Perhaps Learning can be considered a little like Coaching (the practice of activities that deliver the desired purpose of the practice)). Coaches of professional athletes are hired because they can put together a Training Programme to develop the athlete to win, this is somewhat like why I am hired by my school because I can put together a Teaching Programme to develop the student to succeed. All good so far.
The point is that both of us, coach and teacher, have a clear idea what we are preparing our charges for.
The coach knows if the athlete is a footballer, tennis player, rick climber or snooker player. They know the purpose of the training. Therefore they build a Coaching programme around this goal.
The teacher also knows their job. It is to get students through an exam which demands the recollection of facts and the articulation of ideas. So we work to that goal and build a Learning programme around it. So that is what our definition of learning has become.
Were the goal of education to be the production of communities of activists that would be committed to doing (not just talking or writing about) planetary wholeness then learning (the practice of activities that deliver the desired purpose of the practice) would be defined differently.
I agree that learning is a vague term. But teachers can and do see learning happening and successful students learn each day. I wonder if we need a succinct definition of learning? Learning happens regardless of this.
Good challenge Debbie. I can see your point, but I do think it is important to strive for greater clarity around what we mean when we talk about learning. For example, in schools, learning is often viewed as being synonymous with learning subject content, and there are other important types of learning that are overlooked - things like physical learning, emotional learning, habitual learning, relational learning...
I’ve written about this a bit- the need to redefine learning and build a new, more encompassing learning theory from it. It’s something I’m really quite passionate about, because- as you point out- the current definitions are so vague and yet so limiting to how we approach learning and education. Please let me know what you think of my proposed definition.
Perhaps Learning can be considered a little like Coaching (the practice of activities that deliver the desired purpose of the practice)). Coaches of professional athletes are hired because they can put together a Training Programme to develop the athlete to win, this is somewhat like why I am hired by my school because I can put together a Teaching Programme to develop the student to succeed. All good so far.
The point is that both of us, coach and teacher, have a clear idea what we are preparing our charges for.
The coach knows if the athlete is a footballer, tennis player, rick climber or snooker player. They know the purpose of the training. Therefore they build a Coaching programme around this goal.
The teacher also knows their job. It is to get students through an exam which demands the recollection of facts and the articulation of ideas. So we work to that goal and build a Learning programme around it. So that is what our definition of learning has become.
Were the goal of education to be the production of communities of activists that would be committed to doing (not just talking or writing about) planetary wholeness then learning (the practice of activities that deliver the desired purpose of the practice) would be defined differently.
Interesting. So you define it differently to suit different contexts. Nice to hear from you btw, it's been a while!
I agree that learning is a vague term. But teachers can and do see learning happening and successful students learn each day. I wonder if we need a succinct definition of learning? Learning happens regardless of this.
Good challenge Debbie. I can see your point, but I do think it is important to strive for greater clarity around what we mean when we talk about learning. For example, in schools, learning is often viewed as being synonymous with learning subject content, and there are other important types of learning that are overlooked - things like physical learning, emotional learning, habitual learning, relational learning...
I’ve written about this a bit- the need to redefine learning and build a new, more encompassing learning theory from it. It’s something I’m really quite passionate about, because- as you point out- the current definitions are so vague and yet so limiting to how we approach learning and education. Please let me know what you think of my proposed definition.
My first two posts can be found here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/greaterthanschooling/p/the-aeffectual-learning-theory-part?r=27c9zd&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
https://open.substack.com/pub/greaterthanschooling/p/the-aeffectual-learning-theory-part-d23?r=27c9zd&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false