MONOGRAPH A Universal Guide to Transitioning Didactic Delivery into an Active Classroom Renée J. LeClair 1 & Kathryn H. Thompson 2 & Andrew P. Binks 1 # International Association of Medical Science Educators 2018 Abstract The transition to active delivery methods is increasingly advocated in medical education and demonstrably beneficial for robust learning, but it can be fraught with challenges for educator and learner alike. To help avoid some common pitfalls, we outline five key steps for the uninitiated or frustrated educator to smoothly and successfully transition to an active learning environment. Step 1: Articulate the change in teaching modality and the new roles of both the learner and the educator to establish trust and engagement. Students should understand the rationale for active learning and the importance of their participation. Step 2: The educator has a greater responsibility to guide with clear learning objectives that tightly align with preparation materials and assessment. We show how basic learning objectives can be developed to parallel assessment and improve student guidance. Step 3: With the expectation that students come to class prepared comes the educator ’ s responsibility to provide concise, focused preparation materials. We discuss how resources can be refined to deliver basic concepts and improve student preparation. Step 4: Generate an in-class activity following guidelines adapted from team-based learning. We discuss the importance of activity structure and summary to achieving student trust and success. Step 5: Interpret feedback and use our trouble-shooting guide to overcome challenges and improve your active classroom. Collectively, these steps provide universal and clear methods for faculty of all developmental stages to effec- tively generate an active classroom experience in any curricular setting. Keywords Active learning . Curriculum reform . Faculty development . Flipped classroom . Interactive teaching . Teaching methods Introduction and Rationale The current emphasis in undergraduate medical education continues to be integration of content, delivery of clinical skills in the undergraduate years, and promotion of life-long learning. To achieve this, a growing number of programs en- courage faculty to transition from didactic teaching to an ac- tive delivery, student-centered learning environment [1, 2]. The types of active teaching (e.g., problem-based learning and team-learning) have been well-described elsewhere, and it is not the objective of this monograph to repeat those de- scriptions, but rather to give some universal guidelines to im- plement active teaching in the classroom, regardless of meth- odology. Although active teaching has many assets, an unpre- pared foray into this type of student-centered education can lead to frustration and poor outcomes. In addition to being avoidable, these poor outcomes have led to the perpetuation of myths and anecdote-based dismissal of active teaching, * Renée J. LeClair rleclair@vt.edu Kathryn H. Thompson kthompson@une.edu Andrew P. Binks abinks@vt.edu 1 Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, Department of Basic Science Education, 1 Riverside Circle, Suite 202, Roanoke, VA 24016, USA 2 University of New England, Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Osteopathic Medicine, 11 Hills Beach Road, Biddeford, ME 04005, USA Medical Science Educator https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-018-0599-1