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Passive versus Active Reflection |
(Response to the article "Creating a Culture of Reflection" by Sallie Weems)
The importance of reflective learning segments in Adult and Continuing Education venues is very important, however, we do need to make a distinction for teachers, trainers, etc., I believe — as to further specifying the difference between "active reflection" and "passive reflection" as it relates to adult learning culture needs. There are indeed both types, and they deliver very different outcomes. "Active reflection" for a learner occurs when you not only present something [a concept, an idea, etc] — but also challenge the learner at the time of delivery to better elaborate or re-define in their own terms the exact implications or long term impacts of what has been addressed. You do so in a direct, timely and focused manner-- and you thereby engage the learner's higher learning abilities, etc. and this indeed, truly "forms the active glue" that makes such ideas, constructs, to be lasting and filled with relative potential for instant recall, rediscovery and manipulation for future use.
"Passive reflection", on the other hand, is the kind that occurs -- say after you've watched a PBS special on poverty -- and there is no one to discuss it with. You will perhaps do a bit of reflection, or "musing" — but no one is around to challenge, address, or otherwise engage you to better elaborate its direct implications in your thinking, etc. So this kind of experience will have a general but non-defined, non-specific long term impact. Adults will retain in those instances some such information for a period of time, and IF it is somehow engaged within a reasonable timeframe [say, a friend and she get together the next day for coffee and they both happen to have watched the same special and then talk further about it] — there will be some benefit recouped, but again not as much as if the reflection/ discussion/ clarifications occur nearer to the actual delivery of such information.
Not all trainers, teachers, etc. understand this distinction, and not all even know how to implement it — I've found. Asking adult learners, "So, did you learn anything?"— is a weak stab at active learning, but falls far short, etc. But, that is grist for another day. Hope this brief soliloquy gives another side perspective for your considerations.
Dale A. Werth, Sr. Consultant
dawerth@earthlink.net
Dale Werth has over fifteen years of experience as a Sr. Consultant in Training and OD, and is a proven Project Manager, Trainer and Sr. Technical Writer. His work has occurred in varied projects or programs delivered from both field and centralized headquarters positions. He has served as a team or project lead, senior project manager, instructor, senior consultant, curriculum designer, and technical writer. He has also worked successfully with a wide spectrum of enterprises - including small and large businesses, national organizations, global companies, governmental agencies, education, and non-profit organizations. His varied training and project roles have encompassed work in some 40 US states – as well as travels to the UK, France, Canada, Puerto Rico and Switzerland to date. He continues his role as Sr. Consultant, Project Manager and Sr. Technical Writer. He also continues to write and speak on innovative topics within a variety of today's current organization and productivity challenges. He holds undergraduate degrees from Washburn University and University of Kansas, and holds a M.S. degree in Human Resources and Creative Studies from State University College at Buffalo. He has been a Certified College Adjunct Instructor and has taught at a number of institutions [Westwood College (Arlington, VA); Graduate School, USDA (Washington, DC); etc.]. He teaches courses in social sciences, communications, and personal/professional productivity areas. He currently resides in Northern Virginia. |
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