Article,
Groupwork in Active Learning Classrooms: Recommendations for Users.
Journal of Learning Spaces, (2020)
Abstract
This is a report of the third phase of a research study on students’ groupwork. The two earlier phases of the research focused on the assessment and outcome of students’ groupwork in general, but at this phase the focus is on Active Learning Classrooms (ALCs). At this phase the author surveyed faculty and students about the effectiveness of various features of ALCs in facilitating students’ learning. Nine hundred and sixteen students and 53 faculty who were teaching and learning in these rooms responded to the two surveys. The surveys assessed how active learning classrooms may facilitate students’ collaboration, what features of these classrooms are more helpful, and whether there is a difference between faculty and students in terms of effectiveness of these classrooms’ features. The results showed that both students and faculty strongly believe in the usefulness of these environments, while there are some differences in terms of student and faculty perspectives towards these rooms. Considering the results of all three phases of this research, a list of recommendations to improve the effectiveness of groupwork and ALCs is offered at the end.
