Advancing Adoption of Active Learning Pedagogy via New Avenues of Research and Training

This Work in Progress in the Research to Practice Category advocates for new evidence-based training opportunities for potential future faculty to increase student access to active learning. Active learning has been used in the classroom for years and demonstrated its effectiveness in terms of enhancing students' performance. In spite of the reported benefits of active learning, a sizable gap exists between faculty that are aware of active learning as a teaching style and those that adopt it for their classrooms. In response, the broader community has developed several successful aids to overcome often cited barriers to adoption. Nevertheless, this gap remains and indicates the need for further interpretation of existing research as well as additional avenues of research and training to advance adoption. These avenues should augment existing initiatives to increase adoption and further understanding of faculty reticence. Based on the current topography of active learning and its adoption, we argue for new training mechanisms to be offered at the graduate level that would have broad appeal and provide a foundation for evidence-based techniques. We also argue for research that is more inclusive and qualitative in nature to specifically explore faculty attitudes, beliefs, and backgrounds as they pertain to instruction.