Definition of Active Learning
Active learning is defined as, “instructional activities involving students in doing things and thinking about what they are doing” (Bonwell & Eison, 1991, p. 1).  Students should not just be passive receivers of knowledge, skills and dispositions, but should be in engaged in reading, writing, discussions and problem solving.  Stice (1987, as cited in Stalheim-Smith, 1998) reported that learners remember only ten percent of what they read, but remember 70% of what they do and 90% of what they say when its combined with an action such as teaching others.  These statistics support the use of active learning in college courses.  Additionally, students should be given opportunities for metacognition or time to think about their learning.  Active learning includes moving the learning from faculty presentation of materials to students understanding, applying, analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating the materials. 

Implications for Blended and Online Learning
Blended and online course provide a perfect opportunity to increase active learning.  In an online or blended course, all students are required to participate, students have more time to reflect on questions, readings, and assignments, and students are responsible for their own learning (Active Learning in On-line Instruction, 2007).  Angelino, Williams, and Natvig (2007) report ed that students engaged in the learning process in online courses are less likely to drop the course.   Students are engaged through student-student interaction, student-faculty interactions, learning communities, project-based assignments, the creation of connections between prior knowledge and newly acquired knowledge, the process of thinking about their personal learning process, and self-directed inquiry.  Faculty should approach the online or blended course as more than opportunity to have students read the lecture that would have been presented in class. The course can include many opportunities for students to be active learners.

Practices that Work
There are many ways to create an active learning environment within an online course.  Faculty can provide open lines of communication that include discussion forums, chat sessions, email and telephone contact with students (Angelino, et al., 2007).  Within the discussions, students should be asked to utilize higher order thinking skills as outlined by Bloom’s Taxonomy including applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating new knowledge and skills (Active Learning, 2007).  Students can be required to participate in online discussions that include responding thoughtfully to other students’ postings, further engaging students in authentic dialog (Fink, n.d.).   Learning communities can be created within an online course by utilizing the teams feature and students can be responsible for group presentations and reports (Angelino, et al., 2007).  Student presentations, individual or group, can be presented in many formats utilizing desktop sharing, drop boxes, and discussion forums.  Students can be required to reflect on the learning process through the use of weekly journals, learning logs, or portfolios that reflect a student’s attainment of the course learning outcomes.  Activities in the course can be case studies, simulations, role play, and real-world problem solving (Fink, n.d.; Gossman, Stewart, Jaspers, & Chapman, 2007).  Faculty wishing to create learning environments to help students become more involved in the learning process can utilize the features of Angel to enhance face-to-face or blended courses, or use Angel to deliver a fully online, active learning course.

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