Active Learning Online: Necessity, Faculty Role, and a Concept Model for Course Design

Preparing graduates for the present and future workforce is an important strategic learning and teaching goal of higher education. Towards realizing this goal, institutions are expending significant effort promoting active learning as an institution-wide teaching approach. Active learning is defined as learners deeply participating in the learning process which are being increasingly used in face-to-face contexts, but can it be used just as effectively in the online environments now common in higher education? In their 2017 paper, the authors established that active learning online is certainly possible. In this current article, the authors assert that not only is active learning online possible, but that it is a necessity to bolster workforce and higher order thinking skills needed in this current century. Importantly, the faculties have a crucial role to play in implementing active learning online, and active learning online permeates the whole of the online learning experience within courses.