Active Learning - by Doing
- Yu-Ri Chang
- Jul 29
- 3 min read
I’ve come to appreciate that effective teaching isn’t just about delivering content—it’s about creating environments where learning happens actively, socially, and reflectively. In my Experience Design and Artificial Intelligence (XDAI) course, Professor Ali Safinah used active learning strategies. She didn't just lecture with a few questions sprinkled in. Instead, she designed engaging activities using tools and products she personally created… color me curious. There was something deeply motivating about having the person who built the product right in front of us—available, responsive, and open to our questions. This wasn’t just inspiring. It made the learning experience more tangible as I engaged with purpose-built tools that were trained for specific tasks, often with formative check-ins to guide my understanding as I used them.
To this day, I still remember how I first became interested in AI products and applications. She began by presenting the history of AI, from its inception to its evolution and even its transgressions. Then she jogged our memory by asking, “Do any of you remember Clippy?” That simple question instantly caught and hooked my attention. Right after that discussion, we explored AI tools, task-specific applications she had designed, and then one called Scratch & Teachable Machines- “...can create animations, games, and other interactive projects based on their interests — and share them with others in an online community. Through this project-based, interest-driven approach, students still learn important coding skills and computer science concepts, but they learn them in a more motivating and meaningful context, so they make deeper connections with the ideas" (Resnick, 2023).
Working with products and their designs, I realized I was very comfortable with the front end. But I always had the desire to build something from start to finish, from initial discovery to final delivery. Over time, I noticed I was constantly brushing up against the backend. Being in this class changed that. Yes, it was intimidating at first. But after Safinah’s light talk (thank you for the constant reassurance :)), my confidence shifted. My whole approach changed. For Scratch, I began to understand what each block meant and did (except each Lego block had its own function, and so understanding them helped me make connections and stack/build out the design I was envisioning). The whole process felt physical, almost like building something out of Lego blocks. The interface was another highlight, it made experimenting with the programming feel less abstract and more accessible.
Interacting with an AI tool designed for a specific educational use & watching how Professor Safinah guided us through its affordances (answering questions as we explored and giving us room to test, try, and even fail) felt like a lived example of constructivism in action. The learning came not from being told what to do, but from observing, doing, adjusting, and reflecting.
Active learning (by doing) helped me grasp content more deeply and understand how to learn with others, from real-world contexts and through tools shaped by thoughtful pedagogy and technology. In the end, I’ve realized that the most effective classrooms aren’t about perfect answers, but about environments that make exploration feel safe, challenge feel productive, and collaboration feel essential.
References:
Resnick, M. (2023, April 24). AI and Creative Learning: Concerns, Opportunities, and
Choices. Medium. https://mres.medium.com/ai-and-creative-learning-concerns-opportunities-and-choices-63b27f16d4d0
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