Title: Promoting Active Learning | Teaching Commons
Headings: Promoting Active Learning
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Promoting Active Learning
About Active Learning
The Importance of Active Learning
Facilitate independent, critical, and creative thinking
Encourage effective collaboration
Increase student investment, motivation, and performance
References
See Also
Resources

Content: Increase student investment, motivation, and performance
When you invite students to actively participate in the learning environment, they take more responsibility for their performance in the course. Similarly, when they have an opportunity to make decisions about what they learn and how they use that knowledge, students see a course as more valuable and more directly related to their goals. For example: Brainstorm learning objectives – if you involve students in the development of classroom activities, e.g., allow them to choose the topic of a short discussion or generate ideas about how a concept could be applied to a problem that interests them, it automatically increases engagement levels. Involving students in classroom activities also requires them to assess their understanding and skill and rather than allowing them to rest comfortably with a surface knowledge, it forces them to develop a deeper understanding of the material. VPTL has a wide array of resources available for you to use in your classes here in Teaching Commons and an extensive collection of books, articles, and handouts on active learning strategies available for checkout from the VPTL Office. In addition, VPTL offers workshops and events throughout the year on using active learning effectively in different class settings. Incorporate active learning into your curriculum and transform your classroom into an exciting, dynamic learning environment. References
Grunert, Judith. The course syllabus: