Perceptions on the effectiveness of active learning strategies

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine students’ and instructors’ perceptions regarding the effectiveness of implementing active learning strategies in higher education courses conducted at a tertiary institution in Lebanon. Design/methodology/approach – Pre-service education students completed a questionnaire, professors were interviewed, and class sessions were observed. Findings – Main findings indicate that the majority of the learners as well as the instructors favoured active learning and are strong proponents of putting into effect this approach in all their courses. These findings indicate the positive perceptions towards active learning strategies and the possible impact that these perceptions have on students’ performance and learning. Research limitations/implications – Three major limitations have influenced the efficiency of this study. The number of participants is rather small. Only 37 education students were involved in this study. Furthermore, an additional limitation is that all the participants were females. Yet, it is worth noting that the majority of the students, who are majoring in education at that particular university, are females. Finally, it is worth mentioning that one of the researchers conducted the non-participant observations which might have influenced the data in one way or another. Practical implications – Implications from the results of the study are far reaching. A major implication is for the programmes to reconsider the organization of the classrooms to have rooms that allows for cooperative and group work. Also, classroom organization should be student centred with the teacher’s place not necessarily at the front of the room but possibly at different places in the room or even sitting with the student for some of the assignments. A second implication is that the classroom is to be viewed as a learning situation where the teacher is a guide, a facilitator in the teaching/learning context which would be blended with the lecture method when needed. A further implication is that teacher professional development is a priority for the agenda of educational institutions to help promote teaching effectiveness of this clearly important active learning. After all, the students are doing the learning and the teachers need to guide them in this process. Originality/value – The main value of this paper is to encourage university faculty members to change their teaching methods in order to engage and motivate learners.

Understanding Students’ Resistance to Autonomous Learning in an L2 English Language Course at a University in Lebanon

“…This progress was not linear and at different points throughout the semester students consistently showed resistance to collaborative and process-oriented tasks especially when they were not able to foresee or perceive how the learning activities were directly related to the course assessments (Canagarajah, 1993;Jing, 2006). This evidence that autonomous learning can be cultivated is encouraging, especially when there is a positive attitude among some university teachers and students majoring in education towards introducing active learning in Lebanese classrooms (Daouk, Bahous, & Bacha, 2016). Training preservice teachers and supporting the implementation of this type of methodology in schools eventually might bring about changes for a more learner-centered classroom culture in Lebanon.…”

“…The learning culture in both 'is characterized by the dominance of teacher-centered teaching approaches' (Lebanese Association for Educational Studies, 2006, 17). As a result, in general, most students have been trained in rote learning (Daouk, Bahous & Bacha, 2016). The official exit examination required by the Ministry of Education for all Lebanese high school students, the Lebanese Baccalaureate, compels students to memorize vast amounts of content in order to successfully pass the exam (Akar, 2012).…”

The Effect of Active Learning on Accountancy Student Learning Satisfaction through Learning Styles As Moderating Variable

“…Based on the results of the study stated that as much as 51.4 percent of students agreed that active learning is able to provide a good understanding of the material, and improve skills and develop their ideas [1]. The learning process based on active learning is expected to make students get satisfaction with the results achieved.…”

How Do Their "Group Work" Works as an Active Learning Strategy of Efl Learning

“…Most research on active learning employed quantitative approach with experimental study. Only a few research employs qualitative approach (see, for example, Daouk, Bahous, & Bacha, 2016;Momani, Asiri, & Alatawi, 2016). Of the previous research reports, there is no specific research qualitatively exploring the implementation of active learning in -more-thanone-schools/colleges and eliciting the students' opinion the implementation of active learning in EFL classroom settings.…”