Abstract:

Innovative teaching methods and exceptional instructional materials are needed to support student’s learning experience, performance, and satisfaction. A myriad amount has been written in the past decades about research on how people learn. Studies show clearly that a person must be engaged to learn. If student learning is the goal, effective teaching means creating effective learning environments where students are actively participating and engaged with the material are crucial to student learning (Tewksbury & Macdonald, 2005). The purpose of this paper is to present innovative and active learning strategies in higher education that were implemented in my college teaching. Active learning and cooperative group work are the main outcomes in developing activities and assignments in this study.

Drummond (1995) complied best practices in college teaching under twelve headings which should be noted; lecture practices, group discussion triggers, thoughtful questions, reflective responses to learner contributions, rewarding learner participation, active learning strategies, cooperative group assignments, goals to grades connections, modeling, double loop feedback, climate setting, and fostering learner self-responsibility. These practices could be applied either collaboratively or individually and they can be modified or strengthened to reflect modern society and environment.

Some strategies explained in this study exposed students to the real world practices and relation in guiding students’ ethical sensitivity, knowledge, and judgment. Major finding points presented include:
- Statement of problem: innovative activities boosting student’s learning performance and satisfaction
- Best practices in college teaching
- Design and develop effective instructional materials (e.g. audio, video, software,…)
- Implement innovative and active learning strategies
- Creating ethics games
- Touring manufacturing sites
- Using Lean Six Sigma simulation
- Organizing the quality management conference
- Creating research posters and organizing the competition
- Playing games with industrial experts in the workshop/meetings
- Learning from the panel expert discussion
- A Table summary on teaching-learning tools for higher education
- Discussion and Conclusion

Active learning strategies are effective ways to engage students to be constructive, able to solve problems, and make decision. The activities implemented in this paper show positive impact on the student learning effectiveness and satisfaction that bring higher order learning into the classroom through the practices. This study also summarizes how the teaching practices developed improved, enhanced and motivated students to think out of the box using technologies, knowledge/skills associated with industrial professionals.

Keywords:

Innovative methods, Active Learning Strategies, Higher Education, Student Satisfaction, Good Practices.