INTRODUCTION
 
 

Higher education is currently expanding its focus on instructional methodology from almost exclusive use of methods such as the lecture which places students in a passive learning mode to more active learning strategies. This increased attention on active learning methods reflects educators' acknowledgement of several educational psychology principles. These include the greater rate of retention of information learned in more active ways (McKeachie, Pintrich, Yi-Guang, and Smith, 1986) and the opportunity to facilitate greater use of higher order thinking skills by students when engaged in activities such as inquiry learning or cooperative learning (Slavin, 1995).

The Workshop on Active Learning Strategies in Higher Education held in Szeged, Hungary on May 2-3, 1997, represents a manifestation of this attention on active learning strategies. This volume of articles represents a range of practical ideas grounded in sound theory shared with workshop participants by a wide variety of teachers in Central and Eastern Europe. The conference keynoter, Charles Bonwell, opens the Proceedings with an article which introduces the active learning continuum. This article provides a framework which allows faculty, regardless of experience or discipline, to identify active learning approaches most appropriate for them.

In the second and third articles, the authors apply active learning to business courses. Shelly Westebbe examines the use of activities such as case studies or critical incidents within the context of a cross-cultural teching environment. Jeffrey Kealing describes the use a debating activities in cross-cultural business classes.

The next three articles explore the use of cooperative learning and role playing. Sandra Renegar addresses the rationale for using cooperative learning and presents several strategies easily adaptable for most classrooms. Arthur Pitz presents several ideas for role playing situations appropriate for international relations classes. Yasmin Lodi describes a method she devised to teach a difficult and potentially alienating topic: electoral systems.

The sixth, seventh and eighth articles offer a look at active learning from the viewpoint of central and eastern European faculty. Benő Csapó describes the results of one of the most extensive experiments in Hungarian higher education which examined the use of Bloom's Mastery Learning and Keller's Personalized System of Instruction. Irina Yevdokimova compares the differences she has observed between teaching methods used by Ukrainian faculty and those used by Western faculty. Horea Nascu and Tiberiu Alexa share a strategy called “ teaching in common” which they devised to motivate student involvement in art history classes.

The final three authors explore student participation through writing and creativity. Susan Peace focuses on ways that reflective writing both contributes to student learning as a private exercise and enhances in-class interaction by broadening the participation of students in class discussions. Arthur Spring takes a creative look at how to use interactive classroom strategies to enable students to construct their own schema for understanding a text or subject. Eva Hava Jonai uses Hans Christian Anderson's story about the ugly duckly to provide insight into understanding the creative learning process, whether the theme is the acquisition of a specific subject or skill, or a shift in self-consciousness.

In closing, we want to thank the authors and presenters from the Workshop on Active Learning Strategies in Higher Education for their contributions to this proceedings. Their ideas inspired and energized those who attended the event and this volume will carry that enthusiasm to those who read these articles. We especially want to thank Mária B. Németh, who persevered through multiple revisions of the manuscripts, patiently processing them on the computer. Mary's efforts produced this professional looking document. This Proceedings is dedicated to the enthusiasm of teachers and students everywhere who are actively engaged in the joys of teaching and learning.
 
 
 

References

Mckeachie, W.J., Pintrich, P. R., Yi-Guang, L., and Smith, D.A.F. (1986). Teaching and Learning in the College Classroom: A Review of the Research Literature. Ann Arbor, MI: Regents of the University of Michigan.
Slavin, R.E. (1995). Cooperative Learning (2^nd Ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.