Check this out: Going Mental

I haven't had a chance to read all of them yet, but I just found out that Big Think is doing a month-long series on brain research findings.  If you are interested in learning (and other things related to what happens in the skull), check it out.  The series is called "Going Mental" and can be found here:  http://bigthink.com/ideas/23922.

Why I care that 'Temple Grandin' won big at Emmys

I have not had an opportunity to see the HBO film starring Claire Danes, but I have listened to Dr. Grandin's book, Thinking in Pictures, and found it to be fascinating. I highly recommend it. I learned a lot about myself--how I am similar and different from others, for instance--and about cognitive functions in general as I listened to her story. Perhaps the movie is just as enlightening. Here's a link describing the Emmy win: 'Temple Grandin' wins big at Emmys. But who is she? | EW.com

Getting distracted

The hubbub surrounding the construction of an Islamic Community Center in Manhattan has gotten out of hand.  It is now distracting me to the point I cannot concentrate on my work.  I hear the fear mongering and bigotry that some of my fellow citizens are spouting, and my brain short circuits.  Don't those who oppose the building of a "mosque" realize that by denying the rights of a few, they are limiting the freedoms of us all?

I find myself wanting to write in response, but the only thing I can think of "You idiots!  You idiots!"  I want to stand up and resist, but I don't know how.  I want to scream, but I don't think anyone is listening.  So I sit and stew.

Last night on Countdown, Keith Olbermann said what I would like to be able to say (and a whole lot more).  I hope someone listens to him.  I've added the clip here to make it easy for you to do so.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

What can a designer teach an educator?

Fred Brooks. Never heard of him. But I just read this interview in Wired magazine, Master Planner: Fred Brooks Shows How to Design Anything, and I found his thinking to be fascinating. Here's a few snippets that caught my attention:

• "You can learn more from failure than success."
• "Great design does not come from great processes; it comes from great designers."
• "The critical thing about the design process is to identify your scarcest resource. Despite what you may think, that very often is not money. For example, in a NASA moon shot, money is abundant but lightness is scarce; every ounce of weight requires tons of material below. On the design of a beach vacation home, the limitation may be your ocean-front footage. You have to make sure your whole team understands what scarce resource you’re optimizing."

It seems to me that every one of those quotes has something to say about learning and/or education. With the exception of the first quote, I just don't know what it is yet. How might they translate into my world?

Great education does not come from great __________; it comes from great ________. What should go in those blanks? Processes, Learners? Teachers, Learners? Answers, Questions? Schools, Experiences?

U.S. Creativity in Question | WBUR and NPR - On Point with Tom Ashbrook

I heard an interesting panel discussion on creativity today. Check it out at U.S. Creativity in Question | WBUR and NPR - On Point with Tom Ashbrook.

Bet You Didn't Notice 'The Invisible Gorilla'

I listened to this on NPR on the way home this afternoon. Great discussion on the unreliability of memory and cognition in general.  Check it out at Bet You Didn't Notice 'The Invisible Gorilla'.
I also bought the (audio) book at emusic.  I'll let you know more about it, after I listen to it.

Kemerer (1991) on Learning Transfer

Kemerer, R. W. (1991). Understanding the application of learning. In T. J. Sork (Ed.), Mistakes made and lessons learned: Overcoming obstacles to successful program planning (New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, vol 49) (pp. 67-80). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Type of Work
Book chapter
Audience

• Performance managers
• Adult educators working in business settings

Purpose / Goal

• Describe what prevents learners from applying what they have learned
• Describe ways to increase the likelihood that learning will be applied “once learners return to their natural environments” (p. 67)

My Critique

• This paper offers a lot of good do’s and don’ts—sound bites of program planning—but, overall, it presents a view of teaching/learning that makes me uncomfortable.
  

Wlodkowski (1997) on Designing Workshops with Motivation in Mind

Wlodkowski, R. J. (1997). Motivation with a mission: Understanding motivation and culture in workshop design. In J. A. Fleming (Ed.), New perspectives on designing and implementing effective workshops (New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, vol 49) (pp. 19-31). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Type of Work
Book chapter
Audience
Workshop providers/designers
Purpose / Topic

• Motivating workshop participants
• Using the Motivational Framework for Culturally Responsive Teaching to guide workshop planning

My Notes

• This work assumes the value of Wlodkowski & Ginsburg’s Framework. I would have liked more information about its development as well as more information about the theoretical constructs that contribute to motivation of students. That, however, was not really the purpose of this chapter.

Hiemstra (1991) on Effective Learning Environments

Hiemstra, R. (1991). Aspects of effective learning environments. In R. Hiemstra (Ed.), Creating environments for effective adult learning (New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, vol 50) (pp. 5-12). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Summary
The first of ten in an edited work, this chapter introduces the topic (learning environments) by chronicling the evolution of Roger Hiemstra’s understanding of it. Though he was originally only concerned about physical characteristics, Rog’s definition is now much broader: “A learning environment is all of the physical surroundings, psychological or emotional conditions, and social or cultural influences affecting the growth and development of an adult engaged in an educational enterprise” (p. 8) Perhaps the most interesting part is the annotated list of works that influenced Hiemstra’s thinking about learning environments (see notes below).

Why I Hate "Program Planning" (Part 3)

When Knud Illeris wrote about education’s “sorting function” (Illeris, 2007, p. 237), he was primarily concerned with role that education plays in the replication of social inequity from one generation to the next; but, when I read the phrase, I thought of another reason why I don’t like the phrase “program planning.”

Why I *heart* Illeris (2007)

Illeris, K. (2007). How we learn: Learning and non-learning in school and beyond (M. Malone, Trans.). London and New York: Routledge.

Introductory Review
I first encountered this book in a class on Adult Learning.  I loved it.  Most of my colleagues did not.  As with the writings of many European intellectuals, Illeris is not an easy read.  Phraseology and sentence structures will feel foreign to most American readers, and it is sometimes difficult to identify the common thread that ties the various sections of a chapter together, especially at the beginning of a chapter.  However, readers who stick with Illeris will find that seemingly disparate thoughts come together in creative and convention-challenging ways. 

Notes on Illeris (2007) Chapter 12: Learning in Different Learning Spaces

Illeris, K. (2007). How we learn: Learning and non-learning in school and beyond (M. Malone, Trans.). London and New York: Routledge.

Chapter 12: Learning in different learning spaces (pp 214-233)

Before you begin reading these notes on Chapter 12 , you may want to read my overview/review of the entire book.  Notes for Chapter 13 can be found here.

Key Points

1. Types of Learning Spaces
1. Everyday Learning
1. Illeris prefers this term over “informal learning” and “non-formal learning” because:
1. There is really no distinction between informal and non-formal learning forms
2. It makes clear “unintended, yet omnipresent” nature of this type of learning (p. 216)
3. It implies the importance of context.
   
2. Schools/Educational Contexts

Notes on Illeris (2007) Chapter 13: Learning, Education, and Society

Illeris, K. (2007). How we learn: Learning and non-learning in school and beyond (M. Malone, Trans.). London and New York: Routledge.

Chapter 13: Learning, education, and society (pp 234-252)

Before you begin reading these notes on Chapter 13 , you may want to read my overview/review of the entire book.  Notes from Chapter 12 can be found here.

Key Points

1. Assumptions/Misunderstandings about Learning/Education that are prevalent in society
1. Even those who know they are these conceptions are false tend to embrace them because they are that engrained in the culture.
2. “The key function of the misunderstandings has precisely been to veil the adaptation, disciplining and selection that suited the old industrial society” (p. 238)

Why I Hate "Program Planning" (Part 2)

I just finished reading Thomas J. Sork’s chapter in the 2000 edition of the Handbook of Adult and Continuing Education. If I had encountered this work a few months earlier, perhaps I would not have started this serial rant on “program planning.” Don’t get me wrong—I still don’t like the phrase “program planning,” and there is plenty about the way adult education conceptualizes it that sticks in my craw—but there is something about Sork’s treatment of the subject that makes it more palatable and even interesting to me.

I first started feeling uneasy with “program planning” when I picked up Caffarella’s textbook (2002). As I skimmed the table of contents, I wondered, “What does this have to do with adult education?” Most of the topics I found there—except, perhaps, the one on learning transfer—looked as though they would have been just as at home in a course on convention planning or hotel management. It seemed so event-oriented and—though Caffarella does not espouse a linear interpretation of her Interactive Model of Program Planning—so formulaic.

Hanson (1991) on Participation

Hanson, A. L. (1991). Understanding participation in programs. In T. J. Sork (Ed.), Mistakes made and lessons learned: Overcoming obstacles to successful program planning (New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, vol 49) (pp. 29-41). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Type of Work
Book chapter
Focus / Goal
Discusses “elements that influence participation in continuing education programs” (p. 29)
Audience

• Program planners, in general
• Special emphasis is placed on planning continuing education events

My Notes
Raises important issues to think about when planning programs. However, because it is geared toward continuing education and approaches this topic from a business-like perspective, it seems a little less relevant to me. All those years of working in churches drove home the message that every participant is important and that programs should continue to be offered regardless of the size of the audience. While I understand that program planners cannot continually operate with negative cash flow, I will never feel truly comfortable with any that smacks of a profit motive.

Sisco (1991) on Effective Learning Climates

Sisco, B. R. (1991). Setting the climate for effective teaching and learning. In R. Hiemstra (Ed.), Creating environments for effective adult learning (New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, vol 50) (pp. 41-50). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Type of Work  
Book chapter
Audience
Instructors working with adult learners
Problem Addressed
Establishing an effective learning climate
My Notes
This article could easily be turned into a checklist for instructors to use when starting a new program. In fact, the appendix contains a checklist created for that purpose, but it is based primarily on Pratt (1984).

Why I Hate "Program Planning" (Part 1)

I strongly dislike the term “program planning.” Why I have such a strong, negative reaction toward the phrase is not entirely clear, however. Nearly six months of reflection on the matter has failed to produced a coherent argument. Unconnected mental-emotional snippets clog my brain, so today I am trying something new: blogging my thoughts. This post, therefore, represents the first in what is likely to become a lengthy series. As this series progresses, please feel free to comment, offering advice, insight, and (gentle) critique. Perhaps together we can figure out why I hate “program planning.”

In a chapter on learning spaces, Knud Illeris (2007) describes how divided and disjointed modern life has become. Learning that takes place in one realm of life—say, the school—does not

Allard (1991) on Program Planning

Allard, P. B. (1991). Why they didn't learn what we wanted them to learn. In T. J. Sork (Ed.), Mistakes made and lessons learned: Overcoming obstacles to successful program planning (New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, vol 49) (pp. 55-66). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Type of Work

• Book Chapter

Problem Addressed

• Planning errors that limit learners’ ability to learn

My Notes

• Great list of things to do/not do.
• Highlights the importance of clarity, buy-in, and keeping the focus on the learning (which requires an understanding of and a commitment to the learner).

Great Quote

• “Education can be imposed, but learning cannot” (p. 65).