Instead of making your students sit, listen and memorize, try to include them more in the learning process. This method of engaging students more and making them participate and collaborate with each other is known as active learning. Incorporating active learning into your classroom will mean that students will be given a freedom to analyze an argument, discuss the covered material, and apply a concept to a real-life situation.  In order to make this all happen, there are various key success factors which every facilitator or teacher should use to make students do something instead of just passively listening. Some of the key success factors for active learning are providing proper setting, technology and dialogue environment. Likewise, students should be encouraged to communicate with each other and should be motivated to carry out each task without contemplating failure. Asking students to be included in the teaching process and assigning research and reading to be done outside the classroom are some of the best methods for active learning. Last but not least, every class should end with a wrap-up activity which will conclude the learning process. 

What is Active Learning?

Active learning refers to any approach to instruction where students are actively involved in the learning process and not being passive recipients of knowledge from the teacher. Active learning includes a myriad of teaching strategies which involve students to work together in small groups. There is a wide range of activities which can be performed and they can be either small or large and can include problem-solving, talking, reflecting, role plays, and journal writing. With active learning, every student is given the opportunity to engage with course material. However, implementing active learning doesn't mean abandoning the lecture format and eliminating extra materials, like college papers. Instead, it only means using some small active learning techniques and strategies which make the whole learning process more effective. What's more, these strategies help students reflect on the recently learned material and minimize the passive approach to learning. As an active learning means actively engaging students in the learning process, many teachers wonder how can active learning be achieved. So, in order to successfully implement active learning into your classroom, there are several points which you have to cover.  

Active Learning: Key Success Factors

1. Dialogue, Technology and Setting

Nowadays, as Generation Z begins the journey into higher education, teachers and instructors are facing the challenge of dealing with passive or surface learning. Likewise, more and more students study only for the test and often look for paper writers for hire. To change this, it's essential that the teaching approach and strategies change. So, to make active learning part of students' lives, teachers should make an effort. This means that active learning requires a combination of setting, technology, and dialogue. To add to the collaborative experience, schools and universities should provide augmented reality, interactive whiteboards and BYOD initiatives. Moreover, students should be given a space to move and discuss ideas. When all these points are provided and covered, you can then expect to make active learning a sustainable learning method.

2. Communication

The primary goal of active learning is to engage students in the learning process and encourage dialogue and communication. This means that each student will take part in the educational experience. Hence, instead of the teacher disseminating information and students just sit and listen, active learning requires small groups of students who will actively participate in discussing the material. Furthermore, students will get the chance to learn through discussion and the teacher will see significant improvements in no time.

3. Motivation

Motivated and eager to learn students are the key to a successful active learning process. In fact, you can expect to have an exceptional active learning environment if your students are willing to carry out tasks. Boosting students' motivation can be challenging, and you should strive to give meaningful and relevant tasks which correspond to their current needs and interests. So, if your students avoid trying tasks, it might mean that they are afraid of failure. Make sure you convince them that they can accomplish every task and that failing to achieve something only means that they should try again.

4. Learning by Teaching

This is another very important and effective active learning strategy where you allow students to teach lessons to their peers. This doesn't mean that the teacher or the instructor does nothing and just leaves the work to their students. Rather, they become moderators and guide the learner who is teaching the lesson. So, a student gets a task to prepare and teach one lesson, or part of it, and engage the peers in the discussion. Sometimes, this strategy can be carried out through online discussion boards and webinars.

5. The 'Flipped Classroom'

As a new term and concept, the flipped classroom means that most of the research and reading are done outside the classroom. By incorporating this concept with the student, the teacher or facilitator will have more time for the active learning strategies during class. Hence, encourage your students to do most or all of the reading at home so you can include more active learning methods at the class time.

6. Wrap-up Activities

Wrap-up activities should be part of every class and serve as a conclusion to the active learning methods. These activities are the time where most of the learning takes place. There are numerous activities you can use to wrap up the class. Some of the most popular ones are quizzes and exit tickets. So, you can make a small quiz at the end of the class to test students' understanding of the material covered in the class. With the exit tickets, which are a short writing task each student completes before leaving the classroom, you can ask for their feedback, synthesis of the class' content, or ask for questions they might have.

Conclusion

As more and more students become passive learners, it's very important to change this and incorporate active learning strategies. By learning actively, the students will have more fun and will definitely be much more successful. The teachers and facilitators can make this process happen and part of their studies by incorporating various key strategies. By engaging students into the learning process and encouraging them to take part in discussions and tasks, you get students with enhanced critical thinking skills, increased motivation, improved interpersonal skills, better retention and transfer of new information and decreased course failure.