Active learning engages students, encouraging them to think, discuss, investigate, and create in the classroom. Students may solve problems, practice skills, or otherwise get deeply involved in the process of learning. And it is NOT limited to the traditional classroom—active learning can also be applied in the online classroom. Below are some active-learning strategies to try in the online courses you teach.
What is Active Learning?
Arrange for students to experience applications of theories and concepts first-hand in authentic contexts
Examples: Volunteering, internships, portfolios, site visits, museums
Design simulated experiences that allow students to participate in situations unavailable to them in the real world
Examples: Games, role play, scenarios, debate, VR, online tours
Apply learning to a project that requires synthesis of information and skills, collaboration with peers, and creative media components.
Examples: Brochures, commercials, videos, charts, infographics
Use an investigative process including questions, hypotheses, observations, and conclusions to discover concepts
Examples: Webquests, enduring questions, complex/unscripted problems
Incorporate real-life stories that illustrate a concept to prompt students to integrate their learning with the real world.
Examples: Historical/current events, legal cases, documentaries
Challenge students to put course content to the test through experimental design and reporting the results
Examples: Home experiments, research studies, applied practice
Delegate students to take responsibility for instruction and become the teacher for a small group or partner
Examples: Jigsaw discussion, slideshow, screen share, peer coaching
Assign students to conduct interviews with individuals or organizations that work in the field they are learning about.
Examples: Interviews, observations, job shadow, surveys
Engage students in metacognitive practices to capture learning and publish their insights to an online audience
Examples: Journals, curating, social media, blogs, vlogs