Active Learning Blog

In this week’s blog, we’re spotlighting the ultimate goal of every college and university around the world: student success. After all, helping students succeed and develop skills for lifelong learning is the primary reason most instructors went into teaching in the first place.

Is technology based teaching the wave of the future? Is technology paved to overtake the traditional classroom, or will it simply enhance and expand it? In a recent whitepaper called "The Learning Evolution," Arizona State University's Jeffrey J. Selingo and SUNY-Albany's Ben Wildavsky discuss the answers to these questions, with a discussion on five ways technology will change the classroom of the future.

Some programs, such as advanced math and science courses, are considered "barrier" or "weed out" studies because they are underrepresented by minorities and lower income students. Increasing student engagement can help empower students to push through when coursework in these and other subjects becomes challenging. Instructors who are noticing their students regularly struggling, and even dropping out of programs, can take steps to improve empowerment by getting students engaged early on.

The old adage "times have changed" is an understatement when it comes to the role technology plays in the life of today's students. Case in point: The modern college student arrives on campus with an average of 7 tech devices!