Speed Dating, Bingo and Snowball Fights:

Using Active Learning Strategies

K-LIRT/SCKLS Summer InstituteJuly 30, 2010

30-second Introductions

• What is your name?• Where are you from (library/town)?• What type of instruction do you do (or want to

do)?

Today we will:

• Review why active learning is important• Discuss active learning examples• Implement active learning techniques

The golden rule of facilitating learning

Do unto others as you would have

them do unto you

Characteristics of a session you would like to attend:

• • • • • • •

Adult learners want:

• Relevant topics• Things to be practical• To be self-directed • To have choices• To build on or relate to their own experiences• To practice, reflect, and share

IT’S HUMAN NATURE TO BE CURIOUS AND SELF-DIRECTED.

Daniel Pink, Drive

• Autonomy• Mastery• Purpose

Three things that motivate us:

Painting the picket fence

"Tom said to himself that it was not such a hollow world, after all. He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it–namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain. If he had been a great and wise philosopher, like the writer of this book, he would now have comprehended that Work consists of whatever a body is OBLIGED to do, and that Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do."

What do you teach that is fun? What do you really look forward to teaching?

Be the person who most wants to be there.

Where is my focus?

Is it on the material? Or is it on the learner?

BRIEFLY DESCRIBE A CLASS YOU WILL TEACH.

Strategies for Active Learning

• Engage participants from the start • Encourage discussion• Create an environment that makes people feel

good about participating• Let participants learn from one another• Trust your participants• Work with a co-instructor

ARCS

A = attentionR = relevanceC = confidenceS = satisfaction

Create a learning community in the session

• Think of the session not just as individuals learning but as a community collaborating

• Create a safe and comfortable environment• Help people connect (with one another, with

the topic, with you)• Organized flexibility• Let them DO… discussion/activities, etc.

Active learning examples

• Discussion• Storytelling• Pair share• Snowball fight• Scavenger hunt• Jeopardy• Question sharing

• Top 10 lists• Bingo• Book club approach• Teach mini lessons• Essay contest• Speed dating• Postcard follow-up

Snowball Fight

Here’s how it works: participants write their questions down on sheets of paper, crumple the papers into snowballs, and toss their snowballs at others in the class. Everyone retrieves a snowball, unravels it, reads the question, and attempts to respond.

How to get students to find and read 94 articles before the next class

Rather than handing students a syllabus with a list of articles they should read, students were asked to find, read and summarize articles for class.

Michael Wesch

2.0 TOOLS – BINGO!

INDEX CARDS AND INSTRUCTION 101

FEDERATED SEARCH ESSAY CONTEST

Storytelling

"When facts become so widely available and instantly accessible, each one becomes less valuable. What begins to matter more is the ability to place these facts in context and to deliver them with emotional impact. And that is the essence of the aptitude of Story - context enriched by emotion."

Daniel Pink, A Whole New Mind

COMMON CRAFT VIDEOS

23 THINGS

SPEED DATING

Top Tips from Today

• • • • • • • •

ARCS

A = attentionR = relevanceC = confidenceS = satisfaction

Daniel Pink, Drive

• Autonomy• Mastery• Purpose

The 3 things that motivate us:

Adult learners want:

• Relevant topics• Things to be practical• To be self-directed • To have choices• To build on or relate to their own experiences• To practice, reflect, and share

The golden rule of facilitating learning

Do unto others as you would have

them do unto you

Thank you!

Brenda HoughNortheast Kansas Library System

bhough@nekls.org