Alicia Romero, Statistics | 2020-2021
While Active Learning is becoming a more and more commonly used instructional strategy to improve learning and equity in courses, the implementation of this strategy becomes more complex and difficult as the size of the course increases. We are designing and implementing changes to Stats 250, one of the largest courses offered at UM with lectures in the largest classroom auditorium on campus, to allow students to engage in highly supported, group-based active learning during lecture. This allows us to take advantage of the affordances of the newly built CCCB large lecture classroom. However, after a semester of piloting group-based active learning during lecture, the ongoing challenge is navigating the intended implementation in a large class of over 400 students. Our project aims at expanding group-based active learning by lowering student:instructor ratio in lectures by having a faculty member, GSMs, and undergraduate instructional assistants all in the room to actively support a smaller number of students. The instructional team will work directly with students on statistical problems and processes, providing just-in-time feedback and elaborating on concepts, as well as building productive relationships with students. We are asking for funds to support instructors working on major course redesign and to compensate instructional assistants in the pilot process.