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PORTAAL: A Classroom Observation Tool Assessing Evidence-Based Teaching Practices for Active Learning in Large Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Classes - PubMed Skip to main page content
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. 2015 Summer;14(2):14:ar23.
doi: 10.1187/cbe.14-06-0095. Epub 2015 Jun 1.

PORTAAL: A Classroom Observation Tool Assessing Evidence-Based Teaching Practices for Active Learning in Large Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Classes

Sarah L Eddy  1 , Mercedes Converse  2 , Mary Pat Wenderoth  2
Affiliations

PORTAAL: A Classroom Observation Tool Assessing Evidence-Based Teaching Practices for Active Learning in Large Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Classes

Sarah L Eddy et al. CBE Life Sci Educ. 2015 Summer.

Abstract

There is extensive evidence that active learning works better than a completely passive lecture. Despite this evidence, adoption of these evidence-based teaching practices remains low. In this paper, we offer one tool to help faculty members implement active learning. This tool identifies 21 readily implemented elements that have been shown to increase student outcomes related to achievement, logic development, or other relevant learning goals with college-age students. Thus, this tool both clarifies the research-supported elements of best practices for instructor implementation of active learning in the classroom setting and measures instructors' alignment with these practices. We describe how we reviewed the discipline-based education research literature to identify best practices in active learning for adult learners in the classroom and used these results to develop an observation tool (Practical Observation Rubric To Assess Active Learning, or PORTAAL) that documents the extent to which instructors incorporate these practices into their classrooms. We then use PORTAAL to explore the classroom practices of 25 introductory biology instructors who employ some form of active learning. Overall, PORTAAL documents how well aligned classrooms are with research-supported best practices for active learning and provides specific feedback and guidance to instructors to allow them to identify what they do well and what could be improved.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
PORTAAL captures one aspect of active learning: how the instructor structures the in-class experience. Active learning is a multifaceted practice that involves inputs from the instructor and students as well as events in and outside class. All these inputs influence the ultimate outcome of student learning.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Dimension 1: Practice—variation in implementation of elements. Histograms demonstrating the variation in instructor classroom practice for each element of the dimension of practice. The black dotted line is the median for the 25 instructors; the red line is the practice of the instructor who reduced student failure rate by 65%; and the blue line is the instructor who reduced failure rate by 41%. Each quartile represents where the observations from 25% of the instructors fall. Quartiles can appear to be missing if they overlap with one another (e.g., if 50% of instructors have a score of 0 for a particular element, only the third and fourth quartiles will be visible on the graphs).
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Dimension 2: Logic development—variation in implementation of elements. Histograms demonstrating the variation in instructor classroom practice for each element of the dimension of logic development. The black dotted line is the median for the 25 instructors; the red line is the practice of the instructor who reduced student failure rate by 65%; and the blue line is the instructor who reduced failure rate by 41%. Each quartile represents where the observations from 25% of the instructors fall. Quartiles can appear to be missing if they overlap with one another.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Dimension 3: Accountability—variation in implementation of elements. Histograms demonstrating the variation in instructor classroom practice for each element of the dimension of accountability. The black dotted line is the median for the 25 instructors; the red line is the practice of the instructor who reduced student failure rate by 65%; and the blue line is the instructor who reduced failure rate by 41%. Each quartile represents where the observations from 25% of the instructors fall. Quartiles can appear to be missing if they overlap with one another.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Dimension 4: Apprehension reduction—variation in implementation of elements. Histograms demonstrating the variation in instructor classroom practice for each element of the dimension of apprehension reduction. The black dotted line is the median for the 25 instructors; the red line is the practice of the instructor who reduced student failure rate by 65%; and the blue line is the instructor who reduced failure rate by 41%. Each quartile represents where the observations from 25% of the instructors fall. Quartiles can appear to be missing if they overlap with one another.
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