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Active Learning

Active learning strategies—such as reflections, case studies, and polls—actively engage students in their learning. These techniques can complement other teaching methods to support student learning by engaging critical thinking, collaboration and hands-on problem-solving skills. This page provides some strategies, examples and tips to help instructors integrate active learning into their learning environments.

Quick Links

Learning Activities
Teaching with Tech: Tool Spotlight
Ways to Enhance Active Learning

Key Idea

Active learning can be incorporated into existing instructional approaches to actively engage students and deepen their understanding of course concepts.

How Can Active Learning Support Students?

Community

Creating meaningful opportunities to interact, participate and collaborate, active learning helps build communities of engaged learners and provide breaks from lectures or other learning experiences.

Engagement

Connecting and applying new knowledge in meaningful ways for students to engage with course material using critical thinking and creative problem-solving.

Reflection

Building direct links between course content and real time applications of course themes to support reflection on their learning.

Awareness

Inviting learners to check their own understanding of key course concepts and themes.

Try it: Quick Active Learning Activities

What?

Think-Pair-Share is a collaborative learning activity where students independently consider a question (think), talk to a partner or group (pair) and share their joint ideas with the whole class (share).

Why?

Questions posed to students can be open-ended to encourage students to evaluate and analyze the topic as well as to engage in meaningful conversations with their peers.

How?

An instructor could pose a question and ask students to speak to the person beside them in person or in a breakout room online. The themes that emerge from these partnered conversations can then be shared through class discussion, a collaborative document or word cloud.

  • Use online or in person
  • Easy-to-implement and prepare
  • Works for any class size
  • Only takes a few minutes in class

Resources to Explore

What?

Case studies can help students learn how to apply theories and concepts to realistic challenges. Students can explore case studies individually, in pairs, or in small groups.

Why?

Case studies encourage connection to real-life scenarios and supports problem-solving skills as well as long-term knowledge retention. They take more preparation by instructors, but once developed they have many uses.

How?

Pose scenarios, problems and challenges to students that encourage them to analyze, discuss and apply concepts from the course. Working individually, in pairs or groups, students engage with the case study to analyze the situation, identify key issues and propose solutions. After, students can share findings and reflect on different approaches.

  • Use online or in person
  • High (30+ mins) prep time
  • Especially helpful in group work, seminar and tutorial settings

Resources to Explore

What?

Working in groups or individually, students share their thinking around key questions or course concepts. Students might also share artifacts such as photographs, articles and questions that are relevant to the lesson.

Why?

Gallery Walks promote analysis, collaboration and teamwork. Additionally, they can encourage students to get active by moving around the classroom in person.

How?

In online or larger courses, instructors can use a Zoom whiteboard (PDF), Microsoft Whiteboard sticky note function or eClass discussion forum. In person or smaller courses can use whiteboards and chart paper posted around the classroom for students to view. As they move around the class or online, students are encouraged to add sticky notes with their thoughts while reading others’ ideas.

  • Use online or in person
  • Average (<30 mins) prep time
  • Works for any class size

Resources to Explore

What?

A form of cooperative learning where a topic is divided into pieces and each member of the group is given a piece to become an “expert” or leader on. Once they have gathered sufficient information, they share what they have learned with one another.

Why?

A jigsaw discussion can create a cooperative and interdependent learning environment. Students enhance their research and communication skills when becoming a topic “expert” and practice problem-solving when accessing and sharing their research.

How?

For example, students are split into groups to discuss one reading each. Then, the groups are rearranged so groups now have members that discuss different readings. Each student in the new intermixed groups becomes an “expert” on the reading they already discussed. In online courses, a breakout room can be used to facilitate this activity.

  • Use online or in person
  • Average (<30 mins) prep time
  • Works especially well as groupwork in seminars and tutorials

Resources to Explore

What?

Students provide each other with structured and constructive feedback on assigned work. Many peer review activities focus on written assignments such as essays, but peer review can also be helpful for class presentations and other kinds of assessments.

Why?

Students can improve their critical reading, writing and evaluation skills by providing constructive and focused feedback to their peers. It also helps students to improve by reflecting on their own learning.

How?

To help facilitate this activity, students can use a shared document, post in a discussion forum, or simply just swap papers or assignments. The instructor will need to plan the logistics of the activity such as pairing peers and developing peer evaluation rubrics.

  • Use online or in person
  • Average (<30 mins) prep time
  • Works for any class size

Resources to Explore

What?

Students are provided a commonly accessible text (e.g., article, film clip) to review, think about, comment on and mark up. Students can independently review the text before collaboratively adding comments, notes and mark ups in pairs or small groups.

Why?

Students learn how to engage with texts according to the discipline and practice their notetaking and analysis skills. It also helps students to develop their comprehension, metacognitive and critical thinking skills while community building.

How?

To help facilitate this activity, students can use a shared text or use a learning tool like Perusall or Hypothesis. The instructor will have to plan the logistics of the activity such as pairings of peers and sharing of texts.

  • Use online or in person
  • Medium to High (30+ mins) prep time
  • Works for any class size

Resources to Explore:

What?

1-Minute Papers can be used at the end of a class or online module to gauge what students have learned and what questions they may still have about course content. Students are given one minute to respond to a question prompt about that day’s class.

Why?

This activity allows students to regularly reflect on their learning and can be used to gauge class participation and comprehension. Sample writing prompts include: 

  • Write down three key points you learned from today’s class. 
  • What was the most confusing area from today’s class?
  • What question do you think remains unanswered from today’s class?

How?

For large or online courses, an educational technology tool such as Mentimeter, slido, or iClicker can help students share 1-minute papers. In smaller classes, students can write on a sticky note and submit it to the instructor upon exiting.

  • Use online or in person
  • Easy-to-implement and prepare
  • Works for any class size
  • Only takes a few minutes in class

Resources

What?

Students collaboratively brainstorm ideas for a concept, issue, or question. Try brainstorming a question or concept at the beginning of a course or class and then again at the end. How have the answers or thinking changed?

Why?

This quick activity allows students to think critically and creatively to bring together a multitude of perspectives and form connections.

How?

Educational technologies such as Zoom Whiteboard, Microsoft Whiteboard or iClicker can support collaborative brainstorming and sharing. In person, whiteboards and chart paper can be used to map out the brainstorm.

  • Use online or in person
  • Easy-to-implement
  • Works for any class size

Resources to Explore

What?

Students are asked one or multiple questions to gather information. You can use polling to learn about students’ prior knowledge, their personal opinions or experiences and to evaluate their knowledge on course content. 

Why?

Polling questions can be used as a formative assessment. It is a quick way to check understanding, encourage participation and get feedback. Additionally, polling can be easily incorporated in large lectures as it is a quick method to help increase student-centred learning and participation.

How?

In-person, technologies such as iClickers, Poll Everywhere and Socrative can be used for polling. For online courses, consider Zoom Polling can be used; to learn more, eServices offers training on this feature.

  • Use online or in person
  • Easy-to-implement
  • Works for any class size, especially large classes
  • Only takes a few minutes in class

Resources to Explore

Teaching with Tech: Tool Spotlight

iClicker Cloud is the York-supported polling engagement tool. With iClicker Cloud, instructors can prompt students during class to check knowledge and understanding of course concepts as well as garner feedback and opinion. Students easily respond to prompts using their own devices. After responding, instructors will instantly receive responses.

The LA&PS eServices Office can support instructors with iClicker in their courses. Learn more by contacting esohelp@yorku.ca.

Resources to Explore: Learn more from iClicker Cloud, UIT;  Polling for Instructors, LT Help; or Classroom Engagement, iClicker.

Ways to Enhance Active Learning

Match

When choosing an active learning activity consider matching course contexts (e.g., class size, seating arrangement, delivery mode and time of day) and decide whether the activity should be completed individually, in pairs, or in a group.

Share

Share the logistics of how the active learning activity will work with students in class, such as whether this is an individual, paired, group work activity and/or if they are allowed to use tools like GenAI. It can be helpful to share instructions on a slide for students to refer back to during the activity.

Connect

To help guide or mentor students, instructors can move around the classroom, join each group or visit each online breakout room. Instructors play an important role in active learning to build connections and support student learning.

Support

Being flexible, responsive, and mindful of barriers that exist or could arise during an activity. Consider sharing activity instructions on eClass or class slides, students can easily access and review to reach out for clarification.

Explore

Consistently provide feedback and clarify key takeaways with students. For example, if an active learning activity showed gaps in student understandings of course concepts, offer additional discussion or instruction to support this learning.

Pause & Reflect

The following questions invite instructors to pause and reflect on their current practices and explore opportunities to engage in active learning:

  1. What is one active learning activity instructors might incorporate in their teaching?
  2. Where could engaging in active learning support student learning? Around what key content or concept?
  3. How might instructors gather feedback from students about their experiences with active learning?

Learn More

Baepler, P., Walker, J. D., Brooks, D. C., Saichaie, K., & Petersen, C. I. (2016/2023). A Guide to Teaching in the Active Learning Classroom: History, Research, and Practice.

Ferns, S., & Duffy, N. (2019). Active Learning Strategies for Higher Education: The Practical Handbook.

Hanson, J. M., & Florestano, M. (2020). Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Critical Component for Effective Instruction.

Teaching Tools. (n.d.). Active Learning Library.

University of Western (n.d.). Active Learning.

Questions?

Reach out to lapsteach@yorku.ca to connect with the Teaching & Learning team.

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