Student Engagement and Active Learning

By: Amy R. Austin, Ph.D.
USG eCampus
&
Vincent King-Spezzo, Ph.D.
Georgia Institute of Technology


Basic Principles

When setting out to create quality active learning activities, there are several aspects that one should consider in order to make an effective and meaningful activity (Barnes, 1989). Keep these principles in mind as you read more about active learning and eventually when you go to create your own.

Active Learning Should Be:

  • Purposive: The activity should be relevant to the students' concerns and/or have a connection to their real life.

  • Reflective: Students should have an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of what is learned.

  • Negotiated: There should be a negotiation of goals and methods of learning between students and teachers.

  • Critical: Students appreciate different ways and means of learning the content.

  • Complex: Students compare learning activities with the complexities existing in real life.

  • Situation-Driven: The situational needs are considered in order to establish learning tasks.

  • Engaged: Real-life tasks are reflected in the activities conducted for learning when possible.


Active Learning in the Online Classroom


For online students, interactions with their instructor and fellow students will be different than those in a traditional classroom, and often only those interactions that are built into the online course will be the ones that occur. Because of this, it’s even more important to design learning activities that are actively engaging and allow students opportunities to interact with each other, the instructor, and/or the material in a meaningful way.

The Federal Government seems to agree with this notion that online students should be actively engaged in their courses as well (President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, 2012). While so many aspects of teaching in a traditional classroom are mirrored to the online realm, the definition of attendance is not one of them. Whereas attendance in a traditional classroom is measured simply by student presence, according to the 2017-2018 Federal Student Loan Handbook, the act of logging into a course is not, by itself, considered a marker of student attendance. Instead, the Federal Government considers online student attendance only when they are engaged in active participation such as posting on discussion boards, submitting an exam, or having an email conversation with the instructor. While not all of these activities would be considered active learning, participation in an active learning activity would easily contribute to the fulfillment of the Federal Government's requirements for online course attendance.

While there seems to be more requirements for the online classroom that push it more towards using active learning than the traditional classroom, there are also some built-in tools and techniques that come naturally to online classes that help to serve this end. In both the traditional and online classroom, the classroom itself is often far removed from the actual real-world environment that will serve as the student’s eventual workplace. Therefore, creating authentic activities that compose as the backbone of active learning can be more difficult. However, in some ways, this actually becomes an easier task online than in the traditional classroom, as the online classroom offers a host of tools and opportunities that can resemble the same digital tools a professional may use in the modern workplace. For example, discussion boards can be envisioned as complex email chains between coworkers on a project, online documentation sharing works in a similar fashion for course groups as that in an actual office, and the virtual meeting software used, such as WebEx, Skype, or even Blackboard Collaborate, are similar if not the same tools utilized by businesses to hold virtual meetings today. Clearly, the tools for active learning online exist, it’s simply the construction and utilization of the activities themselves that remain.



Theoretical Framework

Chickering and Gamson (1987) provided the framework of practices that educators should incorporate in their face-to-face teaching environment. Over the years, the “Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education” has been used as a starting point to advance case-study research in the areas of student-faculty contact, cooperation among students, active learning, and prompt feedback (Graham, Cagiltay, Lim, Craner, and Duffy, 2001).

Several studies support the assertion that active learning correlates to a student’s level of engagement and affects the overall learning experience. The engagement theory introduced by Kearsley and Shneiderman (1998) is structured around a technology-based teaching and learning approach. Primarily stated is the notion that, “Students must be profoundly involved in their course of study through interaction with other and meaningful tasks for effective learning to take place” (p. 37).

A qualitative case study by Vonderwell and Turner (2005) was based on the theoretical framework from “Rich Environments for Active Learning” (Grabinger and Dunlap, 2000). Summarily, the framework suggests that the robustness of the active learning environment depends on the student engagement and initiative, dynamic learning activities, realistic assessment strategies, and collaborative support.

Richard A. Pruitt conducted a study in 2008 which explored the application of cognitive-developmental or mediated cognitive learning strategies in undergraduate online courses. The study focused on online interaction, discussion assignments, and multimedia components. The findings of Pruitt’s research indicated in part that, “…student[s] are more directly influenced by an instructor’s intentional effort to mediate the learning process…Successful use of online technolog[y] requires deliberate action on the part of the instructor …” (Pruitt, 2011, p. 226).


Students to Succeed Through Active Learning Strategies

Opportunities abound when it comes to ways for encouraging active learning in online courses. Dahl (2015) noted that while some do not necessarily agree on the definition of student engagement and how to achieve it, there is agreement that student engagement is a critical component of a high-quality learning experience.

Personalized Learning at WGU

Maria Andersen and David Leasure

Active Learning: Traditional Strategic Approaches

Several Higher Education Institutions promote active learning and provide literature on strategies for increasing student engagement. The University of Florida’s Center for Instructional Technology and Training offers several robust options for engaging students in the online environment (flipped classrooms, adaptive assessments, problem-based learning assignments, etc.) (“Active Learning in Online Courses”, 2018).

At Northwestern, active learning is promoted through analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Lemke (2017) noted that during a presentation on active learning strategies, the speaker (Dr. Ray Schroeder) described active learning as “a teaching method that supports learning” (para. 1). Pointing back to pioneers within the education industry (Chickering and Gamson, 1987; Adler, 1982, and Sophocles, 5th C), the idea remains that active learning involves authentic, deliberate, and intentional creation and design of course materials and activities.

Active Learning: A Different Point of View

Active learning requires institutions to provide a framework of support for student engagement and success. As an institution to be the first to dive into the realm of competency-based learning, Western Governors University (WGU) is an advocate for and promoter of the use of technology to engage students. One of WGU’s foundational pillars is the idea that the proper use of technology not only provides active learning (through things such as adaptive learning tools and assessments, multimedia, and webinars), but it also leads to personalized learning and student success (Andersen & Leasure, 2016).

With a keen focus on serving the student, WGU uses the personalized learning approach effectively by making adjustments [to the student’s plan] based on coaching reports (exam results by competency), dashboard analytics, and formative and summative feedback.


Quality of Instruction

Graham et al. (2001) discussed the notion that asynchronous learning does not prohibit the opportunity for students to share and learn from each other. Thus, a critical first step in encouraging active learning is the identification of learning activities that will support student success in their online course.

Regardless of the content or the method of instruction, deliberate course design is a critical component of ensuring active learning (and student engagement). Additionally, a student’s success in the online environment will likely also be based on and shaped by the quality of their interaction(s) (both student-to-student and student-to-instructor). Therefore, the quality of instruction has to be consistently monitored and measured.

There are several prominent fully online programs that are recognized because of how they utilize technology to monitor quality control. For example, the President of Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) (Paul J. LeBlanc) recognizes that online institutions “have gotten to a place with online learning that you really have some powerful tools available to you to ensure [quality instruction] is happening” (Plenda, 2018, p. 31).


References

Active learning in online courses, (2018). Retrieved from http://citt.ufl.edu/online-teaching-resources/activelearning/

Andersen, M. & Leasure, D. (2016). Personalized Learning at WGU. Retrieved October 12, 2018 from https://er.educause.edu/articles/2016/4/personalized-learning-at-wgu

Barnes, Douglas (1989). Active Learning. Leeds University TVEI Support Project, 1989. p. 19

Clarke, J.E., Mayo, C.R., Bryant, B., & Awadzi, C. (2017). Engagement in learning: Perspective of online tools and strategies to promote learning. Consortium Journal of Hospitality & Tourism 21 (1):33.

Dahl, B. (2015). 7 tips for increasing student engagement in online courses. Retrieved on October 5, 2018 from https://www.d2l.com/blog/7-tips-for-increasing-student-engagement-in-online-courses/