Active Learning: What Is It and What Are the Benefits?

One of the biggest challenges in education is keeping students engaged, which can impact their ability to learn. Some of the common factors that negatively impact student engagement include an over-reliance on lecturing and a lack of real-world relevance.

Active learning has become popularly recognized as a powerful approach that goes beyond passive listening and memorization to engage students. According to the online learning platform Engageli, students scored higher on tests following active learning instruction compared to a traditional lecture format. Plus, courses that implemented active learning received higher evaluations from students.

Read on to learn how active learning not only fosters information retention but also helps develop soft skills and build confidence on the individual level.

What is Active Learning?

Active learning is a teaching strategy that requires learners to participate and engage through thinking, discussing, investigating, and creating. Rather than listening alone, students practice skills, solve problems, think about complex questions, make decisions, propose solutions, and explain ideas in their own words—both through writing and discussion.

Passive Learning Vs. Active Learning

Challenges of Active Learning

There are many challenges associated with adopting an active learning approach, which can impact instructors and students alike. These challenges may include:

1. Resources Access

Hands-on training programs rely on sufficient access to real tools. Those tools can be costly, though, or otherwise difficult to acquire.

2. Time Constraints

Particularly for part-time, online, and professional training programs, learning time can be limited. Instructional teams who use this approach need to plan ahead to ensure students have sufficient time to absorb the material.

3. Inequal Student Participation

Active learning requires full class participation. That means instructors and students alike depend on each other to maintain an immersive classroom environment by asking questions, sharing observations, and staying engaged.

Benefits of Active Learning

While the ultimate goal of active learning is to improve student outcomes in the classroom, it can be just as effective in fostering personal growth and development. Benefits of active learning include:

1. Increased Engagement and Motivation

In an active learning environment, students directly engage with new information through interactive activities and problem-solving. Not only does this help students develop a deeper understanding of the material, but it also makes the class more interesting by building a personal connection with what they’re learning.

2. Confidence Building

Active learning encourages students to share their thoughts, build on ideas, and defend their opinions. They’ll also practice skills and demonstrate knowledge through real-world problems and activities, becoming confident in their abilities as they transition into their career.

3. Soft Skills Development

Through active learning, students gain more than just knowledge and expertise. By working through real-world problems, analyzing case studies, and developing viable solutions, students will improve their critical thinking and decision-making abilities. In most active learning environments, students will also have the opportunity to work together, improving their collaboration and communication skills. In tech career training, in particular, these skills will prepare students for success in the workforce.

4. Instant Feedback

In a traditional learning environment, instructors mainly assess knowledge retention through quizzes and exams based on weeks of lessons. In an active learning environment, students participate in discussions and other activities, allowing instructors to better gauge their working knowledge. This helps ensure that students are getting the most out of the course.

5. Inclusivity

Although active learning benefits all students, according to a recent study by the Proceedings of the National Science Academy, it positively impacts underrepresented and low-income students the most. As a result, this helps reduce achievement gaps, which is crucial to improving income inequality and increasing diversity in the workplace.

Key Components of Active Learning Strategies

There are many different ways active learning can be incorporated into lectures. Some examples of activities include:

• Open Discussion: Speaking information aloud helps the whole class to retain it through repetition or deliberation.

• Educational Games: Knowledge-building through completing an action—even digitally—helps to aid memorization of the material.

• Real-Life Case Studies: Exploring real-world examples offers additional perspective beyond the case’s findings.

• Self-Assessments: Learning what you did right alongside the areas in which you could use improvement helps determine where your next focus should be.

• Prompts: Prompt-based or free thinking activities can break students out of one mindset and help discover other possibilities.

It’s important to remember active learning activities will differ depending on a number of factors, including teaching style, content, and student needs.

Why Active Learning Works

While there are many different types of learners, people generally remember more of the things that they physically do compared to things they’ve simply seen, heard, or both. That’s why top tech training institutions implement an active learning strategy to help students not only obtain tech skills, but continually reinforce them in a professional capacity.

Implementing Active Learning

In tech training, active learning is crucial for both skill development and career readiness. It allows students to gain hands-on experience with real-world tools standard within their chosen industry—like Python for Data Analytics, React for Coding, and much more.

Active learning takes center stage throughout all of our bootcamps. Through this dynamic approach, students learn inside and outside the classroom, gaining a deeper understanding of concepts and applications.

Our online bootcamp model also fosters a sense of community, encouraging students to share their ideas, tackle challenges, and think creatively both individually and in a group setting. Students graduate with the technical and soft skills necessary to thrive in bootcamp and beyond—and can continue to use active learning principles to evolve throughout their career journey. Take the first step towards a rewarding career in tech with one of our highly-rated bootcamps.