In other word, "real" learning is hard, it takes work, it's not fun. -- The quote is about active learning, learning that involves the student in the education

In other word, "real" learning is hard, it takes work, it's not fun. -- The quote is about active learning, learning that involves the student in the education process. I don't think the subjective rating of that as "not fun" is a given. Rather, I think this subjective impression from the entire context of a student's activities. It's pretty standard to expect "engaged" students to be happier than disengaged students. But students who are pressured to be engaged but don't engage are most unhappy of all. And today, students are confronted with a lot of easy, disengaged "junkfood" entertainment and are often working many hours a week along with school (or simply work endless hours of homework, etc). Under those circumstances, sure, learning that pushes the student to participate might get negative reviews. But I don't that justifies defining participatory learning "not fun" ipso-facto.