While active learning – teaching methods that actively engage students in the learning process (Prince, 2004) – has been shown to benefit students (Hood Cattaneo, 2017), less attention has been paid to the lived experiences of academics who use it. In this piece, I reflect on how active learning supported me, an early career academic, in finding my footing as a teacher.

I began my first academic role straight after a PhD. Despite prior experience as a teaching assistant, stepping into lecture theatres as a full-time lecturer was daunting. Lecturing for an hour while watching students lose focus was disheartening. I began to question what I was doing and whether I belonged in this role. Some days, the experience was so stressful it gave me nightmares.

To make sessions more engaging, I added pair discussions and group work, but the room often felt lifeless again once I resumed lecturing. Then, I came across active learning approaches such as gamification and discovery-based learning through teaching seminars. Others seemed genuinely passionate about active learning, and for them, teaching appeared enjoyable rather than burdensome. I was intrigued but unsure, worried the sessions might become chaotic, and I did not feel confident managing open-ended discussions.

When I came across a board game designed to teach Porter’s Five Forces (Yoder, 2023), I decided to give it a try. During the process, I saw students genuinely engaged, working together to explore how each force applied within the game and actively expressing their ideas in the debriefing. For me, it broke the monotony of lecturing and gave clearer insight into students’ understanding through their game results. More importantly, I got to know the students better: how they interacted, what energised them, and how they approached problems. For the first time, the classroom felt like a learning community, where both students and I were active contributors and co-created the learning experience.

This experience gave me the confidence to keep experimenting. Not every attempt was perfect. Some sessions ran over time, some discussions drifted off topic, and not everyone stayed fully engaged. Even so, each moment offered valuable learning for me. Active learning is the turning point. If I could speak to myself at the start of this job – nervous, exhausted and full of doubt – I would say: active learning helped me find joy in teaching and begin to grow into the teacher I wanted to be.

References

Hood Cattaneo, K. (2017). Telling active learning pedagogies apart: From theory to practice. Journal of new approaches in educational research, 6(2), 144-152.

Prince, M. (2004). Does active learning work? A review of the research. Journal of engineering education, 93(3), 223-231.

Yoder, M. E. (2023). Cheers to Mead: A Serious In-Person Game Illustrating the Five Forces. Management Teaching Review, 8(3), 273-296.

About the author

Dr Xi Xi is a Lecturer in Management in the Business School at the University of St Andrews. Her research explores organisational change and responsible management education, with a particular focus on experiential learning. She also contributes to teaching innovation and student wellbeing.

xx27@st-andrews.ac.uk