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Novigado invited different stakeholders to respond to the two questions: How should active learning look like in a school? What would you recommend to teachers? Here, Ahmet Göçen, Assistant Professor in Harran University Education Faculty in Turkey, shares his perspective on how active learning should look like in schools.

According to Ahmet, active learning means involving students in the goals of lesson through discussions, problem solving, case studies, role plays and other in-class methods. It requires the full participation of all students in learning activities, and education processes that are attractive to the needs of diverse students in the same class. For that reason, a good teacher needs to take into account the emotional, psychomotor and affective development of his/her students. A good teacher “does less to achieve more” by planning a set of activities that help students to be part of them in the teaching period.

To show teachers what active learning looks like, Ahmet uses an example. As he mentions, all schools have computers but the way these computers are used defines how effective learning and teaching are. Some teachers most probably would use those computers as typewriters, calculators or teach excel functions. However, wise teachers would not teach advanced computer uses in the class. They know what students enjoy and give them computer-based tasks where they can learn the use of computers, make search and design their learning. As things have changed in the 21^st century and Industrial Age is a past, the classrooms of today are to be shaped for the digital age. Educational systems need to innovate themselves and help teachers and students gain 21^st century skills.

The full article of Ahmet Göçen will provide you with not only the questions that teachers should keep in mind to make students interested in the learning procedure but also, and most importantly, with practical suggestions to teachers.

If you are interested to find out which are the ten key strategies to effectively implement active learning in class, read  the full article of Ahmet Göçen here.