ADAPTING STRUCTURED ACTIVE LEARNING EXERCISES TO AN ASYNCHRONOUS ONLINE LEARNING FOR INTRODUCTORY STUDENTS (Invited Presentation)

The incorporation of active learning techniques into large-enrollment courses can be daunting, particularly if both the instructor and students have more experience in lecture-only settings. Many easy-to-implement formative assessments, such as peer instruction and think-pair-share, are relatively easy to incorporate into existing lecture courses and have proven benefits to students learning (McConnell et al., 2017). My introductory geology courses utilize these strategies, which have allowed me to identify common misunderstandings prior to summative assessments and provided a focus for the development of more time-intensive active learning strategies.

Several of the activities I’ve developed to address common misunderstandings have morphed over time as summative assessment results illustrate the efficacy of each active learning activity. In some cases, student scores on multiple choice exam questions varied significantly based on the inclusion of active learning techniques. When student learning gains were not observed, the active learning technique was modified, typically by adding more structure to the activity. This structure also gave students more independence when completing the assignments, which was essential as class size is up to 144 students and I had no teaching assistant.

During the Spring 2020 semester, these pre-existing, structured active learning exercises were expanded further to allow for asynchronous completion of active learning exercises. Fifteen-minute recorded lectures, the assigned textbook, and existing websites and YouTube videos replaced synchronous lectures for the second half of the semester. Regularly scheduled class periods became additional office hours for answering student questions. Feedback from student evaluations indicated that students felt that this approach was both equitable and effective, although they missed working with their groups and being able to ask questions in class. I will teach with a combined synchronous/asynchronous approach to give students more opportunities to interact with classmates in Zoom break-out room think-pair-shares and other techniques that foster a classroom community.