Students give rave reviews to active learning projects that illustrate the Maryville experience

玛丽维尔的学生也很可能被发现收割生菜, visiting neglected neighborhoods and creating children’s literature as they are to be learning about biology, 课堂上的社会公正和作文. It’s all part of the University’s focus on experiential and individualized education.

In 2014, Maryville推出了一个主动学习生态系统(ALE)计划, 其中包括尝试尖端技术, 支持智力冒险并进行持续评估. 今年春夏两季, students rated a variety of ALE activities — from a Shark Tank-style business presentation to an Instagrammable writing assignment — on their level of engagement. Their positive responses help tell the story of the deep immersion and collaboration that makes Maryville unique.

鼓励企业
凯利史密斯, ’13, 交互设计讲师, wanted students to give each other better-quality feedback on their ecommerce businesses. “我想知道，‘如果他们是真正的企业，他们会做什么?’”史密斯说。.

史密斯根据《十大网赌app排行榜》想出了一个点子, the popular TV series in which entrepreneurs present their ideas to potential investors. 产品是学生设计的互动网站. Some of the sites that were created offered the chance to create custom wheels, 在增强现实中查看家具, 或者个性化的美容产品. 这也是对这部剧的致敬, student “investors” would pretend they each had $1 million to bestow on one or more potential businesses.

在即兴演讲中, students touted their design choices and the research and rationale behind them. 他们强调他们的销售策略和目标受众. “他们不能只是站在那里展示他们的作品，”史密斯说. “他们真的必须推销自己，解释自己的想法.例如:, a student might point out they chose the color purple because it was unique; nothing else in their particular industry is purple. Would-be investors had to consider not only the immediate appeal of the product but also its future money-making potential. Even if they weren’t fully sold on an idea, students offered valuable responses. “The feedback might be, ‘I can see strong work, it just needs a bit of tweaking,’”史密斯说。.

学生们给这个活动打了4分(满分5分). 来加强她下一个创智赢家的任务, 史密斯决定在本学期早些时候介绍这个想法. “So when they do their presentations, they’re a little more prepared,” she said. Smith believes students evaluating ALE projects is an important step in the continued development of the initiative. 史密斯说:“一个推荐几个网赌网站ALE活动的想法可能看起来很华丽或很酷. “但实际数据表明什么呢? 现实生活中的结果是什么?”

增加接触
Chemistry professor Natalie Ulrich challenged her organic chemistry students to work with a tech tool typically employed not by scientists but designers. 在协作项目中, they used a virtual whiteboard called MURAL to create a brand-new molecule in five steps. 乌尔里希说，这是一项复杂的任务，需要16周的课堂作业. She was curious: Would her second-year students be able to complete an activity more suited to graduate work?

观察22名学生分组, 即使感到沮丧，乌尔里希也不愿跳进来. As they forged through their issues, the energy was palpable, Ulrich said. “They were talking to each other and looking through all their notes,” she said. “几乎100%的参与度, which is not really typical for a traditional organic chemistry classroom.“他们的合作得到了回报. Each group was able to move on to the next phase in which Ulrich asked students to remove some of the five steps from their process. 结果是一个缺片的谜题等着别人去解决, 在教学技巧上创造一节课. A final task was providing feedback and implementing it to improve their work.

学生们给这个练习打了5分(满分5分). They reported a better understanding of molecule synthesis and a boost in self-confidence. They all surprised themselves by completing what at first seemed a daunting task. Maryville students have now come to expect immersive activities in all their classes, 据乌尔里希说. 她说，主动学习不仅有助于更好地记忆, 它还能增强更广泛的能力. “It helps students develop skills in communication, critical thinking and leadership,” Ulrich said. “这可能和他们学到的任何化学知识一样重要.”

“转向彼此”
Humanities instructor Christi Branson wanted to encourage her first-year composition students to consider their audiences. She used a vehicle not usually associated with a writing assignment: Instagram.

首先，学生们提出研究问题. 例如, one wanted to know how music therapy could benefit people dealing with a mental health challenge. 当他们研究问题的时候, 布兰森让学生们想象一个观众, find images to go along with their research and present their results in the form of Instagram posts. 布兰森说:“我认为这是一种新的英语比较形式。. As a final step, the students worked in groups of three to review and discuss each other’s work. “这让我富有成效, 合作对话, 这有助于让他们更有信心在团队中工作,布兰森说. 学生们给这个活动打了五分. Branson took a photo of the class during the process that illustrates their high level of engagement. “It definitely shows in all the smiles and their body language,布兰森说. 他们都转向对方.”

考虑不同的观点
艾琳·鲍斯威尔, ’07, 负责新生和一年级体验项目, 培养学生干部, 包括宿舍助理和同侪导师, 如何迎接新生. This past summer, she came up with an activity to help them think of new students as customers. 博斯韦尔把学生领袖分成六人一组. She presented each group with a case study illustrating an issue they might face. One example was a parent upset over their child’s mirror being broken during move-in. The goal was for the members of each group to come to a consensus about how to handle their situation. “It gave us a chance to talk about how there’s not necessarily a right way or wrong way to solve a problem,Boswell说. Each group had to come up with five action steps for resolving the issues in their case studies.

“What I really liked is most of them started with an apology as their first step,Boswell说. 学生领导给这次活动打了4分(满分5分), 说他们想在培训中增加更多的案例研究, 这个夏天Boswell打算做什么. Boswell said the case-studies activity encouraged students to consider the views of others as well as their own when problem-solving. She said the concept has implications that resonate far beyond the classroom.

“Problem-solving is a goal we set for ALE, but it’s more than that,布兰森说. “The ability to solve problems is also something we want all our students to have before they leave Maryville.”