Opinion Piece: A Student’s Journey with Active Learning
Olivia Robertson
I joined Abertay University in 2020, during the pandemic. My learning experience at this time was very structured and delivered through a hybrid model. Each week, we would work through and discuss a set of predetermined questions linked to our required reading. I found this created limited spaces for free thinking and self-guided conclusions; it was more about the ideas the learning gave to you, rather than the ideas you gained from learning.
After two years of this form of learning, I took up the role of student president, a sabbatical role which put my studies on hold for two years. This role opened my eyes to the work that goes into designing a curriculum and brought my attention towards active learning. I returned to my third year of studies in 2024, but had switched my course to Business Management with Events. Class activities felt refreshing, engaging and encouraging. Each week, trust was built by changing our working groups, which created a bond amongst the whole class. I initially expected to feel dismissed as my examples were often vastly different to others. What I found was quite the opposite; each person’s contributions were valued and encouraged from day one, with the lecturer encouraging alternative perspectives which widened our areas of learning. The utilisation of tools such as Mentimeter had allowed less confident students to contribute anonymously, but week by week, more of us were confident in sharing our views and research verbally.
This way of studying felt free, with creative and active approaches to learning and a focus on self-guided conclusions. We were encouraged to use real examples and create our own conclusions through research. The mix of event types and aims was so vast amongst the class, fostering a rich and unique environment for conversations. Learning was about guiding each other toward fruitful discussions, actively encouraging us to learn from one another’s perspectives, information, and research.
Overall, what I value most about active learning is the sense of learning together: it wasn’t just a lecturer handing us knowledge; it was everyone piling into the learning, adding their own passions and experiences confidently and creating a continuous expansion of knowledge for everyone, including the lecturers. I gained knowledge that I otherwise might have missed without those valuable, class-guided discussions. To me, active learning feels like a tree: we each put down unique roots with our own ideas and research, which come together to spread branches of knowledge, creating something far stronger and vibrant than any of us could grow alone.
About the author
Olivia Robertson is a fourth-year Business Management student at Abertay University who served as President of the Abertay Students’ Association from 2022 to 2024. This role and commitment to student engagement inform her interest in active learning and innovation in higher education.
