Yann Brouillette is a DALChampion

Tell me about your experience with DALC. What has been the best part? 

I joined the Dawson Active Learning Community (DALC) many years ago because I thought it was a gym class for teachers. Just kidding. It was only named Active Learning Community (ALC) back then, and it changed its name to avoid confusion with the Arts, Literature and Communication (ALC) program. Right from the start, I met with motivated teachers from other disciplines that were inspiring, engaged, and resourceful. The pragmatic exchanges with other teachers have been the most fruitful part.

How do you think active learning pedagogy enriches the learning experience? 

As an organic chemist, I would like to find a better expression to declare that the AL pedagogy feels more organic, and allows better chemistry with the students, but it does. Apart from the expected higher student engagement, dynamic knowledge transfer, and longer retention of information, I feel I get to know my students better (through their questions, comments and interactions amongst peers and with me) but they get to know me better as well.

How has adopting an active learning approach informed your practice? 

As a professor, being in school studying or teaching has been a big part of my life. And sometimes I might forget that students don’t come in with the same anticipation and love for schooling as I did. Throwing data at them does not fulfil everyone’s thirst. Adopting an active learning approach allowed me to reflect on my own pedagogy and forced me to convey knowledge in a different way, adopting storytelling or inquiry-based approaches. But most importantly, it motivated me to ask better questions, getting students to reflect further.