As part of my role as a Lecturer at Mcr Met, I used these two examples of innovation within my teaching practice that was student-led which had a positive impact.
Inquiry-Based Learning
Learning through inquiry fosters critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. I used questions, scenarios, and problems to engage the class rather than lecturing them. After that, students conducted either individual or group research on these subjects to develop their responses. Together with the other students, they then presented their findings and supporting data to the class. After hearing what other students have discovered, students refined their responses even further by highlighting any details that still needed improvement. This was a successful strategy that fostered an original and enjoyable learning atmosphere which the students quite enjoyed and liked.
Jigsaws
Another tool for active learning is jigsaw puzzles. I used Jigsaws to give students the chance to instruct other students. Additionally, we learn while we teach, as Seneca once said. It's common knowledge that understanding something fully comes from explaining it to someone else (the protégé effect). Students were then split up into groups and given various bits of information using jigsaws. After that, it was the responsibility of the students in each group to understand the material well enough to explain it to another person. Following that, I divided the students into groups and tasked them with presenting their knowledge to the other participants. They kept going through this process until every group had all the information needed to finish the puzzle. This generated a great response among student and proved to be a successful innovation tool within my teaching.