Active Learning and Student Engagement: Issues, Challenges, and Strategies for Online Teaching

Introduction

Active learning has become more and more prevalent in higher education in recent years. According to Bolliger and Des Armier (2013), active learning “is a ‘learning by doing’ approach that encourages students to actively engage with course content” (p. 201). Active learning is an important instructional technique since it can engage students, and students can apply what they learn too (Dengler, 2008). In contrast to other teaching methods, with active learning, students are active learners in the learning process while the teachers are facilitators of learning (Braungart et al., 2019). Covill (2011) indicated that active learning approaches offer students meaningful learning experiences that provide hands-on activities that allow them to process course materials and communicate the newly acquired knowledge they obtained in class. Therefore, the overall quality of the teaching and learning experience can be enhanced with active learning (Thalluri & Penman, 2020).

To implement active learning successfully, student engagement must play an important role that enriches the student’s learning experience (Awidi & Paynter, 2019). Bolliger and Des Armier (2013) defined student engagement as “students’ commitment to learning and their involvement in course material and activities (individually and collaboratively)” (p. 202). According to Jennings and Angelo (2006), student engagement “refers to the amount, type, and intensity of investment students make in their educational experiences” (p. 6). Student engagement means the quality of students’ investment in learning (Christopherson, 2011), and is also an important index for effective learning (Lin et al., 2019).

Robinson and Hullinger (2008) suggested that faculty members provide courses that promote student engagement, with particular emphasis on the online learning environment. However, because of time and distance, online learning presents unique challenges. Online learning has been adopted rapidly worldwide, especially because of the spread of COVID-19, and most educators had little time to plan carefully but had to switch and move their courses online unexpectedly. Such a rushed move caused a lot of concerns and limitations for online teaching and learning (Kim, 2020). Even prior to COVID-19, Burch et al. (2016) found that, compared to face-to-face sections, online sections of the same course had lower overall student engagement. Handoko et al. (2019) also found that the average completion rate of online courses was particularly low. These findings and others indicate that online learning is struggling to increase student engagement and promote active learning (Bettinger & Loeb, 2017; Dumford & Miller, 2018).