Roane State Community College

Jason Fishel and Ann Morphew were among many Roane State educators who participated in a voluntary workshop about active and collaborative learning.

Feb. 28, 2019

By Bob Fowler
Roane State staff writer

A recent workshop attended by two dozen Roane State educators gave some eye-opening alternatives to the standard lecture-and-listen learning format.

Several faculty members in attendance said they’ll be putting those tips into use and will be placing their students into groups and teams for competitive problem-solving and hands-on activities.

“It was the best workshop I’ve gone to in 29 years of professional development,” enthused Roane State math associate professor Deborah Miles.

The two-day seminar, titled “Active and Collaborative Learning,” was led by another math professor, Bronte Miller with Patrick Henry Community College in Virginia.

She’s led a Roane State workshop before, and such events support the college’s Quality Enhancement Plan. Colleges are required by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to do a QEP every five years, Roane State assistant professor Deborah Magill said.

She and associate professor Brad Fox co-chaired the voluntary seminar, and she said 21 other Roane State educators attended.

Magill gave an example of active, collaborative learning: Students are divided into small groups, and each group is asked to come up with responses to a problem or idea. Those responses are shared in the classroom, and the professor then picks the group deemed having the best reply as the winner.

“I am definitely going to implement some of these suggestions in my classroom,” Magill said.

Miles said the workshop “changed my perspective on collaborative learning.”

“It doesn’t have to be a big group project, and it doesn’t have to be worth any points,” she added. “It can be forming different pairs or small groups each day to encourage students to get to know someone they may have never spoken to otherwise.”

“Informal collaborative learning can be as simple as asking one member of a pair to explain a concept to his or her partner.” Miles said that method “reinforces a student’s grasp of the concept.”

“I intend to use informal groups throughout the semester to allow students to get to know their classmates better and to allow students to practice both their written and verbal mathematical skills,” she said.

Magill said educators could continue the standard lecture format but also incorporate collaborative learning into their curriculums on occasion. “Maybe shake it up a little bit.”​