LeAnn Dourte, Practice Associate Professor in Bioengineering, has been one of the most active members of the Penn Engineering faculty in pioneering the Structured, Active, In-Class Learning (SAIL) model of education. In a recent issue of the Penn Almanac, Dourte boils down her practical advice for faculty looking to make their courses more interactive and dynamic into one simple philosophy: “Just change 10 minutes.”
“The effectiveness of these 10-minute activities hinges on their alignment with learning objectives. Students are always on the lookout for anything that they see as busy-work, so articulating the purpose of such activities is paramount to their success. These are some of the goals I think about when I design activities with my learning objectives in mind. While some of these approaches are specific to subjects with quantitative problem solving, many have applications across disciplines.”
Dourte’s article articulates her active learning approach, along with a list of specific learning objectives, including encouraging diverse perspectives, promoting error recognition and correction, and more.
Dourte’s contributions to pedagogy were recognized with a 2023 Provost’s Award for Teaching Excllence by Non-Standing Faculty.
Read “Just Change 10 Minutes” in Volume 70, Issue 27 of the Penn Almanac.
Read more stories featuring Dourte in the BE Blog.