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active learning

How "Active Learning" can Improve your Productivity?

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“Active learning” is a process that makes a learner get involved in the concept of learning/practising continuously. It is considered to be the most effective process as it actively engages the learners instead of making them passive learners. Reading, writing, discussing, knowledge sharing, brainstorming, etc all allow the learners to take a risk in the process of, either, learning something new or improving/updating themselves on something that they already knew.Â

So, how will “active learning” improve productivity? Imagine a school-going child thought of a few concepts and made them to memorize them to be able to give a test. He will certainly remember that information only till the moment he has been tested on it. The focus of the retention of that concept is to get through the exam. Many of us can connect to our own experiences. We have learned so many subjects and concepts, how many of those do you remember till today? This is mainly because doest involve themselves in the Active learning process to understand the concept which will require imagination, connecting to what they already know by referencing, recalling and reflecting on the concepts, involving in brainstorming about the concepts and even involving themselves in at least teaching the concepts to others. The passive learning is very far from all these and we just want to get over it and so close the issue with passive learning!

It happens with many of us as they are not participating or involved or engaging themselves in the learning process.

Now, let’s see the same example from a different perspective. What if the child is made to learn on his own, with some guidance from his teachers at school? What if he is made to think about something and is not told to memorize the information? What will happen if he is told to find a problem and also find a solution to that particular problem? 

The child may not come up with a great solution but eventually, he will put in his best efforts and arrive at the best solution. How did he do that? He simply involved himself in finding out a solution to the given challenge as they started “thinking” about it. They might fail during the process but they won’t quit until there is the right solution. This “thinking” process led to acquiring deep knowledge and deep learning capabilities. So eventually he was able to solve the problem.

Now, let us come out of this example and apply the same logic to everybody, not just a student. The idea of active learning applies to every human being as we humans are continuous learners doesn’t matter what we are learning.Â

Anyone who is involved in “active learning” about anything will be led to 2 things.Â

  1. Basic Expert level — At a conceptual level.
  2. Actual Expert Level — At a practical level.

It depends on you – which one you want to become. Some jobs may need Basic level expertise. The best example we can quote here is — a Business Development Manager or Content Marketing Manager of an AI Solution offering company can just be a Basic Expert Level. They would need to understand the concepts of AI and need to know what technologies are available in the market, how these AI solutions work, what are competitors’ advantages of applying technology, and how can they offer different and better solutions than their competitors. Although they might not have to know, how to build models, what kind of algorithms to be used to build those training models, working with databases and manipulations, how to improve the accuracy of the model, etc.,Â

If anyone what to be an Actual Expert level — Active learner, they ought to be already a Basic level expert in the topic or a concept. This means they already have a good grasp of the concepts, when they start implementing them in their practice and trying to create something will make them an Actual Expert on the concept. Actual Expertise is much more important if you want to directly relate to the topic to be an executioner. Reading more about courses on music notes, types of music, and listening to multiple world’s best music creators will not make us a singer. To become a singer you will need to practice a lot. That is the most important aspect of achieving the Actual Expertise level.

When you are learning something, actively and continuously, it will definitely improve your productivity. You will pursue a topic or a concept or a skill only if you are interested and spending time on reading/ listening/ speaking about that concept/skill will build your confidence in it which will help you to engage more and go into the deep. This will make you a basic level expert to achieve your goals and will be able to create solutions that have meaning and purpose.Â

When you are an Active learner at an Expert level, which is a strong understanding of the concept and a good amount of practice on it, you will achieve higher levels of productivity — indicating that you developed higher levels of thinking and problem-solving capabilities. You will be involved in constructively pursuing knowledge.Â

How can you be an “Active Learner”? Read the points below:

  1. Place yourself in an environment which is, both, Physically and mentally supportive avoiding any disturbances, especially on your Mobile Phone.
  2. Focus on the path & time you want to spend on each resource. This is important because we might be switching resources which can be another distortion in your learning path increasing the time of actual learning.
  3. Keep yourself open to a number of questions that lead to productivity. And focus on answering them independently.
  4. Accept that you will need guidance/assistance/ collaboration during the learning process. When the phase arrives, welcome the guidance from others.

So, if you want to be an active learner and improve your productivity, I can help you. I am the founder of UpSkillShare.com. It is a productive social networking platform that tracks your learning progress in a supportive environment with much-needed guidance/assistance.

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