Developing Faculty Competency for the Delivery of Active Learning Methods

Active learning methodologies have been shown to improve student learning. This chapter is an overview of basic concepts and skills in developing online learning environments. Attention is focused on the flipped classroom model. Access to workshop materials for training faculty and instructors is provided. The workshop has been conducted internationally at different venues to introduce active learning principles as well as creating an experience where instructors play the role of the student in a flipped classroom. The recent COVID pandemic accelerated the adoption of delivery of instruction by online mechanisms. Although the use of information technology as a delivery vehicle for teaching and learning programmes was common as ICT developed, its accelerated adoption occurred by necessity. Unfortunately, most institutions and teaching professionals that focused on conventional face-to-face instruction were thrust into this new environment woefully unprepared. The traditional teaching pedagogy that uses a lecture as the main delivery mechanism can easily be used in an online environment by taping and making lectures available online or by videoconference. However, numerous experiences demonstrated it is not effective. This chapter focuses on an approach for online course design that has proven to be successful to the flipped classroom active learning methodology.