Handbook of Research on Active Learning and Student Engagement in Higher Education

Focuses on assessing the effectiveness of active learning and constructivist teaching to promote student engagement. Providing research-based practices, this book can help educators make the connection between active student learning and student engagement to maximize the teaching and learning process.
Educational institutions are continually pressed to find creative and innovative ways to enhance student engagement and active learning is an approach that holds such promise. This handbook focuses on assessing effectiveness of active learning and constructivist teaching to promote student engagement. Providing research-based practices, this book can help educators make the connection between active student learning and student engagement to maximize the teaching and learning process. The handbook also provides a wide range of strategies and frameworks to help educators and other educational researchers examine the benefits, challenges, and opportunities for using active learning approaches to maximize student learning. Learner-centered approaches focus on strategies to move beyond passive learning to active learning. Students should be encouraged to work with information to derive meaning and understanding, form new mental representations of the material, and construct and reconstruct new knowledge based on their experiences. The shift toward learner-centered teaching is a change in emphasis that will cause teachers to rethink how they teach and assess their teaching toward the goal of realistic appraisal of student learning.

This handbook is an essential collection for educators, academicians, students, researchers, and librarians. Further, this handbook will benefit school administrators, faculty, teachers, technology staff, directors of Teaching and Learning centers, and other stakeholders -interested in improving classroom practices through innovative pedagogies.