WHAT IS
Active Learning?
Let's simplify our view of on-line interactions by looking at them in terms of linguistic values. That is to say that any and every interaction we are a part of on-line consists of a verb component and a noun component. The verbs are find, save and share. Then nouns are people, places, and things. In this sense, our on-line exchanges consist of finding, saving, and sharing those people, places, and things.

While this treatment of information is a huge step in simplifying the information we use to help educate ourselves, it alone is not active learning. In a word, active learning is the knowledge which results from accomplishing a task that you set yourself to before you knew how to accomplish it...

To Explain
When we were little, we were taught to do jobs "right" the first time. This entailed listening, being quiet, dormant, inert, nearly dead. The more incapable of action we seemed during the learning process, the better. Then, as if by magic, after we paid full attention, we were suddenly viewed as being capable of accomplishing the task. Until, of coarse, we actually sat down to do it and would either realize that we had no idea what we were doing or had the wrong idea of what to do and either a lack of action or faulty action was the result. It would be explained again, we'd try it again, get a little better, slowly learn for ourselves. If we succeeded, adults would pat themselves on their backs. If we failed they'd consider enrolling us in the "special" school.

Active Learning is, basically, the "learn-as-you-live" philosophy, with an emphasis on action! Not only do we learn by doing but we learn faster by doing. We learn more thoroughly by doing and perhaps most importantly, we teach others by doing. The word "teach" is not used here to signify the act of talking at someone and asking periodically for a nod to confirm consciousness, but rather to signify the knowledge that is transferred by the setting of examples.

By adopting a simple and common outlook of information exchange, setting out to learn by trial, and forming relationships where such trials can be viewed as empowering examples Active Learning may begin.

also see Human Active Exchange VS. Network Active Exchange

Prepared by Hai Dai