4. Discussion
The past half century has been marked by a gradual shift in higher
education pedagogy from the transmittal model (i.e., “sage on the
stage”) to the transformational model (i.e., “guide on the side”)
(King, 1993; Slavich and Zimbardo, 2012). This transition was
unexpectedly hastened by the current COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced
the global higher education community to rapidly adapt to partially- or
fully-online course offerings (Crawford et al., 2020). Fortunately, a
diverse set of techniques already exist to facilitate transformational
teaching, including active learning. Here, we further the knowledge from
the literature by providing observations and suggestions from our
collective use of active learning activities in ecology-focused courses.
First, online active learning activities should be explicitly focused on
the learning objectives and, as such, should be relatively short. For
example, we recommend that (1) fill-in-the-blank activities should be no
more than 2-3 pages in length, (2) activities regarding a reading
assignment should contain a maximum of 10 questions, and (3) discussion
or forum activities should comprise 2-3 main questions. By restricting
the length of active learning activities, online instructors are
compelled to focus specifically on the primary learning goals for the
course. As an added benefit, a small number of brief, focused activities
provides students with a greater proportion of time to self-learn the
material (i.e., at a comfortable pace and using individualized
techniques) and develop their own interpretations (Vilppu et al., 2019).
Second, mandatory submission for active learning assignments can aid
online instructors in tracking student attendance. This is particularly
important for institutes that rely on federal aid funds. According to
the Federal Student Aid handbook, students are considered “in
attendance” in an online course when they (1) submit assignments or
exams, (2) post comments in an online discussion, or (3) participate in
an interactive tutorial (Office of Distance Education and eLearning,
2017; E-Campus Solutions Center, 2020). Importantly, mandatory
submission of active learning activities does not necessitate evaluation
of every assignment by the instructor. Self-evaluation by the students
is considered to be a valuable learning tool; in fact, evaluation is
classified as higher-order learning (Berge, 1995). We evaluated online
and face-to-face active learning activities using the same strategy: we
assigned participation points for fully completed activities and then
allowed the students to self-correct their answers. For example, in an
undergraduate Wildlife Plant Identification course, we assigned active
learning activities for every weekly lecture; if a student earned 100%
participation points for fully completing an activity, then the student
was granted access to the answer key for the activity. Although
self-evaluation lessens the required amount of involvement from the
online instructor, we still recommend that the instructor provide
feedback on every submission to increase student engagement through
student-instructor communication (Dixson, 2010; Slavich and Zimbardo,
2012).
Third, we recommend incorporating active learning activities that allow
students to guide their own unique instructional journeys. This
strategy, known as student-centered learning, enables students to
independently discover the resources available to them. Although
student-driven resource exploration requires the online instructor to
spend more time guiding students (Gabriel and Kaufield, 2008; Schrum et
al., 2005), it increases student engagement by creating communication
opportunities among students as well as between students and the
instructor (Slavich and Zimbardo, 2012). Student-centered learning also
promotes student choice by allowing students to apply course material to
their own interests. This further heightens student engagement because
each student has the opportunity to play an active part in shaping the
course content (Slavich and Zimbardo, 2012).
Fourth, if the online instructor opts to use active learning activities
that increase student engagement through student-to-student
communication, then the instructor must facilitate that communication.
Prior to the start of the activity, it is imperative that the online
instructor clearly state his or her expectations for courtesy and
professional language. The instructor should also designate precise
deadlines for student communications. In our experience, most online
students wait until the last possible moment (i.e., the deadline) to
submit comments and hand in work, which may result in insufficient time
to finish a final product. A series of deadlines throughout the activity
allows students to complete tasks in a step-by-step manner and helps to
provide sufficient time for completing the final product and achieving
the final learning objective. Finally, if the online instructor is
requiring group work or peer evaluation at any point then he or she
should divide the students into groups and set guidelines for the
students to follow, thereby fostering a positive virtual environment.
Ecology-focused courses, especially field- and laboratory-based courses,
present a unique challenge for online delivery. In field and lab
settings, students are granted ample time for discovery,
problem-solving, and reflection, all while receiving concurrent
encouragement and guidance from the instructor, who naturally acts as a
facilitator. These in-person experiences can never be completely
replicated in an online setting; however, when based on sound pedagogy,
the suggestions and techniques presented above can enhance the online
student’s experience by activating ecological knowledge, and can
even be incorporated into in-person offerings once the current COVID-19
crisis has abated.