Active Learning Online...

Active vs. passive, what’s the difference???
Simply put, active learning is “doing.” The very nature of an online environment is active. Students very rarely are able to sit back and view or listen to anything. They must actively seek out knowledge and create their own truths.

“Most of the time, in a typical classroom setting, students are involved only passively in learning, i.e., in listening to the instructor, looking at the occasional overhead or slide, and reading (when required) the text book. Research shows that such passive involvement generally leads to a limited retention of knowledge by students…” *


What’s the big deal?
We know that student remember 90% of what they say and do and only 10% of what they read and 20% of what they hear…..(Dale, 1954)


How do I do it?
•Start small – you might already be doing it without knowing!
•Set the stage
•Approach each lesson from a student perspective
•Think about what the students will be “doing” each lesson


Activities
•Is there a lecture you typically prepare that can be more interactive (think: less reading, more research, summarizing, and synthesizing)? Have your students get into online groups and research various topics from a lecture. Use an online collaborative tool so that students can share ideas in an online area. Have them present their findings to the class in a virtual classroom or discussion board.
•Have a student or group of students moderate discussion boards. Ask them to facilitate the conversation and summarize and close the discussion board at the end.
•If students are writing papers, have them use the collaboration tools to peer review each others papers. Be sure to provide guidelines of what constitutes an effective peer review.
•Are your students involved in a practicum or field based experience? Reconnect them to their classmates by having them use a reflection or discussion tool online.
•Send students on a virtual scavenger hunt by providing resources in the form of web resources & documents.


*http://courses.science.fau.edu/~rjordan/active_learning.htm