Creating Active Learning Environments
A big part of creating engaging online courses is developing active learning environments which involve learning activities and assessments. In active learning environments, learners are actively involved in their learning process and show their mastery of the particular subject to meet their learning goals.
Learning activities are provided to help students achieve module/unit learning objectives and course outcomes while assessments are provided to measure what students have learned in one course to decide whether students achieve learning objectives and course outcomes. Without assessments, faculty hardly know whether their teaching makes a difference. Among a range of learning activities, active learning activities are emphasized because active learning activities can promote student engagement and increase student motivation by involving them in doing something and thinking about what they are doing.
TILT provides resources for active learning and assessment strategies to help faculty develop effective learning activities and assessments.
How to Create Effective Learning and Assessments
Assessment Methods
Formative and Summative Assessments, ideas on different types of the assessment
Assessment Design and Development
Process of assessment design, examples, and steps to develop a new assessment
Active Learning
A range of simple to complex active learning techniques and resources for implementing active learning
Support and Resources
Value Rubrics
VALUE rubrics are open educational resources (OER) that faculty can directly download and use to assess their students' work. AAC&U offers a series of example rubrics to assess different types of student work.
Bloom's Taxonomy Learning Activities and Assessment
This table clearly presents how to create learning objectives, activities, and assessments based on the Bloom's Taxonomy. Specific examples are provided.
Bloom's Taxonomy Handout
This resource will help to connect the dots between the levels of skills and abilities to the digital tools and resources necessary to create a successful online course.
Active Learning Examples on K.P. Cross Academy
K.P. Cross Academy provides a range of downloadable examples of active learning strategies, including but not limited to Digital story, Jigsaw, Case Studies, Dyadic interviews, Think-Pair-Share, Fishbowl, Think-aloud-pair, and problem solving.