Moving from Lecture to High-Impact Learning

Cara Putman

12-16-2025

Remember that class you had? The one where the professor lectured the entire semester and you weren’t sure you needed to attend?

We’ve all had a class like that. Maybe more than one. But at the Daniels School of Business, we’re committed to creating a transformational student experience, one where students experience an immersive learning environment. When you pair that with a second strategic pillar, that of academic prowess that leads to rigorous research, thought leadership and faculty excellence, change is in the air.

I love to teach, but the law is a daunting course to teach to undergraduates who often are only there because it is a required course. With an attitude of continuous improvement, I wanted to transform that. My publication, "The Business Simulation as the Key to Transition from Lecture to High-Impact Learning" in the most recent issue of the Journal of Legal Studies Education, explores my journey from a lecture-based course to one focused on bringing active learning to the center.

I’ve convinced if we could do that in Business Law, something similar can occur in any class.

In this teaching note, I explore how faculty can transform a traditionally lecture-based course into one that emphasizes active learning. With active learning, students are invited to engage with the material through learning by doing rather than passively listening to lectures. Making the transition from one style to the other can be a daunting process, one more expectation in an ever-growing litany that confronts faculty. At the same time, students need tangible ways to connect what they are learning in the classroom to the real-world they will work in after graduation.

To begin this daunting process, I recommend the following steps as any facilitator, whether in a university classroom or the workplace, considers engaging students or an audience.

• Head into class with an eye to experimentation
  View each class as an opportunity to experiment. Enter class with the intention to adopt a “spontaneous” in-class activity. Note what worked and turn it into an activity that can be replicated the next semester. Often the step of capturing the activity is the step that is easy to miss. Do not rush to the next responsibility without capturing the activity with the reflection of what worked and what did not. Make time to do that. This semester I’ve been experimenting with how to responsibly model AI use in my courses. I’m actively taking notes on what’s worked and what can be improved upon because AI isn’t going away, so I will continue to build on this semester’s foundation.
• Collect the tested exercises and compile them into a larger simulation
  These individual exercises, if compiled, can become a larger, coordinated portfolio project or course simulation. For this to work, turn individual activities into a combined sequence that generates a logical story that students create across the semester or a segment of it. This will create coherence, which also helps students value the content you’re teaching.
• Be willing to rethink and redesign your course
  A key element of the success of adaptation is a willingness to redesign the course when needed. Just because a textbook is organized one way does not mean that is the way to teach the course. It may not be the most logical placement of content. That might mean your syllabus needs to shift and that you redesign chapter placement to make more sense for students. As an added benefit, invite other faculty to participate in the redesign with you to build consensus and gain clarity from their experience and perspective.
• Mentor other faculty through providing ready-made, in-class activities
  Having the simulation and its in-class activities developed has made it much easier to help new faculty and adjuncts step into classrooms and develop as teachers. It was ready-made mentoring on the art of active teaching. The simulation is a roadmap for how to apply the content in an active learning format. 
• Develop an attitude of continuous innovation
  This is a living simulation. Each semester I evaluate what worked, where teams have questions, what question or prompt I want to add to deepen student understanding, and so on. I also consider if there are additional activities I can add or enhance — such as incorporating AI in ethics and contract formation. 

Active learning doesn’t have to be an immediate transformation. By adopting a continuous improvement mindset and building over time, that transformational, active learning can be incorporated into any class. Start small. Play with one activity. See how it goes and tweak it. Then adjust and add another activity. At a minimum you will have engaged your students in learning in a way that will benefit them … and you.

Full Citation

Cara Putman (2025). "The Business Simulation as the Key to Transition from Lecture to High-Impact Learning." Journal of Legal Studies Education vol. Volume 12 (Number 2), 95-104.