Active learning journeys: the TREC model
Dr Rod Cullen and Orlagh McCabe
What is the idea?
TREC (Cullen & McCabe, 2021) is a model that was originally developed to help academics in higher education working in any subject discipline, with limited experience of fully online teaching, to design, develop and deliver engaging active learning in “live” online classes. The model has been popular and subsequently adopted for teaching in a range of contexts at all levels.
The model was envisaged as a process that would take students through a structured, four stage active learning journey (see Figure 1).
TREC is a teaching method that embodies an active learning approach, it is important to make this distinction as Armellini & Rodriguez (2021) identify “active learnings core elements are student activity and engagement in the learning process” (Armellini & Rodriguez, 2021, p. 3) both of which are explicit in a TREC journey.
Trigger: Students are presented with a task that requires them to think about, and articulate in some way, what they already know, understand, or believe about a topic, concept, or theme. We feel that an important aspect of the trigger activity is that it places value on the students’ initial knowledge, understanding and lived experiences and it is important that the tutor emphasizes this as part of the activity.
The primary purpose of the trigger is, however, to get the students to articulate a response. This might be as simple as answering a multiple-choice question or something more complex that involves writing down an answer or drawing a picture. The trigger can be completed individually or in small groups. The key thing is that the trigger moves ideas from inside the students head as a tangible output that can be shared with the tutor(s) and other students. For example, in a session introducing the concept of active learning we might ask the students to write down three characteristics of active learning.
Review: Once students have completed the trigger the responses can be shared back to the class as a whole and the contributions can be reviewed with the learners. This provides an opportunity to highlight and discuss common themes and differences in the class responses. This helps to develop shared understanding within the students and again the tutor has the opportunity to emphasize the value and relevance of the student contributions.
Expectations/Evidence Having reviewed the student responses/contributions the tutor can compare the outcomes with pre-prepared expectations and evidence sourced from wider research and literature. For example, where learners have been asked to share three characteristics of active learning, these can be compared and contrasted with characteristics found in formal definitions of active learning from published sources. In this respect there is an opportunity to build upon common themes, explore and re-examine misconceptions and test assumptions in existing sources. In this respect tutors can build