Rethinking the Classroom

Educators, researchers, and students are discovering the benefits and advantages of cooperative, active, and engaged learning. Classroom spaces that support such a shift in teaching and learning have lagged behind. A significant opportunity exists for maximizing learning opportunities and creating meaningful experiences by rethinking the classroom experience. " Learning is not a spectator sport…[Students] must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves. " —Chickering and Gamson Getting and keeping students engaged is perhaps the most important step in creating a successful learning outcome. The Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) at The University of Texas at Austin estimates that only one-half of community college students return for their second year; many leave before completing the first semester. Each year, CCSSE surveys students to identify the causes of attrition and find solutions to meeting high-risk students' needs. Among the benchmarks CCSSE measures are the level of active and collaborative learning that occurs. An article on cooperative learning in higher education in Change magazine offers compelling evidence on the benefits of collaborative learning and teaching methods. " College students who would score at the fiftieth percentile when learning competitively will score in the sixty-ninth percentile when learning cooperatively; students who would score at the fifty-third percentile when learning individualistically will score at the seventieth percentile when learning cooperatively. " Measures used in the research included knowledge acquisition, retention, accuracy, creativity in problem solving, and higher-level reasoning. These are outcomes that signal successful learning and a high-quality college experience.