Ten Tasks for Faculty who use active learning

1. Identify the real objectives of learning (e.g. students should know why or how, not just what).

2. Understand the process that students are learning (e.g. the solving, not just the solution).

3. Be patient and react to what is said, not who said it.

4. Think on your feet so you can turn any outcome into a learning opportunity.

5. Be willing to entertain alternative solution paths or explanations in case the students go in a different but reasonable direction.

6. Act as a facilitator of learning rather than a deliverer of content.

7. Have a deep understanding of the content and how a student might go about learning it.

8. Accept less breadth in the interest of greater depth of understanding.

9. Alter the testing procedures to reflect what was done in the active learning format.

10. Be able to accept when it doesn’t work the first time and keep on trying.