It goes without saying that, for various reasons, changes in higher education have been fundamental and far-reaching. Whatever our context, all of us recognise that learner-centredness is, or should be, at the heart of all that we do. These days, we do all that we can to ensure that as much time in the classroom is spent on activities that engage learners as much as we are able to. Or, more accurately given that in some contexts students are not physically in a classroom but instead learning, engaging, elsewhere, that we design the learning environment, whether an actual classroom or not, with this in mind. While it is probably still the norm that lectures form the majority of teaching activity in classrooms, particularly where class sizes are, say, anything upwards of 300 or so (there are a lot of these in the sector, regardless of country or context), even in such a learning environment there is much that we can do to make things more dynamic, more interactive. Activities such as discussions in groups, working in teams, carrying out practical activities of one sort or another mean that less if any time is spent lecturing. Activities such as these fall under the umbrella terms of collaborative, problem-based or cooperative learning. It is far more difficult to do activities associated with this in a class of 730 rather than in a class of 30 (those teaching such small classes should be able to do these pretty much all the time) but it is possible, even if not in the same way or as extensively. However, it is vitally important to realise that just because students are either speaking, moving or actually doing something other than sitting silently, it does not mean ‘better learning is taking place’. Or, indeed, that any learning is taking place. Yes, students may be interacting, physically, in the classroom or online, but just because students or any other human beings are moving about in a room or speaking or doing something online does not mean ‘learning is taking place’. Indeed, learning is a social activity, that is, we learn from other human beings. However, this does not mean that we need to be working in groups, in teams, talking, doing something other than sitting in silence. There is no clearer evidence that a human being can learn something than the fact that we can learn something from sitting, silently, alone, in a room, reading a journal article or a book. The fundamental aspect of learning is that learning is done by an individual. That individual does not have to be in a room with other human beings for all learning to take place or for that learning to be ‘better’. Our classrooms are environments that we design in such a way as to best foster engagement, to support students in their learning. While the space itself is fixed (if, say, you have to run lectures in a large lecture theatre designed to seat 500 students sitting in fixed seats in rows, then there is nothing that anyone can do to change that), what goes on in that classroom is more open to different possibilities in terms of the activities that we can design and get students to participate in. Given that we are now far more likely to be designing activities more associated with collaborative, problem-based or cooperative learning, it is important to explore, more closely, the impact that the design of the classroom has (or does not have) on the achievements of learners. This is the subject 794040 ALH0010.1177/1469787418794040Active Learning in Higher EducationBaldwin editorial2018

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社论

毋庸置疑，由于种种原因，高等教育的变革具有根本性和深远意义。无论我们所处的环境如何，我们所有人都认识到以学习者为中心是或应该是我们所做一切的核心。如今，我们尽我们所能确保将尽可能多的时间花在课堂上，以尽可能多地吸引学习者。或者，更准确地说，在某些情况下，学生并不是在教室里，而是在其他地方学习、参与，我们设计学习环境，无论是否是真正的教室，都要考虑到这一点。虽然讲座构成课堂教学活动的主要部分可能仍然是常态，特别是在班级人数超过 300 人的情况下（该行业有很多这样的课程，无论国家或环境如何），即使在这样的学习环境中，我们也可以做很多事情来使事情更具活力，更具互动性。诸如小组讨论、团队合作、开展一种或另一种实践活动等活动意味着花在讲课上的时间更少。诸如此类的活动属于协作、基于问题或合作学习的总称。在 730 人的班级中进行与此相关的活动要困难得多，而不是在 30 人的班级中进行（教授如此小的班级的人应该几乎可以一直进行这些活动）但这是可能的，即使不是以同样的方式或广泛地。然而，重要的是要认识到，仅仅因为学生在说话、移动或实际做一些事情而不是安静地坐着，这并不意味着“正在发生更好的学习”。或者，事实上，任何学习都在发生。是的，学生可能会在课堂上或在线进行身体互动，但仅仅因为学生或任何其他人在房间里走动或在网上说话或做某事并不意味着“学习正在发生”。的确，学习是一种社会活动，即我们向其他人学习。然而，这并不意味着我们需要分组工作、团队合作、交谈、做一些事情而不是沉默地坐着。没有比我们可以通过静坐、独自一人、在房间里、阅读期刊文章或一本书来学习的事实更清楚地证明一个人可以学到一些东西。学习的基本方面是学习是由个人完成的。那个人不必与其他人在一个房间里才能进行所有学习或让学习变得“更好”。我们的教室是我们设计的环境，以最好地促进参与，支持学生的学习。虽然空间本身是固定的（比如说，如果你必须在一个大型演讲厅举办讲座，该演讲厅旨在让 500 名学生排成一排坐在固定座位上，那么任何人都无法改变这一点），就我们可以设计和让学生参与的活动而言，课堂对不同的可能性更加开放。 鉴于我们现在更有可能设计与协作、基于问题或合作学习更相关的活动，它是重要的是探索，更仔细地，课堂设计对学习者成绩有（或没有）的影响。这是主题 794040 ALH0010.1177/1469787418794040高等教育中的主动学习鲍德温社论2018