Regis Faculty Online

Active learning is the process of getting the student to engage with the learning material in an active way. Research shows that when students are cognitively active in their learning, they will recall more of the information later and have a deeper understanding of the content. Below are some tips to promote active learning in your online class.

1. Break students into small groups.
   1. Give the group a clear and purposeful task.
   2. Try using a short piece of writing to initiate group conversation.
   3. Try asking the group to produce a collaborative piece of writing.
2. Pose a scenario or case study in the discussion forum.
3. Hold a structured controversy (Watkins, 2005).
   1. Present students with an issue that has two clear sides.
   2. Assign students into groups and assign each group a side to take.
   3. Have the teams post their initial positions.
   4. Have the teams rebut the other team’s positions.
4. Learner-moderated discussions (Watkins, 2005)
   1. Assign a student to monitor and facilitate a short discussion topic.
5. Small-group peer review (Watkins, 2005)
   1. Break the students into teams.
   2. Have the teams conduct a peer review of each other's work on a major project.
6. Online jigsaws (Watkins, 2005)
   1. Break the course content up into chunks.
   2. Assign a student or a team of students to each chunk.
   3. Students should study this chunk of content in depth, creating a short presentation of their findings. This presentation can be as simple as a discussion post.
   4. Students then present their findings to the entire class. The goal is for the student or group of students to teach the rest of the class about their chunk. This can be done in an online discussion forum.
7. Think-Pair-Share (McKinney, 2009)
   1. Give students a question or problem and have them work alone at first.
   2. Then, have students pair up with other students and discuss their ideas.
   3. Finally, have them present their discussion and ideas to the whole class.
   4. For the online environment, this can be done using the threads in a discussion board. Have each pair of students start their own thread and use it to discuss their ideas. Then, when students have a summary to present to the group, have them change the subject line of their post to "Summary " with their names (e.g. "Summary - Samuel and Adam").
8. Student-generated exam questions (McKinney, 2009)
   1. Have students post possible exam questions for the unit they are working on.
   2. These questions can then be compiled by the facilitator and used as a study guide by the students.
9. Make the content relevant to students.
   1. Explain how the content is important for what the students will be doing in their careers.

References for Active Learning

McKinney, K. Active Learning. Available: http://www.cat.ilstu.edu/additional/tips/newActive.php

Meyers, C., & Jones, T. B. (1993). Promoting Active Learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Watkins, R.W. (2005). e-Learning Activities: Making Online Learning Interactive. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.