Lesson 2.3 Pedagogical Approaches for Online Teaching

Active learning constitutes an instructional approach that engages learners actively within the learning process. This pedagogical approach involves learners in meaningful activities, encouraging them to both undertake actions and think the things they are doing. By engaging in active learning, students interact meaningfully with course content, their peers, and educators, utilising various educational tools and technologies, thereby fostering cognitive engagement. Unlike passive modalities like traditional lectures, active learning necessitates a higher degree of learner responsibility, but instructor guidance is still crucial.

Central to active learning is the construction of individual understanding, wherein learners establish connections between pre-existing knowledge and novel experiences, subsequently reflecting on the evolution of their comprehension. Embedded within these learning activities are assessment tasks that afford students the opportunity to demonstrate mastery of the prescribed learning objectives.

Active learning doesn’t simply make learning more interesting for students. It also promotes:

• higher-level thinking, 
  
• independent study skills, 
  
• communication skills and 
  
• problem-solving abilities. 
  

These skills are transferable to work, further study and personal and professional life, and will set students up for whatever they choose to do next (OU, n.d.).