Dawn Comerford

Security is important for student learning and comfort. Students who feel comfortable are more confident and achieve improved learning outcomes. Autonomy is the student's belief about the amount of control they have in the learning process. Balance is important for the student and the instructor though. This autonomy will also improve learning outcomes. 

Active learning is participation by the students in a learning environment other than sitting and listening to a lecture given by an instructor. This can be accomplished by having the students participate in discussions, group projects, flipped classrooms, etc. 

The importance of active learning is it allows the students to learn by collaboration, problem-solving, and cooperation. In the online environment, discussion boards, interactive programs allow the students to actively participate and become responsible for knowledge gained.