Active Learning: Putting Students at the Heart of Education

Active learning methods are based on student participation, cooperation, and autonomy. Their goal is to make learning more practical, engaging, and long-lasting. But how can these methods be implemented in everyday teaching? And what role can the ONE digital workspace play in this approach?

What is Active Learning?

Active learning places the student at the center of their own learning. Rather than simply receiving knowledge, the student builds it by experimenting, exploring, collaborating, and reflecting on their actions.

Among the major approaches, we find:
● Montessori education, centered on hands-on learning and autonomy;
● Freinet pedagogy, based on free expression, cooperation, and projects;
● Project-based learning, which gives meaning to lessons through real-world applications;
● The flipped classroom, where class time is devoted to practice and discussion, and homework to learning the lessons.

All share a common goal: empowering students to take an active role in their own learning.

ONE, a Partner for Bringing Active Learning to Life

The ONE and NEO digital workspaces by Édifice provide a simple, secure environment that makes it easier to implement these approaches in the classroom. Here are a few practical examples:

1. Encouraging Collaboration
   All content created using educational apps (Multimedia Notebook, Timeline, Lectures and Wiki) can be shared with students, who can then take ownership, publish, and collaborate on the same materials. They think together—up to 100 users at once on the Collaborative Wall—comment on the Blog, or exchange ideas in the Pad. The digital workspace is the ideal tool for group work.
   
2. Developing Autonomy
   ONE and NEO allow each student to document their discoveries, organize resources, and track their progress. In language classes, for example, multimedia resources encourage self-reliant learning by letting students listen, record, and review at their own pace. Teachers can share differentiated content, fostering self-directed learning. Creating a Mind Map or a Timeline within the workspace also helps students recall and retain key concepts.
   
3. Engaging Projects
   The collaborative spaces in ONE and NEO are true digital workshops for collective creativity. They enable long-term projects where students combine their skills to produce a shared creation that mobilizes cross-disciplinary competencies. Whether it’s a class project or an inter-school initiative, the digital workspace plays a central role:
   ● it helps organize and communicate about the project,
   ● it allows for content creation,
   ● and it offers a space to share and showcase achievements with other students and families.
   
4. Fostering Creativity
   The new text editor in ONE and NEO allows users to create and share diverse content—photos, videos, audio recordings, text, and tables—providing engaging ways to learn through creation.
   
5. Learning Through Play
   Gamification, or learning through play, is another form of active pedagogy. The ONE and NEO digital workspaces are perfectly suited for this approach.