Time for Action! Learning the human way!

One long thunderous roar of cylinders followed the little spark ignited by a mere mistake of a careless smoker and suddenly, we saw hundreds of lives floating in the air like shattered pieces of a glass.

Action is something that never fails to capture attention and no matter how busy or uninterested our mind is, one action can pull you back to the ground.

The importance of action is often understood in stories that is why we see so many action movies clicking audiences across the globe. But besides entertainment, can action also help in other ways?

The power of action has also attracted attention of academia and that lead to the emergence of the concept of action-oriented learning. Relatively new, but this approach, once tried and proven effective, has spiked so many minds that are working on coming up with programs that engage learners through action.

The action-oriented learning approach sees learners as ‘social agents’, who can accomplish specific goals related to a specific field or subject in a given situation or environment. This requires the person to use specific abilties and skills needed to accomplish a task. However, with current skills, one might not be able to accomplish a goal. Thus, a modification is required that leads to learning.

From Reflection To Transformation

Action-based learning involves putting a person on a project so the learning happens by doing. Often, learners are put into groups to perform activities together and are guided by a facilitator. The learning can happen in different ways and one is through critical reflection. In this approach, a learner is made to question the premises on which is based one’s interpretation. This approach is internal and deep which, if done correctly, can result into the transformation of a learner. The benefit of transformation is that once learning is absorbed, there is no forgetting.