Breaking Barriers in Communication: Technology - Enabled Active Learning for STEM Disciplines

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Although the benefits of active learning in the classroom are well documented, barriers still exist which block its ubiquitous usage in STEM classrooms. While some of these barriers come from historical prejudices in content heavy disciplines, others exist due to more mundane factors such as large class size and reticence of students to participate in the classroom environment; which may seem less amenable to student opinion than they are to correct or incorrect answers.This project is training 40 STEM faculty members across the country in the development of active learning techniques, developing a repository of discipline-specific activities (in accordance with university policy), and combining the activities with training in the use of a Tablet PC-based system.Project PIs are conducting a series of workshops to build a community of scholars and contribute to education research on issues of active learning in STEM disciplines. The goals of these workshops are to: -Train for faculty in the electronic active learning system and in active learning techniques, -Serve as a venue for the interchange and development of ideas on active learning across STEM disciplines, -Educate STEM faculty in the area of human subjects-based research including research and analysis techniques appropriate to such studies.