What is active learning?

Active learning strategies are instructional activities involving learners in doing things and thinking about what they are doing.[iii] These require learners to engage in meaningful activities and think deeply about the concepts they are learning. When people engage in active learning, they are more likely to retain what they’ve learned.

The vision for this FLC is to model faculty peer teaching and learning. To do so, the commitment by participants would be one day per month beginning in early October 2025, then meet monthly for the remainder of the calendar year (November & December) and bi-monthly in the Spring 2026 semester. The time and day are up to the group membership, agreeable to those who decide to participate; FLC meetings will be held in the CSI active learning space located in Booth Library - first floor.

Each participant will receive a copy of “The New College Classroom” by Davidson and Katopodis which will be read throughout the year. Director of Faculty Development and Innovation Center, Dr. Andrew Kerins, will attend the meetings to introduce the project, orient the group, and establish the parameters, as well as facilitate the group throughout the year. Members will also get to work with FDIC Instructional Designer, Kim Ervin.

The objectives of this FLC are to:

• • Identify active learning methods and learning spaces for teaching and learning at EIU.
  • Develop a set of active learning techniques to share through the FDIC.
  • Support faculty interested in active, creative, and innovative teaching and learning.
  • Integrate teaching and learning styles that promote principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
  • Provide and receive constructive, no-stakes feedback after a teaching observation, with an emphasis on growth and improvement rather than critique.
  • Produce a cohort of active learning leaders to train, support, and empower other EIU faculty interested in active learning.

The facilitators will contact you to schedule the first meeting. Subsequent regular meeting dates will be determined by the group members.