Students will resist non-lecture approaches and my student ratings will fall. Students typically do prefer the accustomed lecture where they passively take notes and then give them back on the test. However, once students become comfortable with being actively involved, they are more motivated and put more attention, time and energy into the course. One way to help students make the initial transition to active learning is to provide a clear explanation and strong rationale for the change in class format. When students are informed that new active learning strategies are being used to increase attention, retention, and ultimately, student success, they are more likely to approach them with a positive attitude.
More preparation time is required for active learning than for straight lecture.
Preparation time for implementing active learning strategies will be greater than it might be for rehashing old lecture notes, but probably no greater than for developing a new lecture. Once the active learning strategies have been developed and are in place, preparation time will drop significantly. 1 am hired as the expert and students should not be expected to learn from each other. The focus of active learning strategies that involve cooperative learning is not content transmission, but content processing. Through active learning, students are able to work through the content, incorporating it into their existing base of knowledge while the professor guides their discovery.