Book Review
“Using Active Learning in College Classes:  A Range of Options for Faculty” by Tracey E. Sutherland and Charles C. Bonwell (eds.)
By Stacey Beth-Mackowiak Ayotte, University of Montevallo

Using Active Learning in College Classes:  A Range of Options for Faculty is dedicated to the topic of active learning in the college classroom.  Each chapter details a specific aspect of the active learning model, and provides readers with very complete resources and references that can be sought out to further one's understanding of active learning.  In addition, each author provides useful, practical examples for a wide range of disciplines that can easily be adapted for a particular class or a particular level of learner. 

In the first chapter, Bonwell and Sutherland suggest that professors become familiar with their own teaching styles in order to better select active learning strategies in their classrooms.  An overview of Bloom's taxonomy of learning and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator serve as resources for professors who are choosing activities that follow the active learning model.  In the second chapter, Miller, Groccia, and Wilkes discuss the importance of class structure in an active learning environment.  Professors should be aware of the cognitive learning styles of their students so as to successfully reach a heterogeneous group of learners.  In the third chapter, Bonwell introduces the concept of an enhanced lecture, a series of short mini-lectures, used in conjunction with specific active learning activities that are designed to meet class objectives.  In the fourth chapter, Hobson discusses writing and in part, self-assessment writing, which can be used as a metacognitive active learning strategy because it allows opportunities for practice of higher-order critical skills for meaningful purposes.  In the fifth chapter, Gillette presents on the use of technology, namely email and conferencing, both of which serve as a means to providing active learning opportunities.  In the sixth chapter, Smith discusses the importance of cooperative learning, during which students work interdependently, both providing for and relying upon one another in order to promote interaction and individual accountability in the classroom.  In the last chapter, Sutherland summarizes the main content of the text:  using active learning allows students to become actively involved, and they learn more than when they are passive recipients of instruction. 

This text provides instructors with a thorough background on the active learning model.  The text is easy to read, free from difficult jargon, and can be used as a foundation from which to build one's own strategies for employing active learning in the college classroom.  Although the book was published in 1995, most of the information can be adopted for today's college classrooms, as the active learning model transcends time, and can benefit learners of all ages and of all disciplines.  

Title:  Using Active Learning in College Classes:  A Range of Options for Faculty
Authors:  Sutherland, T. E., & Bonwell, C. C. (eds.)
Price:  $29.00 (paperback)
Publisher:  Jossey-Bass
Year:  1996
Pages:  138