Learning by Design

Learning by Design back when webgrrls were novel. My sister did the graphics for this. I've always loved her style even though she is not a techie graphics artist. Our styles are very different, but I've always admired her aesthetic.

Learning and UN-learning: Skills vs. Patterns

So often learning is not that difficult. Fortunately there are many tasks (at least here in the our country) that involve little more than keyboarding. But vocabularies are always specialized, and most cons and just general BS'ers often can master at least a smattering of whatever lingo they need to superficially impress their audience.

I believe we have payed too little attention to neuroscience in teaching AND learning. From my Ed Psych days, I remember that creating schema and forming patterns of thought and behavior are essential to learning. But we also discovered that problem-solving itself can become rote, and often a problem that requires a different strategy than one routinely practiced, can pose a stumbling block to less-skilled or less-informed learners -- those novices we are always trying to teach.

Instruction as Punishment

A prime example:

Defensive Driving Classes, Online, in person, comedic, whatever . . . These are rarely fun, rarely interactive (except perhaps, in a classroom with a teacher with passion for the subject matter and an intereactive pedagogy).

But of course, the purpose is not instruction. It's punishment under the guise of instruction.

Made me think of the bumper sticker I almost bought for myself today:

OH NO! Not another Learning Experience!