active learning in online classes
TRANSCRIPT
ACTIVE
LEARNING IN
ONLINE
CLASSES –LESSONS FROM THE
FRONT LINE
By Nicole Mitchell
Marketing Lecturer / Educational Designer
Charles Sturt university
Use the ANNOTATE
tool, to circle the
Emoji that best
reflects how you
are feeling about
using active
learning in the
online environment
Getty Images
“Active learning is…having students
engage in some activity that forces
them to think about and comment on the information presented.”
(Speaking of Teaching, 1993, cited in Cantu 2020, para. 1)
ACTive Learning
For Kolb, learning … works best when students
are encouraged to be actors as well as
observers,
to interact and experience
as well as to apply abstract reasoning and
theoretical constructs to issues.
(Kolb cited in Revell & Wainwright, 2009, p.211)
Adding some ‘action’ to your lectures
has many benefits including:
Attendance
Engagement
More fun
Better learning(Gibbs 1992)
https://teachingcommons.stanford.edu/resources/learning-
resources/promoting-active-learning
Context
Context
KNOW my
STUDENTSKNOW my
CONTENT
KNOW my
PURPOSE
Learning
activity
Engagement/interest Revision
Application of theoretical concepts
Facilitating Active Learning
THREE themes….
Social connections
Content based Activities
Group activities/tasks
NOTE: Throughout the whole process, consider the use of
questioning to keep students engaged.
Lesson learnt: Social connections were MUCH
easier in session 1 when I had an on-campus
class go to Online as the students had met
each other in person. It was much more difficult
in Session 2, when these same students were
combined with the Albury cohort.
More time needed to develop students’ ‘social
confidence’ online.
Lesson learnt: Annotations can get very
messy BUT students seem to like them.
You can also SAVE the image and then
incorporate it in an Announcement.
Although these Annotations usually do
not require high-order thinking, they do
get students to think, you can get an idea
pretty easily of what they know/don’t
know AND provide a discussion point.
Kahoot! is a free game-based learning
platform useful to:
• Introduce new topics
• Review, revise, reinforce
• Re-energise and reward
• Teach each other
• Get classroom insights
• Gather opinions
https://kahoot.com/
https://create.kahoot.it/
1. Ask the question
2. Use Breakout
rooms in pairs -
students to
discuss
3. Instructed them
what to do when
they got into the
‘room’ i.e.
introduce
yourself, your
business and
what you think
their differential
advantage is
4. Used ‘Broadcast
message’
function to send
the question via
Chat to each
room
5. Asked students to
write down using
Annotate tool
1. Ask the question
2. Use Breakout
rooms in pairs -
students to
discuss
3. Instructed them
what to do when
they got into the
‘room’ i.e.
introduce
yourself, your
business and
what you think
their differential
advantage is
4. Used ‘Broadcast
message’
function to send
the question via
Chat to each
room
5. Asked students to
write down using
Annotate tool
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ap
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fro
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ust
ralia
n A
rmy –
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al o
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rfa
re, P
art
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ree
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ain
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, V
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o 6
‘In
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cto
r’s
Ha
nd
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1984
) -
Ch
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ter
8 S
ec
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3. Q
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811))
Lesson learnt: I was concerned that some
students lacked the confidence to be ‘put
on the spot’ and then stop attending our
classes.
As a work-around, and to encourage
participation, I started sending students ‘pre-
class questions’ the day before class. I
explained to them WHY it was important for
them to prepare before class. I also told
students that I would ask someone different
each time AND in the small classes I would
ask everyone!
This worked really well until about week 7
when students stopped doing the questions
before class – too busy doing assessments -
however they were less reluctant to
participate by then!
TOP TIPS
Remember the student experience
Keep it simple
Try ONE new thing each week
Active learning is relevant for ALL modes of delivery!
Use the ANNOTATE
tool, to circle the
Emoji that best
reflects how you are
feeling about using
active learning in the
online environment
NOW!
Getty Images
For more information about the guide and/or any of the tools and
tech, please log a job via the DLT SRS Request system and ask for
Nicole Mitchell in the notes section!
Nicole Mitchell
Educational Designer/Sessional Lecturer in Marketing
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