Case Study Reporting on the Redesign of a F2F Lecture Course by Lisa Brown and Don Ehlers

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This study reported on the successful redesign of a large, university level lecture course in Introductory Psychology from a traditional face to face (F2F) course into an active learning environment. The lead instructor, Dr. Don Ehlers, adapted the SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Review, Recite) method of learning for the structure of his learning design. He included changing the seating of the class into groups, multimodal instruction, and incorporated computer based adaptive quizzing assignments. The new design increased student engagement, student and learning retention, and excited meaningful learning through the application of social learning and problem based learning theory. Through the initiation of the redesign to the fall of 2014 when the data in this case study was collected, not only did student test scores and student retention rates rise, but Dr. Ehlers’ reputation for having the best class on campus did as well. In a student focus group of 80 students and an anonymous survey of 53 respondents, students overwhelmingly reported that Dr. Ehlers’ class was the most effective on campus.