The following are some brief reflections on selected quotes from Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown’s book A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change.
Chapter 7:
Quote: “In the new information economy, expertise is less about having a stockpile of information or facts at one’s disposal and increasingly about knowing how to find and evaluate information on a given topic. Again, this is a where question, both in terms of where the information is found and in terms of where it is being deployed to communicate something” (Thomas & Brown, 2011, chapter 7, section 2, para. 8).
I chose this quote because it defines one of the key differences between an older, more fact-and-memorization-based way of learning and a newer way of learning that focuses on navigating one’s way through all of the information that is available and finding the right context.
Question: I believe one of the things teachers will need to ask themselves over and over again is how much factual information do the students need to know before the context becomes equally or more important? And at what point does this happen? I think this question will be unique for each lesson and possibly even for each student, and it will always be a difficult question to answer.
Connection: When I was in school, it often felt like the tests that myself and the other students took tested us on concepts that we did not cover in class. I have also heard this complaint from many students about classes in all different subjects. Now, looking back, I believe a lot of this comes from the fact that most assignments are focused on students acquiring bits of knowledge out of context. However, then when a test asks the students to synthesize an answer using information from two or more sources, students are often at a loss. They never learned the context in which they could use the bits of information they had learned. In one sense, the information itself was interchangeable, but the context was not. Having never learned the context, the students were unable to apply their learning to other concepts.
Epiphany: I thought the example in the text about finding Iraq on a map versus using the computer was very telling. Asking students simply to find something on a map is an activity relatively devoid of context. There is very little that is useful to a student in such an activity. But asking students to answer the same question using modern tools opened up the situation to a wealth of information and—more importantly—more questions. By being exposed to and sifting through different possible contexts needed to frame an answer, students had the potential to gain even more knowledge, encounter new discoveries, and continue building on what they discovered.
Chapter 8:
Quote: “We would describe that process as moving from experience to embodiment, where the personal investment in technology and digital media changes the focus from social agency to personal agency” (Thomas & Brown, 2011, chapter 8, section 3, para. 4).
I chose this quote because I think it highlights two key stages in the process of getting students engaged with the subject matter: developing social agency and developing personal agency.
Question: As always, what concrete steps can be taken to increase the likelihood that students will move from the social agency phase to the personal agency phase?
Connection: I believe this is really the goal of teaching and learning: helping students reach that point where they become so interested and invested in what they are doing that they no longer need you; they will do whatever it takes to seek out the answers, whether it is before school, after school, at lunch, during class, on a phone, on a school computer, asking a friend—whatever it takes! One of my favorite moments in teaching is always when the students all become so involved in the task they are performing that the room becauses completely silent and it is almost impossible to get the students to disengage themselves from the content, even to move on to the next class.
Epiphany: Before this, I had never really considered the concept of social agency, and I had not considered social agency and personal agency to really be two separate steps in the learning process. I am eager to monitor my students now to see how long many of them stay in the “Hanging Out” phase before they move on to the “Messing Around” phase. If students are having trouble developing personal agency in their assignments, it might be beneficial to spend more time helping them develop social agency first.
Chapter 9:
Quote: “There are no answers in World of Warcraft. There is only a progression of increasingly complicated and more difficult questions. And, more often than not, those questions are the result of players pushing against the boundaries that the game provides. Players quickly discover that when they encounter a problem they don’t know how to solve, the fastest and easiest way to learn the solution is to tap into a collective that is already working on it” (Thomas & Brown, 2011, chapter 9, section 5, para. 3).
I chose this quote because I think it states one of the most important—and one of the most difficult—aspects of the new culture of learning, the idea that education should focus less on answers and more about the continuing quest to find new knowledge, answer new questions, and progress.
Question: Will the collective that the students tap into be enough to solve problems they encounter at school? Should teachers limit how far students can go to find answers on the internet? Or should they be allowed to continue searching as long as the search is goal-oriented and leading in a productive direction? How does one fit this concept of “no answers” into schools that frequently require clear quantitative data for assessments?
Connection: I have played games where the desire to succeed and not only overcome but also beat a challenge was so strong that I would spend hours testing approaches and acquiring more knowledge until I was successful. And I have also experienced this feeling while learning and creating new things, such as when I created a three minute cartoon in less than two weeks in order to submit it for a contest. I would be overjoyed if my students could develop such a strong connection to the content we are covering in class.
Epiphany: I have been spending most of the semester trying to figure out how to incorporate the interests of my students into my lessons without directly doing so; it always seemed somewhat dangerous to steer a lesson entirely into the direction of the unknown. However, now that I think about it, this kind of lesson might be one of the most exciting and engaging for the students. It will likely take a lot of planning to accomplish successfully, but I am now thinking much more seriously about what activities we can do as a class that will drive them to continue seeking new questions rather than settling for old answers.
Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change (Kindle Edition). Retrieved from Amazon.com
Chapter 7:
Quote: “In the new information economy, expertise is less about having a stockpile of information or facts at one’s disposal and increasingly about knowing how to find and evaluate information on a given topic. Again, this is a where question, both in terms of where the information is found and in terms of where it is being deployed to communicate something” (Thomas & Brown, 2011, chapter 7, section 2, para. 8).
I chose this quote because it defines one of the key differences between an older, more fact-and-memorization-based way of learning and a newer way of learning that focuses on navigating one’s way through all of the information that is available and finding the right context.
Question: I believe one of the things teachers will need to ask themselves over and over again is how much factual information do the students need to know before the context becomes equally or more important? And at what point does this happen? I think this question will be unique for each lesson and possibly even for each student, and it will always be a difficult question to answer.
Connection: When I was in school, it often felt like the tests that myself and the other students took tested us on concepts that we did not cover in class. I have also heard this complaint from many students about classes in all different subjects. Now, looking back, I believe a lot of this comes from the fact that most assignments are focused on students acquiring bits of knowledge out of context. However, then when a test asks the students to synthesize an answer using information from two or more sources, students are often at a loss. They never learned the context in which they could use the bits of information they had learned. In one sense, the information itself was interchangeable, but the context was not. Having never learned the context, the students were unable to apply their learning to other concepts.
Epiphany: I thought the example in the text about finding Iraq on a map versus using the computer was very telling. Asking students simply to find something on a map is an activity relatively devoid of context. There is very little that is useful to a student in such an activity. But asking students to answer the same question using modern tools opened up the situation to a wealth of information and—more importantly—more questions. By being exposed to and sifting through different possible contexts needed to frame an answer, students had the potential to gain even more knowledge, encounter new discoveries, and continue building on what they discovered.
Chapter 8:
Quote: “We would describe that process as moving from experience to embodiment, where the personal investment in technology and digital media changes the focus from social agency to personal agency” (Thomas & Brown, 2011, chapter 8, section 3, para. 4).
I chose this quote because I think it highlights two key stages in the process of getting students engaged with the subject matter: developing social agency and developing personal agency.
Question: As always, what concrete steps can be taken to increase the likelihood that students will move from the social agency phase to the personal agency phase?
Connection: I believe this is really the goal of teaching and learning: helping students reach that point where they become so interested and invested in what they are doing that they no longer need you; they will do whatever it takes to seek out the answers, whether it is before school, after school, at lunch, during class, on a phone, on a school computer, asking a friend—whatever it takes! One of my favorite moments in teaching is always when the students all become so involved in the task they are performing that the room becauses completely silent and it is almost impossible to get the students to disengage themselves from the content, even to move on to the next class.
Epiphany: Before this, I had never really considered the concept of social agency, and I had not considered social agency and personal agency to really be two separate steps in the learning process. I am eager to monitor my students now to see how long many of them stay in the “Hanging Out” phase before they move on to the “Messing Around” phase. If students are having trouble developing personal agency in their assignments, it might be beneficial to spend more time helping them develop social agency first.
Chapter 9:
Quote: “There are no answers in World of Warcraft. There is only a progression of increasingly complicated and more difficult questions. And, more often than not, those questions are the result of players pushing against the boundaries that the game provides. Players quickly discover that when they encounter a problem they don’t know how to solve, the fastest and easiest way to learn the solution is to tap into a collective that is already working on it” (Thomas & Brown, 2011, chapter 9, section 5, para. 3).
I chose this quote because I think it states one of the most important—and one of the most difficult—aspects of the new culture of learning, the idea that education should focus less on answers and more about the continuing quest to find new knowledge, answer new questions, and progress.
Question: Will the collective that the students tap into be enough to solve problems they encounter at school? Should teachers limit how far students can go to find answers on the internet? Or should they be allowed to continue searching as long as the search is goal-oriented and leading in a productive direction? How does one fit this concept of “no answers” into schools that frequently require clear quantitative data for assessments?
Connection: I have played games where the desire to succeed and not only overcome but also beat a challenge was so strong that I would spend hours testing approaches and acquiring more knowledge until I was successful. And I have also experienced this feeling while learning and creating new things, such as when I created a three minute cartoon in less than two weeks in order to submit it for a contest. I would be overjoyed if my students could develop such a strong connection to the content we are covering in class.
Epiphany: I have been spending most of the semester trying to figure out how to incorporate the interests of my students into my lessons without directly doing so; it always seemed somewhat dangerous to steer a lesson entirely into the direction of the unknown. However, now that I think about it, this kind of lesson might be one of the most exciting and engaging for the students. It will likely take a lot of planning to accomplish successfully, but I am now thinking much more seriously about what activities we can do as a class that will drive them to continue seeking new questions rather than settling for old answers.
Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change (Kindle Edition). Retrieved from Amazon.com