Techniques that Support Active Learning

The Future of Professional Education

Sean Dagony-Clark, Head of Education for HackerUSA, discusses how to foster a classroom full of active learning using techniques that include Checking for Understanding, Thumb Meter, prediction, Think/Pair/Share, Do Now, Exit Ticket, and Self-testing.

Active learning creates meaningful learning. While information delivery (lecture, reading, watching) is necessary to add information to the learner's knowledge base, it's not enough to create durable understanding and skills. Active learning is what accomplishes that.

Active learning means mental engagement, not physical activity. An active learning experience is something more than lecture; it requires that the learner uses the information from the lecture to do something. That could involve a conversation, an activity, role-playing, answering questions, basically anything that requires the learner to engage mentally with the materials that have been taught. That engagement is what builds deeper understanding from base-level knowledge.

There are numerous ways to create active learning experiences in your classroom. None are the "right" way; they're just tools for your educational toolbox. A few active learning techniques are described in this episode, and we hope you'll find them useful. Teachers at HackerU get access to our Launch Pad training program, where they learn a lot of other active learning techniques and how to apply them in the classroom.

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