The Be ACTIVE Framework
Thomas Broderick; Dr Eileen O’Leary; Linda O’Sullivan; and Professor Jim O’Mahony
What is the idea?
The Be ACTIVE Framework is a theoretical, structured, exploratory framework that aims to guide and support, in a stepwise manner, all those who teach, in the planning, implementation, evaluation and improvement of active learning in their everyday teaching practice. It is built on the mnemonic ‘Be ACTIVE’, where each letter represents a step in the process to guide individuals implementing active learning.
B: Begin by reflecting on your current practice
e: Ethical consideration
A: Analyse your context & Assess possible Active Learning strategies
C: Choose an appropriate Active Learning strategy & Communicate the why, what and how with your students
T: Build Trust & Test the strategy with your class
I: Investigate, Innovate, Improve and Be Inclusive
V: Validate through feedback from students, self, & peers, and add Value by consulting the literature
E: Evaluate the Evidence, Enhance the process and Engage in further Active Learning
This framework is purposely designed in a cyclical manner, to demonstrate that the process is a continuous development and improvement cycle. It is available as an interactive poster, where each step in the process has a corresponding short video tutorial outlining the relevant considerations and an activity sheet to record the user’s ideas, thoughts, and evidence. The tutorials explore the how and why of each step in the cycle, highlight the advantages of Active Learning to users and provide a rationale that can be shared with students to encourage enthusiastic engagement in active learning. The activity sheets provide guiding questions to help users adapt the ideas to their own context, prompt thinking through these ideas and provide a means to record, research, discuss and improve their practice.
Why this idea?
Active Learning has received considerable attention in recent years as educators continue to look for more effective ways of engaging students in different environments and contexts. However, shifting from the more traditional didactic transmission mode presents challenges for educators and their students. The ‘Be ACTIVE’ Framework has been developed to provide support and address some of these challenges. This framework gives the user the ‘tips’ and the ‘how to’ without the need to complete an entire course! It should also encourage their further engagement with the literature as their practice improves and their interest in Active learning grows.
How could others implement this idea?
The ‘Be ACTIVE Framework’ can be used by individuals interested in implementing and evaluating new active learning approaches.
They simply follow each step on the mnemonic ‘Be ACTIVE’ as outlined below, i.e.:
- Start with the ‘B activity’, where users are encouraged to ‘self-reflect’ on how they are currently teaching and what they can start to do differently in their context.
- The ‘e Activity’ is aimed at