum requires skills beyond those imparted in the classroom. For example, students must learn with little or no classroom instruction to create parts and assemblies with a 3D modeling tool, to diagnose technical problems with their projects, and to learn to implement sensors as part of their design project...
Performance Improvement Quarterly, 2003
In a climate of rapid change, increasing innovation, and proliferating knowledge, lifelong learning is an important educational objective. Lifelong learning skills need to be developed if educators intend for their students to stay current in their fields. Staying abreast of new innovations, research, techniques, and information is a prerequisite for successful decision-making and problem-solving on the job. This paper provides an overview of instructional methodologies--problem-based learning, intentional learning, reciprocal teaching, and cognitive apprenticeship--that prepare students for lifelong learning. Using collaboration, reflection, student autonomy, and intrinsically-motivating activities, these instructional methodologies help students develop the metacognitive and self-directed learning skills needed to remain competitive in an ever changing professional climate. (Contains 46 references.) (SWC)
Preparing Students for Lifelong Learning: A Review of Instructional Methodologies
1997
In a climate of rapid change, increasing innovation, and proliferating knowledge, lifelong learning is an important educational objective. Lifelong learning skills need to be developed if educators intend for their students to stay current in their fields. Staying abreast of new innovations, research, techniques, and information is a prerequisite for successful decision-making and problem-solving on the job. This paper provides an overview of instructional methodologies-problem-based learning, intentional learning, reciprocal teaching, and cognitive apprenticeship-that prepare students for lifelong learning. Using collaboration, reflection, student autonomy, and intrinsically-motivating activities, these instructional methodologies help students develop the metacognitive and self-directed learning skills needed to remain competitive in an ever changing professional climate. (Contains 46 references.) (SWC)
Strategies to mitigate student resistance to active learning
International Journal of STEM Education, 2018
Background: Research has shown that active learning promotes student learning and increases retention rates of STEM undergraduates. Yet, instructors are reluctant to change their teaching approaches for several reasons, including a fear of student resistance to active learning. This paper addresses this issue by building on our prior work which demonstrates that certain instructor strategies can positively influence student responses to active learning. We present an analysis of interview data from 17 engineering professors across the USA about the ways they use strategies to reduce student resistance to active learning in their undergraduate engineering courses. Results: Our data reveal that instructor strategies for reducing student resistance generally fall within two broad types: explanation and facilitation strategies. Explanation strategies consist of the following: (a) explain the purpose, (b) explain course expectations, and (c) explain activity expectations. Facilitation strategies include the following: (a) approach non-participants, (b) assume an encouraging demeanor, (c) grade on participation, (d) walk around the room, (e) invite questions, (f) develop a routine, (g) design activities for participation, and (h) use incremental steps. Four of the strategies emerged from our analysis and were previously unstudied in the context of student resistance. Conclusions: The findings of this study have practical implications for instructors wishing to implement active learning. There is a variety of strategies to reduce student resistance to active learning, and there are multiple successful ways to implement the strategies. Importantly, effective use of strategies requires some degree of intentional course planning. These strategies should be considered as a starting point for instructors seeking to better incorporate the use of active learning strategies into their undergraduate engineering classrooms.