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Active and experiential learning theory have not dramatically changed collegiate classroom teaching methods, although they have long been included in the pedagogical literature. This article presents an evolved method, reality-based learning, that aids professors in including active learning activities with feelings of clarity and confidence. The reality-based learning method subjects each learning activity to a 4-point framework that is used by the professor in all stages, planning, implementation, and review. Its solid rationale, rigorous standards, and logical applicability are intended to ease professors' confusion and apprehension about active and experiential learning. Furthermore, professors will find that they can truly make a difference in their students ' transferability of knowledge, skills, and attitudes from the confines of a classroom to their interactions in the broader world. Finally, its applications are demonstrated in an extended diagnostic approach to the selection of an activity for one specific content area.
Keywords: effective application of course content and innovation
Helping students learn as effectively and efficiently as possible remains a challenging, and sometimes puzzling, task for teachers. While many professors seek new and better ways to present content, they also want to maintain rigor. The integration of active learning and experiential learning into a course is one way to meet these challenges. However, professors are somewhat nervous about how to plan, implement, and review the worth of such activities. The reality-based learning method gives professors a way of judging these activities on a 4-point scale to ensure that each activity meets the professor's rigorous standard and is not just "fun and games." The authors have a combined 79 years of experience working in education and have taught through the level of executive MBA programs and have used this reality-based learning method at all levels. Employing this method, they use active learning activities with the confidence that these activities are increasing student learning, requiring the student to be coresponsible for learning, applied beyond the classroom, and transferable to future situations.
FOUR PEDAGOGICAL ASSERTIONS UNDERLYING THE REALITY-BASED LEARNING METHOD
A professor's philosophy of learning will determine what the professor tries to accomplish in the classroom. However, most professors are only dimly aware of their learning philosophies. Yet these learning philosophies determine student learning objectives, which determine the choice of learning...