What is Active Learning?
Students who really engage with the material they are studying are much more likely to be able to retain the information and apply it to different contexts. This is the main principle behind ‘active learning'. Lecturers in all subject disciplines are increasingly being encouraged to move away from the traditional lecture and seminar formats and to develop more innovative teaching and learning techniques. This can include incorporating 'active learning' into their teaching methods.
Active Learning is often referred to as ‘learning by doing'. It is a way of involving students more actively in the learning process, helping them to develop independent learning, critical thinking and stronger analytical skills. It is a process that encourages students to develop many of the key skills employers look for and is a process that focuses on the student rather than the tutor. It is a learner centred approach to teaching. A learner centred approach is more likely to encourage students to reflect on their own learning process.
Through active learning, tutors guide students in developing a number of activities which make them apropriate the learning process, rather than being passive recipients of an outcome. Students acquire ownership of the learning process, making this an approach particularly suitable to meet a wide range of learning styles and abilities.
Teaching methods can include discussion, debate, role-play exercises or small group work, providing practical examples and real life case studies directly related to the topic under discussion. It can also be used in less clearly 'active' tasks, whereby students are guided towards reflection, typically through enquiry means. To encourage enquiry and research skills, whatever the topic being taught, is to foster in the students the development of critical thinking and analytical skills, as well as indepentent learning skills. Active teaching can therefore also come through the means of questions, rather than just activities to develop. Active learning that focuses in particular in the ability to research and put questions is often referred to as enquiry based learning.
Active learning can be used effectively in all types of teaching sessions, from lectures to tutorials/seminars, from blended learning, to only face-to-face teaching. It is a very effective method with distance learners and can be easily delivered online.