1. Introduction
The current COVID-19 pandemic has impacted most aspects of daily life,
including but not limited to educational instruction. Because of state
and federal quarantine orders, colleges and universities around the
world have been relegated to providing virtual instruction rather than
face-to-face education. Traditional face-to-face pedagogical approaches
(e.g., lecture-based approach) are likely ineffective in fully engaging
students in an online setting (Garrison, 2003; Slavich and Zimbardo,
2012). Thus, to deliver content effectively, instructors must adapt
their approaches in accordance with research-based methods deemed
successful for online instruction (Schrum et al., 2005; Crawford-Ferre
and Wiest, 2012). Successful online instruction is best achieved when
the instructor assumes the role of a facilitator, thereby guiding the
students’ learning experiences (Berge, 1995; Crawford-Ferre and Wiest,
2012; Slavich and Zimbardo, 2012; Vilppu et al., 2019). This strategy
shifts the emphasis of online curriculum development from
content-focused to learning-focused (Vilppu et al., 2019; Slavich and
Zimbardo, 2012).
The purpose of learning-focused curriculum is to facilitate students’
deep learning process by directing them in activities to help build
their knowledge (Trigwell et al., 1999; Postareff and Lindblom-Ylӓnne,
2008). In the online environment, instructors should not merely transmit
knowledge through passive learning activities such as reading, taking
quizzes, and watching video lectures (Dixson, 2010; Vilppu et al.,
2019). Rather, in addition to passive learning activities, effective
online teaching must include the promotion of active, self-regulated
learning (Vermunt et al., 2017). Instructors should initiate and guide
the students’ deep learning processes so they are encouraged to actively
construct their own understanding (Vilppu et al., 2019). Active learning
is achieved when the students apply the information they have learned
(Meyers and Jones, 1993; Slavich and Zimbardo, 2012).
Student engagement is a primary component of effective teaching. Active
learning activities increase student engagement in online courses
(Chickering and Ehrmann, 1996). Dixson (2010) determined from a survey
of 186 higher education students that student engagement was successful
when active learning assignments engaged the students with (1) the
content, (2) the instructor, and (3) other students. Students’
perceptions of their engagement levels were not dictated by the specific
type of active learning activity. Rather, these perceptions were
dictated by the students’ sense of connection and increased when
multiple opportunities for connection were provided (Dixson, 2010).
We identified four key elements for developing and effectively utilizing
active learning activities from the literature (Figure 1). First, active
learning activities should be centered on the learning objective (Koontz
et al., 2006). Second, active learning activities should foster student
engagement with content and higher-order cognitive skills (Meyers and
Jones, 1993; Slavich and Zimbardo, 2012; Vermunt et al., 2017). Third,
instructors must require students to complete the work because students
put forth less effort when they are not held accountable for completing
tasks (Janssens et al., 2002; Dixson, 2010). Finally, active learning
activities must promote communication because students perceive
activities as successful when the activities enhance communication among
students and/or between students and the instructor (Dixson, 2010).
Ecology-focused courses are particularly challenging to deliver online
with meaningful student engagement. The concepts and applications
associated with these courses have traditionally been viewed as very
“hands-on,” typically requiring in-person instruction to effectively
deliver information. Many ecology-focused courses are taught partly or
entirely in the field and laboratory, where instructors provide
information on basic concepts and also incorporate unscripted teaching
moments. For these reasons, creating online ecology-focused courses or
transitioning conventionally field-based ecology-focused courses to an
online format can be difficult.
Regardless of course format, the primary role of the online instructor
is to ensure the learning objectives are accomplished (Koontz et al.,
2006). Therefore, active learning assignments should be developed based
on the specific learning objectives for the course. From observational
data and experience, ecology-focused courses seem to possess consistent
themes (i.e., learning objectives). However, limited guidance and
resources exist for developing, implementing, and evaluating active
learning assignments that fulfil specific objectives of ecology-focused
courses. To address these informational gaps, we (1) identify broad
learning objectives across a variety of ecology-focused courses, (2)
provide examples, based on our collective online teaching experience, of
active learning activities that are relevant to the identified
ecological learning goals, and (3) provide guidelines for successful
implementation of active learning assignments in online courses.