Abstract:

Education has enormous power. According to Paulo Freire, it either serves as an instrument used to facilitate integration of younger generations into the logic of the present system, bringing about conformity, or it becomes a practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.

Due to the introduction of new advanced technologies, digitalization, and automation, there’s been an inevitable shift highlighting new sets of skills that educational institutions have to address. One such skill is especially key – that being the ability to employ active learning strategies. In a rapidly changing world, a primary goal of educators should be to promote these strategies, realizing the effects of sustainable learning and increasing students’ motivation to learn.

Prior models of education where teachers are experts and learners are a passive recipients of deposited knowledge, cease to work. Passive models of learning, that Paulo Freire calls ‘banking education’, treat students as objects and inhibit creativity and naturally resist true dialogue. Therefore, the correct method lies in dialogical learning that enables the voices of students to be represented. Dialogical learning encourages students to become critical thinkers, promotes creativity, stimulates critical reflection, and positions learners as participants in knowledge creation.

This paper presents an example of an active learning model introduced as part of a course on Human Resources Management II during the 2019 Winter semester. In order to assess the impact of the methodology in question, the cohort of 54 students enrolled in the subject were asked to respond to a survey regarding the efficiency of the active learning approach. Data suggests that active learning strategies enabled the undergraduate students to develop the capacity for self-directed education and helped them to acquire knowledge while increasing communication skills. In addition, the proposed methodology of active dialogical learning promotes the authentic exchange of ideas, moving beyond simple discussion. Overall, the article argues, that active learning skills are essential for the 21st century labor market and life in general.

Keywords:

Active learning strategies, human resources management, dialogical learning, Paulo Freire, student led activity.