Active Learning

Think of the time before the pandemic, when classrooms were a thing. I want to you imagine a classroom session.

What do you visualise?

What do you see?

Do you see a teacher or a trainer or a facilitator at the centre speaking and students, employees or learners listening? If yes, then that’s the passive learning

You can listen to the audio version of this article as The Relearning Podcast episode:

Active learning simply means you participate, collaborate with others and apply these concepts in real world

Our brain is very smart, so much so that it decides what information to retain and what to discard; so when something new is introduced to the brain unless there is a reference or foundation brain will not retain that information.

For example, if I tell you that Google was originally called 'BackRub' your brain will have a reference to Google I am sure everybody uses it and hopefully retains this information. At the same time if I tell you about new life forms in volcanos it is interesting but you may or may not recall based on your brain’s decision to retain or discard this information.

Active learning as a concept has been around since the early 90s and it has various methods and methodologies all centred around the learner as compared to the passive learning concept where the teacher and teaching method are at the centre.

Corporates seem to have adopted active learning quite efficiently, though these concepts can easily be used in any classroom that is for schools and colleges for most topics; some of the elements of active learning are sending a pre-read or pre-requisite about the session much in advance, having a trivia or poll before or during a session, peer and group discussions on topic or complex problems or a case study, a debrief or followup discussion on topic

This approach keeps the learner more involved and active with the topic or problem at hand, the learner's brain keeps with the idea or new information for a little longer and gets various perspectives in a few minutes

which means the brain is trying to create new pathways which means 'learning' is happening

Did you know that sitting in a row to learn is a very old Victorian concept and with such amazing technology that concept has not changed. Well in one way we have to thank the pandemic for really pushing active learning in schools, colleges and corporates.

Do reflect on how are you learning at your school, college or office. What has changed in the last few years? Has your kid's school improvised a lot to deliver various concepts? If yes, that is active learning.

If you notice educational institutes are exploring various ways to engage the virtual learner, the traditional row sitting in the classroom has been broken, there are breakout sessions within a large session to have a discussion with a peer, and there are literally no boundaries for learning, global educational institutes have adopted virtual learning as a way forward you could learn almost everything sitting where you are and collaborate with anyone across the globe.