DALC | Dawson Active Learning Community

About

At Dawson College, faculty have been increasingly turning to Active Learning as an evidence-based instructional approach. To support this growth, the college has invested resources in developing Active Learning classrooms and in the development of pedagogical resources and capacity through a number of faculty and researcher-lead initiatives – including the development of the Dawson Active Learning Community (DALC) and SALTISE.

What is Active Learning?

Active Learning is a student-centred pedagogical approach that juxtaposes more traditional instructor-centered approaches to teaching. Active Learning is effective at improving deep learning, conceptual understanding and exam grades while reducing failures.

Dawson is considered a leader in the educational community when it comes to Active Learning, and as a result a number of faculty have received local, provincial and national awards.

The Active Learning Classroom

Classrooms that are purposefully designed for Active Learning can complement good pedagogical strategies, can make the orchestration of complex activities easier for the teacher, and can offer affordances that both learners and instructors can leverage in the construction of knowledge.

Using an iterative design process driven by teachers and based on a program of research into the use and effectiveness of the spaces, Dawson has developed a series of classrooms specifically for Active Learning.

Active Learning classroom development at Dawson has been a faculty-driven process that is both iterative and research-based – a process that has been heavily influenced by Design Based Implementation Research (DBIR – see research by WR Penuel and BJ Fishman). As a result of this process several design principles have emerged as core principles of our classroom designs.

The AL Environment

Find out how the DALC provides students with the ideal environment for collaborative learning thorough Active Learning Classrooms – Click here

DALC Resources Produced

How to Get Students to Read Before Class

Reflective Writing (RW) is a way to get students to come to class prepared for a more meaningful engagement with the content/topic in a particular class.

Active Learning Instruction and Active Learning Classrooms At Dawson

The goal of this document is to be a resource for both new, and not so new, teachers who use Active Learning instructional methods and the Active Learning classrooms at Dawson.

Eight big ideas on active learning from evidence-based research

Designing and Implementing (Orchestrating) Instruction

More about the DALC

Three components of the Dawson Active Learning Community are:

Active Learning Spaces (classrooms and laboratories)
Community of Practice (CoP) Meet-ups
Coordinator(s) and Fellows

Learn more about:

Articles about Dawson Active Learning Classrooms

Coordinators

Chris Whittaker

SALTISE Committee Member, Dawson College, Montreal

Selma Hamdani

SALTISE Contributor, Dawson College, Montreal