About Active Learning

Active Learning has been referred to as many things, including “project-based learning” and “flipped classes.” The fundamental premise of active learning is the replacement of passive class time with a myriad of in-class activities designed to increase student interaction and engagement with one another and their faculty. Active learning pedagogy is known to improve student success and RIT has always embraced this mentality in our curriculum.

Active Learning is not a new concept in higher education or at RIT, where many faculty have utilized such approaches for years. Further, active learning can increase inclusion and accessibility in the classroom through small group work, and large format scenarios, providing multifaceted learning opportunities for our students – preparing them to be active and engaged leaders of tomorrow.

“Instructional activities involving students doing things and thinking about what they are doing.” (Bonwell and Eison, 1991)

Active learning is basically any teaching/learning activity in which students are active in participating in their own learning, rather than passive consumers of knowledge through a lecture, video, or other presentation. Active learning emphasizes collaboration, discovery, and peer learning, guided by the instructor, as a way to increase understanding and retention.

Active learning techniques are built on cognitive and constructivist learning theories, which emphasizes that “individuals learn through building their own knowledge, connecting new ideas and experiences to existing knowledge and experiences to form new or enhanced understanding.” (Branford et al., 1999)

Lab and studios are common examples of active learning, as are in-class or online discussions.

A critical piece of active learning is to to debrief activities to ensure that all students gained the anticipated/expected knowledge and “took the right lessons” from the activity.

While there are many active learning designs, the general flow of active learning is:

• Set up
  A short lecture or presentation that gives students the knowledge or skills they need to clearly understand the task they are being asked to complete.
• Student work
  Time for students in pairs or larger groups to collaborate on completing the task.
• Debrief
  A structured review of student output to determine if they accomplished the task and developed the intended learning. This can happen in the room, through a review of the work or a verbal Q&A in the classroom, or through a worksheet, reflection, quiz or other method completed at the end of the class or as homework.

While the students are working, instructors–as well as TAs, if available–are active as well, observing, guiding, and providing assistance as needed. In a larger class space, you may want to establish a signal for students to use if they need help, such as drawing a star at the top of the whiteboard where they are working.

When you have TAs in the class, make sure you’ve set expectations with them on how much help they should provide and when they should let students “muddle through” on their own.

There are many designs and variations for active learning activities. You may want to explore several ideas to determine the best one for your situation.

Designing Active Learning Activities

Active Learning examples

Here are four examples of learning activities developed by RIT instructors.

Activity Examples from RIT Faculty

Classrooms in the SHED and Wallace Library have been designed and designated as active learning spaces. Faculty teaching are expected to use active learning strategies to teach their classes.

However, any RIT faculty in any classroom can consider active learning strategies, when appropriate, to increase student engagement, satisfaction, and achievement of learning outcomes.

Characteristics of Active Learning Classrooms

Active Learning in Large Classes: A Teaching Circle Report

You can contact the Center for Teaching and Learning to talk about active learning and collaborating on activity designs by e-mailing CTL@rit.edu.