4B. Types of Activities

If you are re-designing a course that you have taught before, you may already have many activities in mind; however, as with your assessments, now is the time to consider what makes the most sense given your learning outcomes, the evidence that you are looking for, and the possibility that activities may be done in a virtual environment.

"Active learning" really means interactive

Instructors often mistakenly assume that the term 'active learning' refers to physical activity but what it really means is that students are engaged in some form of interaction. And there are three forms of interaction that are important, particularly in online classes:

  • Interaction with content: Beyond just acquiring knowledge through reading or watching/attending lecture, how can you get students to DO something with that content, to reflect about it?
  • Interaction with you, the instructor: Recall that being relational is a key component of inclusive teaching. Beyond just lecturing or providing materials for students online, how will you keep connected to students? How will you gather information from them, communicate information to them, and establish rapport with them as individuals?
  • Interaction with other learners: While students might be capable of learning entirely on their own, they are more likely to learn more deeply when they feel part of a community and are able to interact with others around the class material. How can you give students opportunities to collaborate and discuss with their classmates?

Different skills, different activities

In the last module, you reviewed suggestions for activities and assessments for different levels of Bloom's and Fink's taxonomies of development. These same handouts may be useful here, as many of the suggestions can work as either summative assessments or formative activities that allow students to practice skills before they get to the summative assessment:

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