Active Learning
What is active learning?
Active learning is fundamentally about student engagement and participation. It involves students going beyond passive listening in lectures or ‘sitting back and being fed information’ to ‘learning by doing’ and being agents of their own learning, for example through discussion, problem solving, role-play, and creating something new (Gibbs, 1988; Kolb, 2015).
See O’Neal and Pinder-Grover’s How can you incorporate active learning into your classroom? for a range of active learning ideas.
Why active learning?
Active learning is about engaging students in ways that reflects how they learn. Rooted in social constructivist ideas of Russian scholar Vygotsky, active learning emphasises that to learn, individuals need to actively construct or build their understanding through discussion and participation.
Active learning, compared to traditional delivery of content, can be more motivating and engaging for students, improving attendance (McLaughlin et al., 2014). It's a space where students engage in investigative and problem-solving tasks, can take risks (and sometimes fail), making learning challenging and enjoyable.
Active learning has been proven to improve students’ attainment, including non-traditional students. Freeman et al (2014) meta-analysed some 225 studies to find that students taught traditionally, for example through lectures, compared to those students engaged in active learning are 1 and half times more likely to fail exams or assessments.
See Brent and Felder’s Understanding and minimizing resistance to learner-centred teaching for tips about introducing active learning approaches, including setting clear expectations.
From classroom to curriculum
Active learning is more than a series of activities within a lecture or class. It also requires rethinking the design of a whole programme or unit. A key implication of active learning approaches is that by engaging students more deeply in learning through activity in class, there is less room to cover content. Key active learning curriculum design approaches include:
- Flipped learning. This approach engages learners with material ahead of class (e.g. through bite-size videos, podcasts or reading activities, similar to those made for students doing the pandemic). This allows class time to focus on discussing, exploring and applying ideas from the material.
See Talbert’s blog (2017), No, you do not need to use video in flipped learning (and five alternatives) for a range of flipped approaches.
See Baig and Yadegaridehkordi’s literature review (2023) for guidance on engaging students in flipped learning.
- Case-based and problem-based learning are often collaborative approaches which engage students with real-world challenges, and problems (Pinto, 2023). Case-based learning involves students discussing and analysing detailed, specific cases that contextualise theoretical concepts. Problem-based learning engages students in exploring solutions for broader, more open-ended issues and problems. This approach is often structured as a long-term project, unfolding over multiple sessions or across an entire programme.
See Macdonald and Savin-Baden’s guidance for designing problem-based learning assessment (2004).
- Applied projects where students are engaged in applying theory to real-world problems or practical situations. This could include dissertation and research projects, projects with employer and community partners, and investigative projects as part of a field trip. Such projects can be highly motivating and encourage integration of ideas and skills to solve specific real-world problems (Kuh, 2008). Applied projects are often collaborative, and their design and the accompanied learning should be planned across multiple sessions, modules, or the entirety of a programme.
References
Baig, M. I., & Yadegaridehkordi, E. (2023). Flipped classroom in higher education: a systematic literature review and research challenges. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 20(1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1186/S41239-023-00430-5/FIGURES/2
Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(23), 8410–8415. https://doi.org/10.1073/PNAS.1319030111
Gibbs, G. (1988). Learning by doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. Further Educational Unit, Oxford Polytechnic.
Kolb, D. (2015). Experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and development. Pearson Education, Inc.
Kuh, G. D. (2008). High Impact Education Practices: what they are, who has access to them, and why they matter(G. D. Kuh, Ed.). Association of American Colleges & Universities. https://www.aacu.org/publication/high-impact-educational-practices-what-they-are-who-has-access-to-them-and-why-they-matter
Macdonald, R., & Savin-Baden, M. (2004). A briefing on assessment in problem-based learning.
McLaughlin, J. E., Roth, M. T., Glatt, D. M., Gharkholonarehe, N., Davidson, C. A., Griffin, L. M., Esserman, D. A., & Mumper, R. J. (2014). The flipped classroom: A course redesign to foster learning and engagement in a health professions school. Academic Medicine, 89(2), 236–243. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000000086
Pinto, B. L. (2023). Distinguishing between Case Based and Problem Based Learning. International Journal of Kinesiology in Higher Education, 7(3), 246–256. https://doi.org/10.1080/24711616.2022.2111286
Talbert, R. (2017). No, you do not need to use video in flipped learning (and five alternatives). https://rtalbert.org/flipped-learning-without-video/
Why use active learning approaches in your teaching?
Watch this three minute video from our PVC-Education and Students, Prof. Tansy Jessop, and hear about the benefits that embedding active learning approaches in your teaching can make.
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