What is Active Learning?
In general, active learning refers to “any instructional method that engages students in the learning process” (Prince, 2004, p. 223). Active learning refers to the deliberate design of teaching and learning activities that are student-centered, meaningful, and promote deep student engagement, reflection on, and agency for learning (Bonwell & Eison, 1991). Active learning is experiential and collaborative learning engages students in actively learning and engaging with new information and ideas through various platforms and digital tools, reflecting on new information, and engaging in collaborative dialogue and activities with peers (Niemi, 2002; Roessingh & Chambers, 2011). Fink (2003) expanded Bonwell and Eison’s (1991) active learning definition by proposing framework instructors could use to examine how students encounter (i.e. through observing or doing), engage with, and reflect on new information and ideas (preferably through dialogue) in a course.
Active learning activities meaningfully engage students with learning through active student participation in, and ownership of, one’s learning (Freedman et al., 2014). For example, students might (a) encounter new information and ideas by studying various assigned texts, (b) engage with texts through annotating them and then sharing their insights with peers in a shared Google doc, and (c) reflecting on their learning by engaging in reflective journal writing on what the student is learning, what else she/he would like to learn and how. Other techniques for fostering active learning include pausing for reflection, concept maps, minute papers, student-generated questions, think-pair-share, demonstrations, debates, games or simulations, experiential learning, team-based learning, inquiry-based learning, and problem-based learning. Active learning can occur in face-to-face, hybrid, and fully online contexts. Online education places the student in the role of active learner and the instructor in the role of facilitator. In my view, active learning also implies the course instructor will design a student-centered learning environment that is based on collaborative inquiry. An environment in which she/he will apprentice students in the knowing, doing, and learning of the represented discipline.
Research shows that sample benefits of active learning for students include improved and sustained engagement in learning, improved critical thinking skills, deeper learning through retention and transfer of new information, increased motivation, improved collaborative and interpersonal skills, and increased student retention (Owens et al., 2020; Prince, 2004). Results from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) showed that hands-on and collaborative active learning experiences lead to high levels of student engagement and achievement (Kuh, O’Donnell, & Schneider, 2017).
In summary, active learning refers to instructional activities that engage students critically and metacognitively in learning and in thinking about what they are learning. Active learning implies student engagement with learning. Active learning strategies vary according to the discipline, learning goals, student skillset. They also vary according to instructor knowledge of andragogy (i.e. science of adult learning) (Knowles, Swanson, & Holton, 2005) and technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) (Koehler & Mishra, 2009).
The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to (a) explore how active learning was conceptualized and enacted in an online graduate-level literacy course; (b) explore how students in the online graduate-level course developed literacy knowledge through active learning activities; and, (c) discuss lessons learned and implications for online teacher education in literacy, student learning, and research.