Activating teaching and learning

The active learning ambition is based on the idea that knowledge is more likely to ‘stick’ when students are actively engaged with their learning and research. This active student participation has implications for how we teach: less consumption of knowledge and more efficient use of contact hours.

Active methods

Active learning demands methods that enable students to actively engage with the study material. Active methods increase students’ enjoyment of learning and can help them better process the material better and go into more depth during contact time, whether their education takes place face to face, online or both. Active methods can serve a range of different goals, for instance as an energiser or starter, to activate existing knowledge, to process and/or apply the material in practice or at the end of a session to go over what students have learned. Through active learning, students take more responsibility for their own learning process, with the teacher there to facilitate, support and motivate them as they learn. This challenges students to ask the right questions, do their own research and tackle complex problems. 

More efficient use of contact hours

One example of a more efficient use of contact hours is ‘flipping the classroom’, where lectures and preparation are switched so that contact hours can be dedicated to research, projects or discussions. With this method, the time the teacher spends with the students is used to the full.