Faculty and staff who teach in the Drake Curriculum commit to using best practices in pedagogy to achieve student learning. In 2006 the Faculty Senate adopted this statement on active and collaborative learning:

The purpose of the Drake Curriculum is to provide students with a meaningful liberal education. Drake students will gain the breadth of knowledge and skills necessary to successfully function in a complex and rapidly changing world. The Drake Curriculum helps to prepare students for meaningful personal lives, professional accomplishments, and responsible global citizenship.

There is considerable variation among courses that fulfill requirements in the Drake Curriculum.  Given differing class sizes and learning outcomes, a variety of teaching methods and learning activities are performed within Drake Curriculum courses.  However, there are certain pedagogical principles that guide teaching and learning within this curriculum. 

The guiding principle is that, no matter what pedagogical strategy is used, instructors are aware of the advantages and disadvantages of that approach and take steps to increase active learning.  Whether classes are primarily lecture-based or discussion-based, instructors are expected to use active learning methods appropriate for that strategy.  Active learning encompasses both independent and collaborative activities and helps students acquire and practice the habit of critical thinking. Active learning is augmented by authentic assessment in which students are asked to demonstrate achievement of the learning outcomes.

With its emphasis on both personal fulfillment and social responsibility, the Drake Curriculum encourages teaching methods that promote self-knowledge and self-development as well as knowledge about and responsibility toward others.  As much as possible, the Drake Curriculum encourages an interactive, student-centered pedagogy in which students take responsibility for constructing knowledge and making meaning from that knowledge.  Assignments encourage students to collaborate with each other and their instructor in generating goals and exploring significant issues, thus taking responsibility for the learning of their classmates as well as for themselves.

The core elements of active learning desired in Drake Curriculum courses include:

• active exchange of ideas among students and instructors
• engaging students in inquiry and problem solving
• connecting and applying learning to real world experiences
• collaborative and small group work
• peer critique and faculty-student conferences
• methods of classroom assessment that provide instructors with early feedback on student comprehension of material and acquisition of skills. 
• Regular active learning workshops help faculty to develop these teaching skills. Resources that are developed at those workshops will be posted here to help faculty continue to develop their courses.

Resources from 2006:

Designing Courses that Help Students Learn: Karl Smith presentation (downloadable PowerPoint)

Design and Implementation of Pedagogies of Engagement: Strategies from the National Academies Workshop on The Knowledge Economy and Postsecondary Education by Karl Smith (downloadable Word document).

Karl Smith Resource site on learning and teaching (includes articles, books, and PowerPoint presentations): http://www.ce.umn.edu/~smith/links.html .

Resources from 2007:

Teaching Reacting to the Past role playing pedagogy: John Burney presentation.(downloadable PowerPoint)

Reacting to the Past web-site: http://www.barnard.edu/reacting .

“Enhancing Learning and More! Through Cooperative Learning,” Idea paper #38, 2002, by  Barbara Millis, http://www.idea.ksu.edu/resources/index.html .

IDEA Center at Kansas State resources on learning and teaching:  http://www.idea.ksu.edu/resources/index.html .