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Learning Spaces

Active Learning Classrooms

Active Learning Classroom Strategy

The college vision is to support flexible learning options and active learning practices across all classroom types at Algonquin.

Learn about Algonquin College’s Active Learning Classroom Strategy and the development of classroom design principles and standards.

Active Learning Classrooms At Algonquin

Learn about the development of the prototype Active Learning Classroom (C150) at Woodroffe campus and the renovation of T232 as a multi-modal enhanced Active Learning Classroom.

What is Active Learning?

While there is no one definition of active learning within the education literature, the following definitions capture its essence.

Instructional activities involving students in doing things and thinking about what they are doing.
Bonwell and Eison, 1991.

Active learning strategies have students doing something other than taking notes or following directions…they participate in activities..[to] construct new knowledge and build new scientific skills.
Handelsman et. al., 2007.

Active learning engages students in the process of learning through activities and/or discussion in class, as opposed to passively listening to an expert. It emphasizes higher-order thinking and often involves group work.
Freeman et al., 2014

Examples of Active Learning Activities

Active learning activities range from simple engagement with content and classmates to more complex group interactions. These include:

  • discussion groups
  • games
  • simulation
  • interactive lecture
  • role play
  • project-based learning
  • peer-led group learning
  • problem-based learning
  • brain-storming
  • hands-on learning

As a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) college, all of these activities take place within wireless-enabled classrooms that have furniture and electricity to support student use of laptops and mobile devices.

Active vs Experiential Learning

Experiential learning is a form of active learning in which there is “learning through reflection on doing”. It can include interaction with experts and practitioners, learning within actual or simulated work environments, or work on projects for real clients. We often associate this kind of learning with cooperative education, field placements, applied research projects, and apprenticeships. Experiential learning for specific fields often require dedicated lab spaces that are unique to the industry (e.g. simulated nursing lab, workshop, studio, robotics lab etc.). However, in many cases, experiential learning can happen in a classroom.