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Within the courses I have taught, I have found that students learn the most when they can personally connect and apply what they are learning. As others have said, many younger students just want to play the game without enduring the practice--these students (thank goodness who are few and far between) have great difficulty with my constructivist approach and tend to complain that I'm not spending enough time on direct instruction (i.e., they actually want an explicit lecture without having to think about it).

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One of my primary teaching roles at my university is a site-based clinical preceptor for 4th year Doctor of Pharmacy students. I have found in this setting that students learn best through a combination of hands on application and asking clinical questions that require them to think about the "why" behind what we do in practice.

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Students learn best when they are actively engaged, can connect new ideas to what they already know, and receive feedback that helps them improve. We may create effective learning environments by setting clear goals, using active and inclusive teaching strategies, providing opportunities for practice and feedback, and creating a supportive atmosphere that encourages participation and critical thinking.

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Students learn best when they are actively engaged, can connect new ideas to what they already know, and receive feedback that helps them improve. We may create effective learning environments by setting clear goals, using active and inclusive teaching strategies, providing opportunities for practice and feedback, and creating a supportive atmosphere that encourages participation and critical thinking.

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Students learn by creating memory. They learn by thinking, doing and being. They learn through reflection, questioning, practice, application, evaluation and creation. They learn by making mistakes and solving problems.

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Students learn by reflection, practice, discussion, and adding and refining their existing knowledge. Students learn by being, thinking, and doing. Students learn by making mistakes and being able to correct those mistakes. Students learn by solving problems.

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I realized that today students learn in ways that are very different from the ways I was taught and learned myself. My role as an instructor is to recognize and acknowledge the differences and meet the students where they are with the best arsenal of tools and resources.

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I teach mostly online. Online learners learn best when they are engaged with the content. The benefit when things are more self paced, and when they can revisit materials. They benefit when they can connect what they are studying with things in their own lives in some way. Their learning is also taking place when they collaborate in some way with classmates. When they have feedback that is grounded in growth mindset- I find that they can learn from this and stay motivated.

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Depending on the individual skills and personal characteristics, students learn in different ways. Some are more visually oriented, while others are more memory oriented and others can be more listening oriented. Some people learn while multitasking, while others need full concentration. Plus, there are different levels of learning. In fact, I think that the most important thing is for students to have the intellectual curiosity to learn. When the desire to learn comes from within, each student will find the system that better aligns with his/her learning style.

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Research on how students learn, or how people learn in general, refers to first prior knowledge, students must have the prior knowledge of the concepts they are learning, so the teacher must first work on developing this prior knowledge or checking on prior knowledge to see if it is accurate. Second is conceptual understanding, introduce to students factual knowledge for developing conceptual understanding, and then metacognition, develop activities for reflection.

So how does this research fit in the age of AI?

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Students learn by gathering information, discerning what is important, making sense of it through reflection and connection, and applying it in meaningful ways. Learning deepens when students actively engage with content rather than passively receive it.

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Students learn design through a combination of thinking, making, reflecting, and iterating. Unlike subjects that rely mainly on memorization, design education is experiential, students develop skills by actively engaging with problems, testing ideas, and learning from feedback.

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Students benefit from systematic and explicit instruction with opportunities for skill practice and feedback. The I-do, we-do, you-do approach is often a helpful framework for instruction. Students learn by doing under the guidance of a knowledgeable and caring teacher (and peers!). Students also learn by making meaningful connections between course content and their own interests, values, and goals.

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Each student is unique in their ability to learn. I also think that today's students do not like long lectures. They want quick bites of information - short videos with brief content. I think offering them content that links the learning to life helps for it to stick. Coming up with assignments that they can relate to helps. I also like the concept of "teach the teacher" in my face-to-face classes when I have teams created and they teach me the content for the week, chapter, section etc.

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Students learn in various ways because each and every one of them are different. From demographics to culture, learning disabilities, personality, the list is endless. Instructors need to provide equitable learning environments and curriculum so each student can be successful in reaching the desired outcome of understanding objectives and concepts.

Students learn through visuals, reading, practice as they learn, listening, writing, creating.

Some students are shy and struggle to participate in class. Some students have learning disabilities and may struggle to focus or have delayed understanding of concepts.

Students can learn through engagement with their peers and provide feedback on each other's assignments or through collaboration.

I think providing additional learning outlets for students to choose from is conducive to creative an effective learning environment.

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I have students learn key concepts and frameworks by preparing presentations on selected material in my consulting and strategic management classes, and then teaching the content to their peers. This approach reinforces their understanding, builds communication skills and confidence. The best way to learn something is to teach is to someone else!

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Humans learn by ACTIVELY engaging with the material they encounter in the world. Too many educators think that if they "say" the content through lecture, then students will magically grasp all the nuances of the content.

We know that humans need FIVE to SIX exposures/interactions with a concept (think BOLD print words in a textbook) to truly grasp the concept. But, this means S-L-O-W-I-N-G down the massive amount of content we expose them to.

I believe DEPTH is better than a surface exposure to our subject matter.

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As a visual artist and primarily studio professor I’ve realized that my primary job isn’t to hand out technical recipes that hyper-emphasize process and method. Instead, I’m here to help my students unlearn the idea that there is a single "right" way to do and create. As artists, we don’t just absorb data; we construct meaning through a messy, rhythmic cycle of action, frustration, and eventual discovery; and synthesize it with our own experience into something purely authentic. I see my students truly grow when they stop asking me if a piece is "finished" and start developing a fearlessly creative approach. This means they aren't just completing an assignment; they are learning to observe with acuity, envision possibilities that don’t exist yet, and find the courage to stretch into the unknown.

I’ve also found that real learning only takes hold through the practice of personal artistic reflection, which is the core of effective critique. I often tell my classes that we don’t learn from experience alone; we learn by reflecting on that experience. When I ask a student to articulate why they chose a specific jagged line or a muted palette, I’m pushing them toward a larger understanding and acceptance of their own instincts. This process is vital for building resilience—it teaches them to separate their personal identity from their work, allowing them to see a peer’s feedback not as a judgment of their character, but as a clinical tool for refining their vision.

Finally, I strive to make my studio a safe space for failure. True innovation requires a laboratory environment where experimentation is the only rule and "getting it wrong" is a high-value currency. I’ve seen some of the most profound breakthroughs happen when a student is "mucking around" and completely ruins a piece; it’s in that moment of loss that they often find their most authentic voice. By modeling this kind of passionate, inquiry-based approach myself, I hope to show them that failure isn’t a dead end—it’s the most direct path to artistic transformation.

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Students learn best when they can understand how their learning is useful to their overall goals, including career goals and life goals (e.g. being environmentally and socially conscious). Often, this is best accomplished through active learning, where students are making things and metacognitively reflecting on what they have made.

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Students learn in many different ways. Some just absorb knowledge from reading a passage, some have to have a hands on approach, some only have to listen. But I believe the real learning happens when they have to take that knowledge and apply it to something for themselves. For instance, becoming a parent, you can read all the books, even have watched your nieces for years. But you really don't actually learn what to so until you have a child of your own. Then you find you have to apply all these approaches yourself and learn what works and even then, it might not! I also say that to really know material you should teach it, that's where the real learning happens.

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I’m going to echo the sentiments of several thousand students (yes, thousands!) over five years of business games, who provided feedback through their course evaluations (which are anonymous, so we can perhaps trust their credibility and spontaneity!).

First and foremost, they highlight the “learning by doing” approach, and even the most honest among them describe it as “learning by failing.” That is, provided you can make a mistake every day, as long as it’s really a new one.

Second, they believe that team competition and the intensity of the decisions they have to make (“just like in real life”) help them learn better, faster, and more effectively.

Finally, even though I provide them with an AI tool, they prefer human interaction with me, I often share my own corporate experiences (what I’ve succeeded at, what I’ve struggled with, or even failed at) as part of their learning. It’s refreshing and reassuring!

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Students learn best when new information connects to what they already know. When they can link new ideas to their prior knowledge, learning becomes more meaningful. If the material is relevant and interesting to them, they are more likely to engage, make deeper connections, and retain what they learn.

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Students learn best when new information connects to what they already know. When they can link new ideas to their prior knowledge, learning becomes more meaningful. If the material is relevant and interesting to them, they are more likely to engage, make deeper connections, and retain what they learn.

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The psychology of learning and expertise

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The psychology of learning and expertise

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The fields of research into psychology of learning and psychology of expertise provides information about how students learn. In a nutshell, students learn by developing knowledge structures in various forms: chunks, templates, scripts, schemas, mental models, mental maps, etc. The capacity of using those knowledges structures in the future depend on the level of specificity/generality of those structures and how connected they are with other knowledge structures. If the knowledge structures applied are specific to the instance in which they were learned, they will only be used if that situation repeats. Thus, it is important, when teaching, to foster the development of knowledge structures that apply to situations outside the context in which they were learned. One important tool is to provide links between different knowledge structures. The more connections between knowledge structures, the more chances the knowledge structures will be activated in the future and be used for making a judgment, solving a problem, or making a decision in the futures.

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Students learn through active engagement with ideas. Learning occurs when students connect new information to prior knowledge, practice applying concepts, receive feedback, and reflect on their understanding. Deep learning is most likely when students are required to analyze, interpret, discuss, and apply knowledge rather than simply memorize or reproduce information.

How do instructors create effective learning environments?

Instructors create effective learning environments by designing experiences that support those processes. This includes setting clear learning goals, creating structured opportunities for practice and feedback, encouraging collaboration and discussion, and designing assignments that emphasize process, critical thinking, and application. Effective environments also promote psychological safety and curiosity so that students feel comfortable asking questions, making mistakes, and engaging deeply with the material.

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Students learn in many different ways, of course, but I think one of the most productive pathways for learning is an application, project, lab, or hands-on activity that asks students to follow a process of knowledge generation. I think that can help students not only learn content but also learn about how we learn content.

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Given the variety of ways in which students actually absorb and potentially remember what they are being taught varies widely. I think creating engaging, interesting and potentially non-traditional ways of engaging with students was already the path forward, and AI only furthers the need to change the way in which students at all levels are taught. It might even offer the opportunity for students themselves to choose the best way in which they want to be taught.

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My first thoughts on how students learn in sociology was empathy, collaboration, and empowerment. I will pick these. I liked so many other notes too (such as curiosity, inclusion, risk). Sociology requires students to take on multiple perspectives and experiences and this means that they develop empathy across race, ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, age...Empathy helps them understand how structures shape experiences under conflict and cooperation. Students must collaborate in sharing diverse lived experience and collaborate in analysis of social structures and inequality and faculty must empower these practices.

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Students focus on what we tell them to in our syllabi. I am hoping to move students to a competency based approach by creating courses that help them critically think about why they do what they do.

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Students learn by applying and engaging with the material and making it their own.

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Students learn by engaging with their peers and the instructor authentically, adapting to "failure," and finding personal incentives when it comes to completing course assignments. Learning takes place when students "struggle" (to a certain extent), but that struggle requires support and feedback to be productive.

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Students don’t learn just by being given information. They learn by making sense of it, trying it out, bringing it back to mind, and adjusting their understanding over time. Learning tends to stick best when new ideas connect to what students already know, when they feel motivated and supported, and when they see themselves as part of a learning community. It also grows stronger when they use what they are learning in different situations, especially ones that feel meaningful or useful in the real world. On top of that, learning is shaped by who students are and what they bring with them, including their culture and experiences.

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For freshman English writing courses, we start with refining what they already know, their own stories and narratives, and build up their knowledge of academic writing standards. We then apply what they learn about the needs of different rhetorical situations in lower-stakes assignments and scaffold up to major projects involving objective information sharing and the expression of opinions that also considers a reading audience's needs and possible objections.

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Taking an approach with Universal Design Learning, students process information in a variety of ways. Where past frameworks assigned a single learning style to each learner, contemporary perspectives make space for multiple ways a student can interact, synthesize, analyze and create meaning from content. It's useful to present instructional material in diverse, but sensible, formats to allow all students to learn content. Incorporating activities that encourage active learning also promotes engagement with the material.

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Students learn by connecting new to old and practicing skills

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Students learn by connecting new to old and practicing skills

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Like the iterative development of an old-world city, students learn by gradually assimilating new information into their existing schemas, frameworks, and worldviews. They reinforce and retain new knowledge by spaced retrieval practice and projects that require synthesis of new and old knowledge. Aside: The book Make it Stick greatly influenced my view of what learning is and how it works.

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Students learn when they are they can engage, discuss, interact, and relate in some instances to the content that is being taught. When the narrative and expectations are set in the beginning it can create a smoother process.

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Students learn in a complex way that is unique to their personal experiences, current level of knowledge and understanding, and a variety of other factors. I feel best learning occurs in a learner-centered approach, where objectives are clear and meaningful, content engagement is multi-modal, and assessment provides opportunities for learning rather than simply defining what they do vs don't know. Instructors have be deliberate in how they facilitate learning. Classroom environments must be supportive and recognize and value diversity. Content needs to balance information gathering with information application. Instructors need to be good role models as a life-long learner, be collaborative, and provide and seek feedback on the effectiveness of the education program.

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How students learn (in psychology courses)

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How students learn (in psychology courses)

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Students learn best when they feel as though their instructor cares (about the content and about students as people). This care translates more easily into interest for the topic and a desire to perform at their best. After that, students learn when they are processing deeply (engaging in desirable difficulties, such as through writing and making connections to their own experiences or self-testing). In my courses, application of concepts is crucial.

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Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) students learn differently from traditional academic students because they are experienced ministry practitioners seeking to deepen their effectiveness in real ministry contexts. Their learning is best understood through several adult learning frameworks.

First, adult learning theory, developed by Malcolm Knowles, emphasizes that adult learners are self-directed, experience-based, and problem-oriented. D.Min. students bring significant ministry experience and prefer learning that addresses real leadership and pastoral challenges.

Second, experiential learning theory, as outlined by David A. Kolb, explains that learning occurs through a cycle of experience, reflection, conceptualization, and experimentation. Ministry situations become opportunities for reflection and for applying theological and leadership insights.

Third, reflective practice, associated with Donald Schön, helps pastors critically examine their ministry decisions and develop practical wisdom.

Finally, cohort discussions form communities of practice (Etienne Wenger), where students learn from one another’s ministry contexts.

Together, these approaches integrate experience, reflection, community learning, and practical application to strengthen ministry leadership.

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When I teach journalism style writing, I find students learn best by rewriting their own work and getting my feedback immediately. It's an active process of thinking, doing, reflecting, etc. In online classes it's much more difficult to gauge how they engage with feedback and the rewriting process (or how thoroughly they engage with it).

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Most of my classes are about developing a creative process for visual design creations. I believe students learn better when they are actively engaged in the subject, experiencing the process, and learning from failure. Therefore, I tend to ask them to reflect on themselves about their choices (whys), and keep an ongoing reflection.

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I believe that students learn best in an environment in which they feel safe not only to ask questions and engage with the material, but also to make mistakes and learn from their experiences. Each student learns in their own way which is why faculty need to present their material in multiple ways - through lecture, hand-on exercises, videos, etc.

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That is a great question, and one that I've spent most of my adult life trying to figure out. Needless to say, most of us have probably studied education and read about the different camps of learning based on Pieaget, Vygotsky, Maslow, Thorndike, etc... Whether you focus concepts like the Zone of Proximal development or buy into focus on the classical conditioning that these theories present, I am guessing you are still grappling with how we as educators can foster a learning environment for our students. I probably buy into Sir Ken Robinson's idea that learning is not something that I can create, as an educator, learning happens naturally, but with the right conditions, motivation, and feedback I think our goal is to see if we can push our students just a little bit further. To that end, I really struggle more with the question: What do my students NEED to learn?

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Students learn in several ways. Due to the subject matter, learning will take a different form. Therefore, experimental, real-life scenarios, videos, teams, and many other ways. Therefore, creating the right environment that captivates the various learning methods will develop and enhance the learning outcome of students.

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Rather than thinking of a classroom as content delivery, I frame engagement as the end goal and measure of learning. Engagement facilitates critical thinking and self reflection skills through discussions and writing. An instructor moderates and encourages these skills through making a classroom environment welcoming.

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It depends on the subject. E.g., to solve a math problem, students memorize theorems, and formulas and observe instructors solving similar problems. For humanity subjects such as writing, they read what other have wrote and thought about what they would write and then write and revise it. The job of an educator is to facilitate this process.

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It depends on the subject. E.g., to solve a math problem, students memorize theorems, and formulas and observe instructors solving similar problems. For humanity subjects such as writing, they read what other have wrote and thought about what they would write and then write and revise it. The job of an educator is to facilitate this process.

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Students learn by doing. When students are actively engaged in the learning process (thinking, discussing, practicing, creating, and solving problems, etc.) they are truly learning. Instructors create effective learning environments through ensuring safety, setting clear expectations, actively engaging students, providing timely feedback, building relationships, and encouraging ownership of learning.

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Students learn when they feel safe. They learn when they see relevance in the material to their lives. Students learn when they feel engaged with the material.

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Students learn if they are told the importance of the topic and how the topic fits in the curriculum. They need to be engaged in the classroom through interaction or active learning. They also need to be provided with assessments in different forms to evaluate their learning and keep them engaged in learning.

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I teach adult learners and find that students learn through active engagement with meaningful experiences that connect new information to prior knowledge. I think it is also important to note that learning isn't confined to formal settings and arbitrary timelines; it is an ongoing, organic process shaped by curiosity, reflection, feedback, and social interaction. When learners encounter authentic challenges and opportunities for application, understanding deepens, skills transfer, and knowledge becomes personally relevant and enduring. Learning is beautiful.

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I think students learn most effectively when they are actively engaged in making sense of ideas rather than passively receiving information. Learning occurs through a combination of experience, reflection, feedback, and application. When students connect new concepts to prior knowledge, test ideas through practice, and see how theory applies to real situations, understanding becomes deeper and more durable. Motivation also plays a critical role. Students are more likely to invest effort when they see relevance, feel supported, and believe they are capable of succeeding.

Further, I think instructors create effective learning environments by designing courses that are structured, transparent, and purposeful. Clear expectations, meaningful assignments, and timely feedback help students understand what quality work looks like and how to improve. Effective instructors also foster a climate of psychological safety where questions are welcomed and mistakes are treated as part of the learning process. By combining high standards with support, instructors encourage students to stretch their abilities, take intellectual risks, and develop confidence in their capacity to learn.

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Students learn through experiences and iteration. They also need to see potential in what they are learning so they are motivated to push through difficult parts.

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Students learning by connecting new information to their previous experiences and mental structures and adapting/reorganizing those mental structures as needed to better accommodate the new information. Thus, they need opportunities ad encouragement to reflect on prior knowledge, to consider new/different perspectives, and to meaningfully apply or practice new skills/content they're learning. Our role as teachers is to scaffold that process and engage them and simplify as necessary-- but the students need to do most of the hard work/thinking for real learning to occur. Learning is mostly a result of what students actually DO with the info.

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I think one way students learn is by acquiring new knowledge and understanding how it connects to other knowledge. This learning can be reinforced by activities that prompt students to reflect or apply their knowledge/understanding so that they consciously or unconsciously examine and validate these connections.

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Students learn when they are motivated and interested in the material, and feel that it is important to them and applies to their life. When they are able to make a connection to the material, they are more likely to internalize the importance of it.

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Students learn best when they have a scaffolding of knowledge to associate and integrate new material.

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I think there are many ways that people learn. However, some of the most lasting lessons are learned through trauma. I would like to think about positive ways of learning. I think students learn best when they are motivated by genuine interest in the subject or when the subject applies to something the important in their lives. I know I learn best when when the subject matter helps me to better understand the world and my life. Or when what I am learning helps me to accomplish a goal.

I enjoy when students listen to a lecture, or engage in a conversation or activity and then reflect on a personal experience in relationship to the subject discussed. That feels like true learning. When we can take a general concept and add it to our own understanding of life in a real way.

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Students learn when they are able to piece together new information with what they already know. Subsequent engagement with new information reinforces the remembering.

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Students learn in a variety ways, but I believe "learning by doing" and "show and tell" and "I do, we do, you do" work best. Of course some things are more relevant for k-12 students than for college students than for adult learners. I think if instructors can create buy-in from the beginning on how the class will help students develop "x" skills for "y" pathways/outcomes, then that can tap into student motivation for students who like to know the "what" and "why". For students who are unmotivated and lack any sense of direction or academic/professional purpose, then it's more difficult because those are deeper issues that a classroom can't fix.

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I think students learn by creating links between new ideas, skills and information and their existing structures of knowledge. Learning can't be a matter of a radical, disruptive break with everything they've thought and believed, nor can it just recapitulate common sense - it has to start with a clear and meaningful basis in 'accepted reality' and then move out into the unknown. I think that learning can only really happen when students discover intrinsic curiosity. You have to find a way to spark their interest, to show them that what you're trying to teach has meaning for their lives. Because of that, there's no simple answer to how we create effective learning environments. We have to remake them each time we get a new set of students, and be willing to adapt and be flexible when our old strategies stop working. I think that the tools of the university system - grades, coursework, credits - are a useful way of corralling students into the learning space. But the moment they become the real objective of teaching, then all hope for authentic learning has been lost.

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Students learn by having the opportunity to try, practice, take feedback, and try again. They also learn through modeling by a knowledgeable other, such as a peer or teacher. I think people learn best when they have a chance to collaborate with others and reflect on their own thinking and processes.

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Students learn best by doing. My approach is to first spark their interest in the topics we are exploring, creating curiosity and relevance. I then clearly introduce and model the key concepts, knowledge, and skills. Finally, I provide structured opportunities for students to apply what they have learned, allowing them to practice and reinforce the essential ideas themselves.

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I am not sure if the others who stated this were in 4H like I was, but I have followed the 4H motto for most of my life: learn by doing. We, as teachers, can provide all the information possible, but when students "do" something is when I believe they can truly grasp what is being taught. I also tie this to Gardner's Multiple Intelligences. For most of my assignments, I have text, videos, and practice activities -- attempting to touch on all of the key learner characteristics (visual, kinesthetic, auditory, etc.)

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When determining how to teach, it is important to consider students' existing cognitive framework and how that makes a difference in processing new experiences and information. This is true for the content as well as the methods of learning, the motivation for learning, and how the learning will be applied.

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Students learn in multiple ways depending on their purpose. Active learning which includes engages them in some way beyond the sit and get lecture is important for classroom and enduring learning.

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From my experience and understanding, students (and I) learn in several ways and contexts. Still, these usually involve a mix of the following elements: experimenting, discussing, explaining, negotiating, testing, building, representing, sharing, relating information, communicating, listening, or interacting. In many situations, students can learn with others, building meaning, sometimes shared, other times in opposition. At other times, students can learn on their own, scaffolding their own arguments, experiments, and conclusions. As a teacher, I aim to design situations that stimulate students' learning by challenging their curiosity, scaffolding their prior knowledge with new questions, and fostering conversations, group experiences, and projects.

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Students learn through making connections to the work of others, so actively engaging them with their peers is one of the best ways to foster learning.

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In my experience, students learn best when they can apply the knowledge they have learned through simulations or connections to the real world. I often create midterm or final assignments of that type, typically scaffolding them from an initial, paper-and-pencil project (step 1) to final video/write-up/animation (step 2). I would like to learn how to use AI in this creation process.

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Students learn through experience. I made up a word to encapsulate this. It is "rememberizing". Making course content a part of your memory through experiencing it so much that you "rememberize" it. The students who try it out say that it works. Not all of them buy in to it. And some may not tell me about it even if they do. However, I continue to believe that it works. Lol.

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At high school and undergrad level, I believe students learn well by participating in learning experiences which empower them to include their own voices, hearts and minds. Motivating them to be partners or co-creators of the learning processes brings a huge difference, agency and ownership.

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Student learning happens when students feel the content is relevant to why they need to learn it. Additionally, if students do not feel safe sharing their ideas/answers, learning becomes more difficult. Students will not ask questions to clarify or further understand the material. This is a missed learning opportunity.

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Students learn best when they can align their education with a work goal or a future career aspiration.

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Students learn if prompted to work out their learning through activity. This could involve developing intentional scaffolding that supports the process of their learning that is assignment specific (e.g. historical essays for midterm and finals). There would be less emphasis on memorizing and more on the process by which they engineer their essays with a mix of theory, evidence, and analysis and interpretation. Here the use of AI as a thought partner would be key, it seems to me. This is still something I am trying to work out.

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There are many ways that students can learn. My first thought goes to blooms taxonomy where students learn through remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. There are AI tools that can assist students with each of these levels of learning, but there are ways to foster each of these learning elements without the use of AI in the classroom. Such as thoughtful discussion, skill practice, reflection activities, generating a new project within the class time.

It has been helpful to read everyone elses posts, thank you!

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Students seem to learn best when they build on their prior knowledge and experiences, and when they actively participate in the process of applying the new knowledge. They are motivated to learn when they can see that the knowledge is relevant to their lives and will be practical in their careers.

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Students learn when they have the opportunity to apply knowledge. Beyond memorizing facts or information, they need to use information to solve real-world problems and apply their learning in new contexts. Learning needs to be relevant, personal, and meaningful to their lives.

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Students learn when the subject is relevant and exciting. If the subject connects to their passions or their career interests, they will be dedicated to learning as much as they can. If it's not relevant, I suppose they learn best when they're inspired.

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Students learn by doing. In my courses, they are working on authentic real-world projects. Having AI to boost their learning, just seems logical.

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Students learn best when they actively participate in the learning process and have regular opportunities to connect their new skills to their own experiences. As instructor, I support this by creating activities that encourage students to ask questions, evaluate ideas, and apply their knowledge.

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How Students Learn in Computer Applications Courses

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How Students Learn in Computer Applications Courses

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For my computer application course, we complete a LOT of hands on assignments. Even though everyone has their own learning style, when we discuss learning styles in class most of the students agree that practicing what they have learn is best for them. In addition to homework assignments, for my hybrid courses we do an in-class project each week. This allows me to expand upon the topics covered in the 3rd party vendor software as well as allows the students to ask questions of me directly instead of email.

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Building Understanding Through Active Learning

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Building Understanding Through Active Learning

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I have found that students learn best when new information is connected to what they already know. When they build on their existing knowledge, it helps them better understand and remember new concepts. I also see stronger learning when students are able to participate in hands-on activities, because they are actively engaging with the material instead of just listening. When I tie concepts to their own lives or experiences, students seem more interested and motivated, and the information feels more meaningful to them. Instructors can facilitate learning by first identifying what students already know and using that as a foundation for new material. Scaffolding concepts and breaking them into manageable pieces helps students build their understanding over time. Hands-on activities allow students to actively engage with the material and apply what they are learning. Instructors can also connect course content to real-world examples or students’ own experiences, which makes the material feel more relevant and meaningful.

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My students learn through different ways and mediums. Often they have shared and I have found that they are more willing and motivated to be engaged when there is a component that requires them to connect the course material or concept to their own lived experiences, observations, or perspectives. Engaging in discourse with one another, they not only created connections and rapport that gives them increased peer support, but they are often challenged to more critically examining what is being covered or discussed. Involving different ways of assessing knowledge can be helpful too, whether through low-stakes or practice quizzes, discussions, and special projects. Allowing for a range of medium options for projects can also encourage learning as the student can flex their creativity in a way that aligns best with them (e.g. create a podcast, infographic, visual presentation, written essay, etc.; have a rubric that covers the expectations regardless of medium).

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Students learn when it's relevant and fun

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Students learn when it's relevant and fun

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I have found that students learn best when they see the relevance to their own lives. I try and connect examples of course content to things that they can relate to in their own lives-friends, family, popular culture references. I have had students share that they understand complex concepts more when I have shown popular culture video clips to demonstrate the concept.

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One of the ways students learn is through critical engagement with content and ideas. Which content is selected, how it is presented, and how students are asked to engage it can powerfully shape the learning experience. In my content area, fear and presuppositions can be major barriers to learning. Students may be interested in the material, but if they are afraid to engage it critically because it may change or challenge previously held beliefs, they are more likely to dismiss new/different ideas without adequately considering the evidence. Cultivating a safe learning environment built on trust and transparency is one of the ways I try to mitigate this challenge to student learning/engagement.

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Each student is different, so it's important to utilize diffrent techniques and assessments to ensure effective learning and equaitable assessment. Some are more visual, and others need to "hear it," so in my online courses, I record a 30-minute "syllabus" video to supplement the plain text. I try to provide a variety of content, but I focus on relevant and recent applications. It's tough to connect with a case from 40 years ago, so I try to give them many that are so recent they're not even in the textbook. Also, business changes frequently, so even an example from three years ago may no longer be relevant. As students struggle with some assessments, I typically have 8 or so significant assessments or categories of assessments with no single assessment usually worth more than 10%, in an effort to reduce anxiety and increase performance.

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From my perspective as a French professor in basic language instruction and a linguist teaching ESL methodology, agency in AI is less about AI acting independently and more about how humans choose to use, guide, and interact with AI as a learning tool. In language education, agency must remain firmly human-centered: students and teachers should be the ones making decisions, setting goals, and directing learning, with AI serving as a supportive, mediating tool rather than a replacement for thinking, interaction, or pedagogy.

In beginning language classrooms, AI can enhance learner agency by giving students access to tools that support comprehension, practice, feedback, and exploration, such as translation, paraphrasing, pronunciation support, and conversational modeling. When used constructively, AI helps students become more autonomous learners by allowing them to test hypotheses about language, experiment with form and meaning, and build confidence outside of the classroom environment. Here, AI does not “take over” learning; instead, it expands students’ capacity to engage with the language.

From an ESL and applied linguistics perspective, agency in AI also involves critical literacy, understanding what AI does, how it generates language, where its limitations are, and how it can shape discourse, knowledge production, and learning behaviors. Developing AI literacy becomes part of developing academic literacy. Students learn not just to use tools, but to evaluate them, question them, and apply them ethically and pedagogically in future teaching contexts.

In this sense, AI agency should always be relational, not autonomous:

AI supports learning, but does not replace interaction

AI assists thinking, but does not replace cognition

AI enhances access, but does not replace pedagogy

Used intentionally, AI becomes a space for exploration, creativity, and skill-building—helping students develop linguistic competence, digital literacy, and professional readiness, while preserving human agency, responsibility, and critical thinking at the center of education.

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My students are learning through a lot of sensemaking. They are making connections to the content, their lived experiences, and the futures they see for themselves. They appreciate meaningful context, current realities, and overlays that help them connect theory to practice.

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Students learn when they are actively involved with the content, when they have to DO something with it, and when they are asked to reflect on what it means for them as learners or professionals or people in other roles. They learn when they talk to others (students, teacher, AI) about what they are doing and learning and have to negotiate meaning.

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Learning is a Collaborative Social Process

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Learning is a Collaborative Social Process

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Students learn through observation, imitation, doing, and creating.   I think each part is important.  Early in the learning process, observation and imitation are very important.  But effective learning requires students to take some kind of action that gets them doing and creating something beyond sitting as passive “vessels” to be “filled” with knowledge. I think effective learning is a practice that requires communication between students themselves and between instructors and students.

To foster this communication, instructors must work with students to create safe and collaborative classroom spaces where ideas can be shared in ways that are respectful to members of the classroom.  Instructors must have some level of caring about their students’ learning process and be fearless in responding to student questions and in asking students to produce work that may be outside of their comfort zone.  Instructors need to take student criticism seriously.  And there should always be a system in place of ongoing feedback that enables instructors to improve their teaching over time.  Students and instructors are always working together as learning happens.

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Students learn through a combination of experiences that engage their minds, emotions, and environments. They build understanding by connecting new information to prior knowledge.

Furthermore, learning is strengthened when students are motivated, feel safe to ask questions, and see relevance between what they are studying and what they see in the real world.

Lastly, social interactions such as the use of discussions and collaboration, also plays a key role. I've seen this in other threads, but repetition over time helps as well.

My final thought is, instructions needs to be varied, inclusive and responsive to individual needs.

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Students learn by actively engaging with materials. Learning by doing is much more effective than learning by being told.

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Intrinsic motivation is one way students learn. When there is curiosity, meaning, and purpose students are engaged. Clear learning outcomes and expectations of how they achieve success can also contribute to learning as there is less distraction and more focus.

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By engaging with the materials, active learning, connecting the new concepts to prior knowledge, associating the new concepts to familar topics, reading, reviewing

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I think we could spend a lifetime trying to answer this question, without fully getting a complete understanding. Students learn when they are motivated... when they understand why it is important to understand the material... when they can connect the material to their current lives and/or a future life... when they are safe...when they have the time to focus...

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student also learn through active play

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Students learn through their individual style, multiple intelligence and zone of proximal development. In addition students learn through attaching old learning to new learning through graphic organizers and collaborating with diverse peers. More over students learn in a safe environment where they can ask questions and receive answers attached with supporting resources

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Students learn when they are self-motivated. it is important that they see themselves using the new knowledge gained in their future practice. I had a student come up to me on the first day of class to say "I don't usually put in the time and effort into something I see myself not using in the future." That day was a light bulb turned on day for me. The student felt he was not going to need my class for his future practice. I teach Nursing and Nursing has several specialty areas and he did not see himself practicing in the area of maternal and child health nursing. That class was a mother/baby class. He was giving the heads-up that he wouldn't put in effort in any activity and assignment for the class. I convinced him that he would need my class to answer compulsory question in NCLEX. The NCLEX-RN exam is a generic nursing exam as it utilized adaptive-quizzing model, where questions from areas where the candidate demonstrates weakness during the exam continues to roll until the candidate shows an acceptable level of mastery before going on to test on other areas. If not they fail the exam. Therefore, I informed this student that if he fails mother/baby questions on the NCLEX-RN exam he will end up answering more mother/baby questions and stands the risk of failing the exam. He realized that day that he needed my class to become a nurse! This is an example of how students learn by self-motivation.

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Students learn through active engagement. When instructors are able to demonstrate that the things they are learning in class or in the textbooks, are applicable in the real world, that is when the real learning happens. The second thing is to let students take responsibility for their won learning. Of course, assessments and grading are required but granting them autonomy helps a lot. For example, allow them the choice of medium when they are submitting their work. If it is a research project, allow them to do a presentation, a paper, a blog, a podcast, a video etc.

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Basic needs for a good learning environment

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Basic needs for a good learning environment

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As a historical sociologist and environmental historian that has taken a long and difficult path to teaching at the secondary and higher education levels both internationally and domestically. I have seen that when students have clean/safe running water, a home, good food to eat and parents that are properly employed and live in safe and nurturing environments. They have the essentials to actually learn and learn well. Through my research and publications, we live in the richest society in world history, but too many students have deal with too much stress and limitations that we do not consider or event take a second to think about. Paul Goodman in 1960 wrote a bestseller titled Growing Up Absurd, where he describes the very troubled society the US is in terms of its young people that are given mixed signals and as we see now horrible examples of bad behavior. Not much has actually changed in 60+ years. I teach and live with giving students empathy and a second chance, something my parents who grew up in Jim/Juan Crow were never given and I experienced. We provide students the basics with a little dose of love, they will more than meet our supposed expectations.

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Students learn in so many ways as defined and demonstrated by others in this course. I think relevance is really important for students. Students commit to learning new things when they can see how it is relevant in some way: how it connects, builds or underlies their education, careers, or personal growth.

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Students learn best when there is "psychological safety" and students feel free to take risks and make mistakes. Once they have a sense of belonging and inclusion, students need to be actively engaged in their learning, connect new information to old (Chunking and association), and given opportunities for practice and review.

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Students learn through active engagement, by connecting new ideas to prior knowledge, practicing skills in meaningful contexts, and reflecting on their understanding. Learning is most effective when students feel cognitively challenged but supported, have opportunities to apply concepts, receive timely feedback, and make sense of their learning through dialogue, inquiry, and real-world relevance.

An effective learning environment is one that is inclusive, well-structured, and human-centered. It fosters trust and belonging, sets clear expectations, encourages curiosity and risk-taking, and uses tools and technologies purposefully to support learning goals. When students feel safe, seen, and intellectually engaged, they are more likely to persist, collaborate, and grow.