Engaging Activities for Active Learning: Connecting, Supporting, and Empowering Educators in the Two-Year, Technical, and Career Colleges

Infuse student success into any program with our “Engaging Activities for…” Series.  Written and compiled by National Student Success Institute (NSSI®) co-founders Amy Baldwin, Steve Piscitelli, and Robert Sherfield, the material is sure to connect, support, and empower educators in the Two-Year, Technical, and Career Colleges.  These booklets contain strategies, procedural information, and activities that you can use with your students immediately.   

The phrase “sage on the stage” was once a compliment to any professor who lectured to a group of eager, attentive students.  Now the phrase identifies professors who have not embraced the active learning movement.  Active learning, a mainstay in elementary education, has found its way to the college classroom, but not without its detractors and not without some explanation and training for those whose own college days were spent listening and quietly taking notes during class.  Simply put, active learning describes any teaching or learning strategy that requires more of students than listening passively.  With active learning, they may be applying information in new contexts, conducting experiments, devising instruments to collect data, writing the results of their own learning, or teaching a group of students what they know about a subject.  The goal with active learning is to engage the student in learning activities and make him or her responsible for what is retained. 

Amy, Steve, and Robb have developed this practical compilation, Engaging Activities for Active Learning, as an indispensable, hands-on resource for educators to address the topic of active learning.  This booklet will empower teachers, professional development coordinators, coaches, and administrators with tools to actively engage in their classes.  They are confident you will find these activities as useful as they have with their students.

If you like this NSSI® Booklet on Engaging Activities for Active Learning, you will love the series:  Academic Success, Retention, Understanding the Culture of College, Critical Thinking, andMotivation.

Amy Baldwin has been teaching college success, writing, and literature at Pulaski Technical College in North Little Rock, Arkansas since 1996.  Among the many hats community college faculty like Amy wear, she has also served as the professional development coordinator and co-director of the Achieving the Dream initiative. She has taught on-campus and online classes since 1999 and has presented nearly 100 workshops across the U.S. on the topics of numerous topics including student success, research writing, academic integrity, and online teaching.  She has also written for The Teaching Professor, Community College Week,and Student Health 101. Both her texts, The Community College Experience 2nd edition and The Community College Experience PLUS 2nd edition, are published by Pearson. Amy received her B.A. in English Literature from Rhodes College and her M.A. in English Literature from Washington University. She is currently working on her doctorate in higher education, with a focus on student retention.  Amy lives with her husband and two children in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Steve Piscitelli has accumulated more than two decades of teaching and professional development experience.  He has taught students of varying abilities and ages, from middle school through the university level.  He has been recognized for his effective teaching style with awards at the school, county, and international level.  Steve is also a seasoned workshop developer and presenter who brings energy, humor, interaction, live original music, and practicality to his workshops. 

Steve received degrees from Jacksonville University, the University of North Florida, and the University of Florida.  He is currently a professor at Florida State College at Jacksonville.

In addition to this second edition of Study Skills: Do I Really Need This Stuff? (2009), Pearson Prentice Hall published his 2008 book Rhythms of College Success: A Journey of Discovery, Change, and Mastery.  A second edition of this book is due out in the fall of 2010.

Steve lives with his wife, Laurie, and canine companion, Buddy, in Atlantic Beach, Florida.  Visit www.stevepiscitelli.com

Robert M. Sherfield, Ph.D has been teaching public speaking, theatre, and student success and working with first-year orientation programs for over 25 years. Currently, he is a professor at the College of Southern Nevada, teaching student success, technical writing, public speaking, and drama.

An award-winning educator, Robb was named Educator of the Year at the College of Southern Nevada. He twice received the Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award from the University of South Carolina Union, and has received numerous other awards and nominations for outstanding classroom instruction and advisement.

Robb’s extensive work with student success programs includes experience with the design and implementation of these programs―including one program that was presented at the International Conference on the First-Year Experience in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.  He has conducted faculty development keynotes and workshops at over 250 institutions of higher education across America.  He has spoken in all 50 states and several foreign countries.

In addition to his co authorship of Solving the Professional Development Puzzle, he has authored or co authored Cornerstone: Discovering Your Potential, Learning Actively, and Living Well, he has also co-authored Roadways to Success (Prentice Hall, 2001), the trade book 365 Things I Learned in College (Allyn & Bacon, 1996), Capstone: Succeeding Beyond College (Prentice Hall, 2001), Case Studies for the First Year: An Odyssey into Critical Thinking and Problem Solving (Prentice Hall, 2004), The Everything®Self-Esteem Book (Adams Media, 2004), and Cornerstone:  Opening Doors to Career Success (Pearson, 2010).

Robb’s interest in student success began with his own first year in college. Low SAT scores and a low high school ranking denied him entrance into college. With the help of a success program, Robb was granted entrance into college, and went on to earn five college degrees, including a doctorate.  He has always been interested in the social, academic, and cultural development of stud ents, and sees this book as his way to contribute to the positive development of first-year students across the nation.  Visit www.robertsherfield.com.