Implementing Active Learning in an Online Teacher Education Course

The purpose of this project was to evaluate an online course in child development in which active learning strategies were infused. Preservice teachers taking the course were future elementary teachers seeking initial prekindergarten to sixth-grade teaching certification. Sixty-one persons were enrolled in a traditional face-to-face section of the course, and fifty-four were enrolled in an online section of the same course. Online discussion postings and reflective journals were analyzed to determine the preservice teachers' use of higher-level thinking skills. Mastery of course content was measured through final course grades. Results showed no significant difference between the two groups in overall achievement, but a significant difference was seen in the use of higher-level thinking. Preservice teachers in the online class showed a significant increase in the use of higher-level thinking from the beginning of the course to the end; however, those in the face-to-face course did not. In addition, higher-level thinking for all preservice teachers in the study was positively correlated with greater course achievement. Finally, preservice teachers in the online course experienced the most higher-level thinking when posting to the online discussion board.