A Rich Environment for Active Learning (REAL)

Abstract

Online teaching is considerably different from face-to-face teaching. With the continued growth of online teaching, all teachers should be prepared to teach an online course. Since the overarching difference between face-to-face and online instruction is communication, it is imperative for online instruction to be delivered using a social constructivist model to make up for the lack of social interaction in the classroom. Delivering instruction using the Rich Environment for Active Learning (REAL) model has the potential to remove communication barriers and draw more students into the social aspect of instruction, and therefore truly engage them as lifelong learners. The REAL model is explored in this chapter.