Claire Major

Professor, Higher Education Program
The University of Alabama
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Plenary Presentation

What We Know About Active Learning Methods....and Why We Should Care

A number of recent books and articles have suggested that students are not learning as they should at institutions of higher education.  These works often seem to place the blame squarely on the shoulders of faculty, in part for failing to hold students to high standards and in part for their failure to use teaching methods that actually improve student learning.  In this session, we will consider the promises and perils of evidence-based teaching approaches in higher education, we will consider what research has shown about teaching approaches that have been documented to improve student learning in higher education, and we will consider participant experiences with various teaching approaches that improve student learning outcomes.

Biography

Claire Major

Professor, Higher Education Program
The University of Alabama

Claire Howell Major is a Professor of Higher Education at The University of Alabama, where she teaches courses on collegiate-level instruction and curricula. Her research focuses on teaching and research methods in higher education as well as on higher education in popular culture. Her first two books focus on instructional approaches: Foundations of Problem-Based Learning (with Maggi Savin-Baden) and Collaborative Learning Techniques (with Elizabeth Barkley and K. Patricia Cross).  Her most recent books, An Introduction to Qualitative Research Synthesis (with Maggi Savin-Baden) and New Approaches in Qualitative Research: Wisdom and Uncertainty (co-edited with Maggi Savin-Baden), are qualitative research methods books.  She has published more than 30 journal issues, articles, or book chapters, the most recent of which appear in The Journal of Higher Education, Teachers College Record, Higher Education, and Research in Higher Education.  Major received her Ph.D. in higher education from the University of Georgia.