Active Learning Certification
A professional certification for educators in evidence-based active learning methods. Grounded in learning science, this program shows you how to replace passive lecture with techniques that measurably improve student performance and engagement across in-person, online, and hybrid settings.
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This course includes:
- 18 hours on-demand video
- 40 articles and research summaries
- 30 downloadable lesson templates
- 10 classroom design exercises
- Professional certificate
- Lifetime access
- Access on mobile and TV
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About This Course
The Active Learning Certification is a professional development program for educators who want to teach in ways supported by evidence rather than habit. Active learning describes instructional approaches that engage students in doing and reflecting during class, in contrast to passively receiving information through lecture. A widely cited 2014 meta-analysis by Freeman and colleagues, covering 225 studies in undergraduate STEM, found that active learning raised average exam scores by about half a letter grade and reduced failure rates from 34% under lecturing to 22%.
Over eight weeks you will learn the learning science behind these results and the practical techniques that put it to work: think-pair-share, peer instruction, problem-based learning, the flipped classroom, retrieval practice, and spaced review. You will redesign a unit of your own teaching, build a formative assessment plan, and assemble a teaching portfolio. The program culminates in a capstone lesson redesign that, on successful completion, earns the EducaWeb Active Learning Certificate.
What You'll Learn
- Explain the evidence for active learning, including the Freeman et al. meta-analysis and its limits
- Apply learning-science principles such as cognitive load, retrieval practice, and spacing to lesson design
- Write measurable learning objectives and align activities and assessment to them
- Select and run core techniques: think-pair-share, peer instruction, problem-based and flipped learning
- Facilitate productive discussion and group work, and adapt active learning for online and hybrid classes
- Design inclusive, accessible activities and use formative assessment to measure impact on student learning
- Complete a capstone lesson redesign and teaching portfolio, and earn the Active Learning Certificate
Requirements
- You are a current or aspiring educator (K-12, higher education, training, or informal settings)
- No formal prerequisites and no prior background in education research required
- Access to a class, course, or training session you can redesign for the capstone (a planned one is fine)
- A computer with internet access and a word processor or slides tool for assignments
Who This Course Is For
- School and college teachers who want to move beyond lecture-only instruction
- Graduate students and early-career instructors preparing to teach
- Corporate trainers and instructional designers building engaging sessions
- Tutors, coaches, and informal educators in museums, libraries, and community programs
- Department leads and faculty developers supporting colleagues' teaching
- Anyone who wants their teaching decisions grounded in learning science
What active learning is, why it outperforms lecture in controlled studies, and how to read the research critically.
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1.1 Defining Active Learning vs. Passive Lecture
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1.2 The Freeman et al. (2014) Meta-Analysis
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1.3 Effect Sizes, Failure Rates, and What They Mean
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1.4 Reading Education Research Critically
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1.5 Reflection: Where Lecture Falls Short in Your Teaching
The cognitive principles that explain why active methods work: cognitive load, retrieval practice, and spacing.
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2.1 Working Memory and Cognitive Load Theory
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2.2 Retrieval Practice and the Testing Effect
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2.3 Spaced and Interleaved Practice
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2.4 Myths to Avoid: Learning Styles and Multitasking
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2.5 Mapping Principles to Classroom Moves
Writing measurable learning objectives and using backward design so activities and assessments line up with intended outcomes.
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3.1 Writing Measurable Objectives with Bloom's Taxonomy
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3.2 Backward Design and Constructive Alignment
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3.3 Choosing Activities That Serve the Objective
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3.4 Workshop: Aligning a Unit of Your Own
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3.5 Alignment Self-Check Template
A practical toolkit of the most studied techniques, with guidance on when and how to use each.
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4.1 Think-Pair-Share and Quick Writes
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4.2 Peer Instruction and Concept Questions (Mazur)
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4.3 Problem-Based and Case-Based Learning
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4.4 The Flipped Classroom Done Well
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4.5 Matching Techniques to Class Size and Context
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4.6 Build Your Technique Library
Techniques for running discussion and collaborative work so every student contributes and stays on task.
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5.1 Asking Questions and Managing Wait Time
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5.2 Structuring Effective Small Groups
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5.3 Handling Silence, Dominance, and Conflict
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5.4 Practice: Facilitating a Discussion Protocol
Adapting active methods for synchronous, asynchronous, and hybrid environments without losing engagement.
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6.1 Breakout Rooms and Synchronous Activities
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6.2 Asynchronous Discussion and Polling Tools
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6.3 Designing Equitable Hybrid Sessions
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6.4 Convert an In-Person Activity to Online
Using low-stakes checks and timely feedback to make student thinking visible and adjust instruction.
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7.1 Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs)
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7.2 Exit Tickets, Polls, and Minute Papers
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7.3 Giving Feedback That Improves Learning
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7.4 Build a Formative Assessment Plan
Designing activities that work for diverse learners, applying Universal Design for Learning, and avoiding common equity pitfalls.
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8.1 Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Basics
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8.2 Accessibility for Activities and Materials
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8.3 Reducing Stereotype Threat and Participation Gaps
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8.4 Audit an Activity for Inclusion and Access
Gathering evidence on whether your changes improve learning, using simple classroom data and student feedback responsibly.
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9.1 Pre/Post Measures and Concept Inventories
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9.2 Interpreting Student Feedback and Surveys
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9.3 Design a Lightweight Impact Study
Bringing it together: redesign a full lesson or unit using active learning, document your rationale, and assemble a teaching portfolio that earns the certificate.
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10.1 Capstone Brief and Rubric
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10.2 Redesign Your Lesson with Active Methods
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10.3 Assemble Your Teaching Portfolio
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10.4 Submission, Review, and Certification
Elena Martinez
Head of Content & Learning Design, EducaWeb
About the Instructor
Elena Martinez is EducaWeb's Head of Content and Learning Design. She holds a Master's degree in Education with a focus on the learning sciences and has spent more than 12 years designing instruction for schools, universities, and professional training programs. Her work centers on translating research on how people learn into practical classroom routines that teachers can actually use.
Before joining EducaWeb, Elena worked as a faculty developer, coaching instructors on course design, active learning, and assessment. She has led workshops on retrieval practice, peer instruction, and inclusive teaching for hundreds of educators, and she still teaches a seminar on evidence-based pedagogy each year.
Elena's teaching philosophy is simple: every instructional choice should have a reason rooted in evidence and in the needs of the learners in front of you. This certification reflects that approach, pairing the research with hands-on redesign of your own teaching.
Other Courses by Elena Martinez
Priya Nair
I have taught high school biology for nine years and assumed I already used active learning. This certification showed me how much of my class was still lecture. The modules on retrieval practice and peer instruction were immediately useful, and the capstone forced me to actually redesign a unit rather than just nod along. My students are noticeably more engaged.
Marcus Bell
As a corporate trainer I wanted research I could trust, not just tips. The course delivers exactly that, with clear references to the learning-science literature and honest discussion of where the evidence is strong and where it is mixed. The online and hybrid module was particularly relevant for my remote sessions.
Sofia Reyes
A genuinely practical certification. The lesson templates and the formative assessment module saved me hours of planning. I gave four stars only because the measuring-impact module assumes you can collect pre/post data, which is harder in my small adult-education classes. Still very much worth it, and the certificate looks great on my CV.
No formal prerequisites are required. The certification is open to current and aspiring educators across K-12, higher education, corporate training, and informal settings. If you teach, train, tutor, or are preparing to, you have everything you need to begin.
The program is designed to run over 8 weeks at roughly 4 hours per week, which includes about 32 hours of video, readings, and assignments plus the capstone. Because you have lifetime access, you can move faster or slower and return to the materials whenever you need them.
To earn the EducaWeb Active Learning Certificate you must complete all ten modules and submit a capstone consisting of a lesson or unit redesign and a short teaching portfolio. The capstone is assessed against a published rubric. Once it meets the standard, your certificate is issued and can be added to your LinkedIn profile or CV.
To be transparent: this is an EducaWeb certificate of completion, not an accredited credential. It is not automatically approved for CE units, PD hours, or license renewal. Many institutions and districts do accept documented professional learning like this, but approval depends on your local rules. We provide a completion record with hours and a syllabus you can submit to your employer or licensing body; please confirm acceptance with them before relying on it for formal credit.
Yes. Module 6 is dedicated to adapting active learning for synchronous, asynchronous, and hybrid environments, including breakout activities, polling, and equitable hybrid session design. Throughout the course, techniques are presented with notes on how to run them online as well as in person.
Yes. The program is grounded in the learning sciences and references established work such as the Freeman et al. (2014) meta-analysis on active learning in STEM, research on retrieval practice and spacing, peer instruction, and Universal Design for Learning. We also discuss the limits of the evidence so you can apply it thoughtfully rather than as a recipe.
Yes. The certification includes access to a Q&A discussion board where you can ask the instructor and fellow educators for help, plus worked examples and a detailed rubric for the capstone. Feedback on capstone submissions is typically returned within a few business days.
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