“Am I Teaching into the Void?” Instructor Perceptions of Active Learning in Online Biology Courses

Abstract Extensive studies and meta-analyses have shown that active learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses improve equitable learning outcomes compared to traditional lecture. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, most active learning studies focused on in-person instruction, but as online and hybrid teaching continues to be explored as a potential avenue to deliver course content to more students, the field is exploring the efficacy of active learning practices in online courses. Several studies have compared student course performance and affective dispositions toward active learning practices between online and in-person courses, yet there has been limited work examining experiences from the instructor’s perspective. The future of online teaching is at a critical juncture as institutions decide whether and how to scale online biology instruction in ways that are sustainable for instructors while conferring positive learning outcomes for all students. In this study, we surveyed a national sample of higher education biology instructors who taught both in-person and online biology courses using active learning. This survey compares instructor experiences using active learning in their most recently taught online and in-person biology courses. We also asked instructors about insights into barriers and relative advantages of implementing active learning in online biology courses. Instructors perceived active learning to be aligned with their preferred pedagogical styles in both in-person and online courses, yet they viewed active learning implementation significantly more positively for their in-person courses. Instructors perceived that there was weaker departmental support and visible resources for supporting active learning in their online courses. The reported barriers for using active learning in online courses largely centered around student engagement and buy-in, and active learning strategies that worked better in the online courses were typically attributed to structural advantages of the activities in the online modality rather than pedagogical innovation. Informed by advice curated from the participant sample, we provide recommendations that focus on opportunities to improve active learning in online biology courses.