Chapter 1
Quote: “The question is: In the twenty-first century, how do we cultivate the imagination?” (p. 20). As a rationale for a book, it is certainly promising. Imagination seems to me to be the root of most human creativity and innovation. The prospect of nurturing imagination in our students is certainly exciting.
Question: “It takes place without books, without teachers, and without classrooms, and it requires environments that are bounded yet provide complete freedom of action within those boundaries.” (p. 18). I am curious about what bounds they believe to be both necessary and still freeing enough to meet this condition. Is this even possible?
Connection: “We are seeing more and more intergenerational gaming, which picks up on the deeply social nature of online games . . .” (p. 28). This is certainly one of the best articulations of this phenomenon that I have read. And, it accurately reflects my own experience. Gaming is part of our family life. My children played computer games because they saw my husband and me playing them, and video/computer games are a part of our family life. I have heard repeatedly that games are bad for children, families, and social connections; but my experience has been the complete opposite. We have all learned a wide range of knowledge and skills, including social skills, by playing these games.
Epiphany/Aha: “Ironically, the relentless pace of change that is responsible for our disequilibrium is also our greatest hope.” (p. 17). Reflecting on this, it occurs to me that this is what evolution is all about. If the pace of change is, itself, changing, then we will need to adapt to that, as well as to the change itself.
Chapter 2
Quote: “[T]he entire point of the experiment is to allow the culture to reproduce in an uninhibited, completely organic way . . . and then see what happens.” (p. 37) This is an interesting view of education. It seems unrealistic for the basic day-to-day realities of a classroom, both difficult to replicate from one site to another and difficult to sustain long-term. However, it could be a stepping-off point for a great deal of change to the system.
Question: “”For most of the twentieth century our educational system has been built on the assumption that teaching is necessary for learning to occur.” (p. 34). It puzzles me that the book seems to be claiming that teaching is no longer necessary, when their own examples of the new culture of learning in Chapter 1 clearly show teaching has taken place. It may not be the standard one-sided teacher/student arrangement that they apparently envision by the word “teaching”; but the people in those examples learned from someone, it was just more likely to be in peer-to-peer relationships, instead of standard teacher-student arrangements.
Connection: The negative reference on page 35 to learning as a series of steps to be mastered does not fit with my own experience. As very linear thinker, I often learn best by following a series of steps, and I don’t believe I’m the only one. If we need to teach to the learning styles of our students, don’t we need to teach linear thinkers, as well? For me, learning foundational things in a step-wise fashion helps me to make sense out of them so that I can then begin asking the deeper questions and making the intuitive leaps that are necessary for higher-order thinking.
Epiphany/Aha: “.. . . the teaching-based approach focuses on teaching us about the world, while the new culture of learning focuses on learning through engagement within the world.” (p. 38). Good description of the way we want our classes to function so that students learn by actually participating in hands-on activities.
Chapter 3
Quote: “Information technology has become a participatory medium, giving rise to an environment that is constantly being changed and reshaped by the participation itself. The process is almost quantum in nature . . .” (p. 42). This is so true, and creates such a slippery creature to grasp and understand!
Question: “They have yet to find a balance between the structure that educational institutions provide and the freedom afforded by the new media’s almost unlimited resources, without losing a sense of purpose and direction.” (p. 48). Have all of the attempts failed? Are there any that have begun to find the necessary balance?
Connection: The statements on page 42-43 about the way that workplaces have adapted to the increasing point of change certainly reflects my own experience. It has simply not been possible to adapt to every change or to keep up with the pace of change in business. So, the businesses I have worked in opted out of some of the changes or delayed making changes. Eventually, it seems that this bubble will have to burst. It is simply not possible to keep up with change at the rate it is happening.
Epiphany/Aha: The description of how print resources make certain information invisible as they make editing decisions (p. 47) raises so many questions: how do we choose which information becomes visible and invisible? and is it even possible for the average person to deal with information when it is all visible?
Thomas, D., and J.S. Brown. 2011. A New Culture of Learning.