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.