Active Learning Blog

At the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, students spend much of their class time applying their academic reading and theory in clinical, real-world, case-like situations. Critical to Iowa State’s pedagogical model is ensuring that lectures are time well-spent and students are prepared to apply their learning. Student engagement matters, as  research tells us.

The rise in online learning opportunities has done several things to the world of education, and one of those is making education more available to people that might not otherwise have the means to afford it. The advent of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) has made higher education more accessible, with thousands of people being able to access courses that were once reserved for the elite few, and often at little to no cost.

Most of today's students have some form of mobile device, as this generation of digital natives have not known life without a smartphone or tablet nearby. The bring your own device (BYOD) trend is gaining more traction in the education landscape as these digital natives come of age and move on to higher education and vocational training environments.  The Echo360 Active Learning Platform was designed for BYOD, giving educators a mobile, easy-to-use platform that provides students access to the learning environment using their own devices, and extends learning beyond the classroom setting.

Hybrid learning, a type of classroom structure that includes both online components and classroom time, is becoming increasingly popular in the modern university system. In a recent article, Northeastern University explored five reasons that hybrid learning is worth considering.

Implementing technology solutions for colleges is important, but it does bring some specific challenges for campuses across the UK and Europe. In a recent blog post, Jisc discussed some of these challenges which all universities looking to embed technology into the learning experience must address. At Echo360, we believe that our Active Learning Platform can help address each of these challenges.