Defining Active Learning in Online Courses Through Principles for Design

Abstract

This two-part design-based research (DBR) study sets as its goal to address a research-practice gap between what is known about learning through empirical evidence grounded in educational research and what is normally practiced in the online classroom. Its local goal was to increase active learning in the online courses at the College for Continuing and Professional Studies (CCAPS). Its larger goal was to define active learning for online courses in general, so that it might improve the learning experience for wider audiences. The first design intervention (DBR 1) incorporated the principles of authentic e-learning (Herrington, Reeves, & Oliver, 2010) into its online course review and evaluated the learning activities and assessments of 75 undergraduate online courses against these principles, resulting in an active learning (AL) score for each course. DBR 1 also surveyed the learners of these courses about what made learning meaningful and coded their feedback into design principles. The second design intervention (DBR 2) implemented a learning outcomes protocol that reviewed the learning activities that learners engaged in for opportunities to practice transdisciplinary skills, resulting in learning analytics on these higher-order skills. Its local goal was to advance undergraduate learning outcomes assessment for the CCAPS; its larger goal was to make t-skills more visible as research had connected them to active learning methods. DBR 2 also prompted learners to complete a reflection activity on what had helped them foster the t-skill they selected. The learner feedback from both design interventions was coded into design principles resulting in the theoretical findings of this study, namely that the authentic task principles (Herrington, et al., 2010) as well as newly identified learner-centered principles together serve as evidence-based principles to define active learning in online courses. The practical outcomes of this DBR study are two methods: a course review that quantifies active learning in online courses and a learning outcomes protocol that tracks t-skills through the learning management system. Together they can assist higher education in the design of online courses for multiple simultaneous goals: active learning online, personalizing the curriculum, t-skill development, learning analytics, and evidence-based course design.