Being a mother, I have deep feeling for the said saying of Franklin.  So many nights I talk to my son about literacy, proprieties and life etc., but he appears to be merely a hearer.  Uttering words by me only facilitates his receipt of fleeting information, whereas applying appropriate teaching modality to him helps build up his memory.  And as a personnel in the education setting, I am particularly moved by Franklin's emphasis of "involvement".  To get students through individual experience in the course of their learning will increase the odds of making them truly incorporate knowledge.  As far as active involvement goes, the gateway to new thinking and critical reflection will be opened.  In fact, it is the consistency and proactivity of the involvement that matter most, not the variety or intensity of it.

The "involvement" meant by Franklin is commonly extracted as the motto for the theory of experiential learning.  We, at CUHK, also uphold this way of teaching, among other pedagogies, in order to nurture well-rounded citizens.  Ever since the I·CARE Programme was launched, it has joined forces with other University student support units to offer experiential learning activities.  I always bear in mind that, during the educational process, unless focused and meaningful feedback is genuinely given by teachers in addition to the student-led experimentations, such experiential learning is not a knowledge growth booster.  An effective education should consist of the teachers' contribution of expertise, demonstration, coaching, participation, enlightenment and role modelling.  I cannot stop taking veiled potshots at the people who claim themselves "educator" but feather their nests at the expense of students' grasp of real experiential learning opportunities.

Sincerely yours,

Irene Ng
Director
I·CARE Centre for Whole-person Development