New ALN co-created book

Making active learning happen for all

The active learning network is developing a new book to support staff and students in the sphere of active learning. Our draft title is Making Active Learning Happened for All. We welcome contributions from students, from staff, and by staff and students collaboratively. Please feel free to share this call with staff and students as well as the Google form to submit your proposal ALN book ‘Making active learning happen for all’

Active learning as opposed to ‘drill and spill’ or ‘chalk and talk’ is largely acknowledged (see e.g. Prince 2004 & Deslauriers et. al 2019)  as the most effective way to develop the attributes, behaviours and skills associated with a graduate including critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, teamwork, leadership, and many others.  However, it is still not routinely embedded in day-to-day higher, further and other post-compulsory education curriculum practices and this publication seeks to draw together insights and change strategies that focus on challenging and changing the status quo in relation to one (or more) of the following perspectives:

  • Active Learning –making it work for students
  • Active Learning – making it work for Staff
  • Active Learning – making it work at your institution

In your proposal, we invite you to explore strategies or approaches that facilitate the adoption of active learning in a sustainable and inclusive way.  Your proposal might address one or more of the following themes (drawn from ideas shared on the Active Learning Network festival padlet March 2024):

Active Learning –making it work for students

  • Student expectations of active learning
  • Introducing active learning to students across the curriculum including transition-in to study
  • Active learning in the context of individual differences
  • Students as producers and co-creators in the context of active learning

Active Learning – making it work for Staff

  • Staff attitudes and beliefs, expectations
  • Reward and recognition for staff (value and reward the outcomes, gains, and achievements associated with active learning including team-based innovation)
  • Teacher development
  • Evaluation strategies including those that identify learning gain(s) from active learning
  • Working with Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Bodies (PSRBs) and other regulatory requirements
  • Role of AI in enhancing active learning experiences/developing transferable skills
  • Interdisciplinarity and active learning

Active Learning- making it work at your institution

  • Institutional strategy
  • Change leadership/enablers and barriers/resourcing/language
  • Appreciative approaches to support innovation (build on what works already).
  • Learning spaces and facilities

This call invites contributions in one of the following formats:

  • Full chapters: 6000 words (max)
  • Case Studies: 2000 words (max)
  • Opinion Piece/Personal Perspective 400 words (max)

For the opinion piece, we are looking to hear about the lived experience of students and staff from a broad range of perspectives.

This will be an online publication so links to additional resource material and creative approaches to presentation are encouraged. This may include a version of your chapter in your native language (if it is not English).

Format of your Proposal

Use the enclosed Google Form ALN book ‘Making active learning happen for all’ to submit your proposal (max 300 words) in English

The proposal should include the following:

  • Link to one or more of the listed themes
  • An indication of which section the contribution best sits:
    • Active Learning –making it work for students
    • Active Learning – making it work for staff
    • Active Learning – making it work at your institution
  • Names and contact details of all the contributing authors

The deadline for proposals is 18th September 2024.

Janet Horrocks and Sarah Wilson-Medhurst on behalf of ALN book steering group

j.horrocks@abertay.ac.uk and sarah.wilsonmedhurst@gmail.com

Prince, M. (2004), Does Active Learning Work? A Review of the Research. Journal of Engineering Education, 93: 223-231. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2168-9830.2004.tb00809.x

Deslauriers, L. McCarty, L. S., Miller, K., Callaghan, K. & Kestin, G. (2019). Measuring actual learning versus feeling of learning in response to being actively engaged in the classroom. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(39), 19251-19257. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1821936116