I think the active learning versus lecture debate is finally
moving on to more useful
questions than which one is better. Now there’s interest in deciding when to
lecture and when to use active learning. When do we make those decisions, and
are we making them purposefully? It seems to me that the place to start is with
the realization that it isn’t a one-time decision but something to consider at
four different points.
It’s an issue to confront when planning tomorrow’s class session. At that point, the decision needs to reflect what best suits the content. If the content is new or complex or has confused students previously, the teacher may need to explain it. If it’s a set of related ideas, perhaps the teacher makes the first link and students work to put the rest together. If the content has already been covered, students will benefit more by doing the review themselves than by having the teacher do it for them.
It’s also a decision to consider when designing or redesigning a course. At this juncture, it isn’t
just what to do on a daily basis; rather, it’s an overall vision of how lecture
and active learning will be used across the course. The underlying question
involves the best way to learn the course material, and that includes learning
the content and the skills the content can be used to develop. What’s a good
balance between learning through listening and learning through practice? Sometimes
that distinction is easy to see. Students can learn about a professional skill—say, CPR—but they won’t be able to use it
unless they practice. The distinction is less obvious with thinking skills. What
can students learn about critical thinking or problem-solving by seeing someone
else do it, and what can they learn about each when they practice doing them?
During course design or redesign, the lecture/active learning decision
also needs to account for students. Where are they in relation to the content? Is
the material all new to them? How much foundational knowledge do they need
before they’re able to start working with the content on their own? If the new content
presumes prior knowledge, how likely are students to have it? What level of
interest do students have in course content, and is that interest better
heightened by hearing about the content or by doing something with it?
Consideration of lecture or active learning should be part of
the conversation when colleagues are creating
a curriculum. What’s a good balance of active learning and lecture across a
set of courses? Does one or the other work best given the content of particular
courses? Are there reasons for more active learning at some points in the
curriculum—say, early on? Should the active learning experiences themselves be
sequenced, maybe by their complexity? Perhaps a more fundamental question than
these should come first: Is it possible to increase the potency of learning
experiences by considering how active learning and lecture might connect across
courses and throughout a curriculum?
Perhaps the most challenging decision is the one made when class is in session. Deciding in the moment depends on having
a repertoire of strategies on hand, having additional explanations or examples
to resolve the confusion, or seeing the need for activity to refocus attention
or practice to reinforce a new understanding. Being able to summon what’s needed
and fit it to the content on the fly requires skill and courage. Both come with
experience and the willingness to take risks. The payoff is how that
flexibility can switch on learning, make it happen when it isn’t taking place.
Active learning and lecture—it’s not always obvious when to use
one or the other. We haven’t discovered empirically or practically the best way
to balance them within a class session, course, or curriculum. But we need to
start figuring that out because there may be synergies between the two we have
yet to discover. Let’s begin by considering when to make decisions about which to
use. Then we can move on to the equally complicated and unexplored relationship
between what needs to be taught and the best strategies for learning it.
