good reminder about the importance of design for what happens in the future p36. how we design the alumni program will influence if not determine what happens.
"It calls for educational processes and systems that nurture active citizens and open minds by encouraging wonder, creativity, tolerance, cooperation, and collaboration... It promotes vigorous self-criticism, combats rigidity and apathy, and fosters anticipatory decision-making and adaptive learning... such societies prepare their individuals, organizations and institutions to counteract maladaptive forces and respond to unforeseen challenges and changes that are beyond their control with hope, joy, imagination and unruffledness"p36-37
individual learning and social learning co-dynamic p39
Change can be catalyzed by a crisis or surprise (adaptation p47), or it can be planned and directed (p46). Glasser (and AWARD) are interested in planned change. Planned change and learning seen as inseparable. Actually probably unplanned change results in learning too.
"Any planned directed change by individuals or collectives is built on learning" (p46). I agree. But i wonder what other explanations might be offered apart from 'learning'. To me it is so self evident that I cannot even contemplate another way. FOLLOW UP.
Note that Glasser does not "necessarily believe that learning must necessarily engender behavioural change" This is because:
- not all learning warrants behaviour change
- sometimes the environment -interests, goals, objectives - militate against change.
"it is only through learning that we acquire our values, attitudes, and concerns along with our conception of reality." p47
p47 Glasser gives five interpretations of social learning. i think Blackmore in her book also gives a list of interpretations. Or maybe it was Ison talking about SLIM. FOLLOW UP
i love having all these interpretations so i can cherry pick the ones i like best at this moment...
"[it] reflects the idea that hte shared learning of interdependent stakeholders is a key mechanism for arriving at more desirable futures. [...]A consistent characteristic of the various approaches is that they advocate an interactive (or participatory) style of problem solviing, whereby outside intervention takes the form of facilitation" (Leeuwis and Pyburn 2002 - FOLLOW UP?) p47
Parson and Clark (1995) talking about the same suggest "the deepest difference is that for some, social learning means learning by individuals that takes place in social settings and/or is socially conditioned; for others it means learning by social aggregates." p48
i think a CoP view of learning sees both as interdependent like Giddens' structure and agency. you need both levels of learning/change.
Regarding change in our fellows, it is interesting what Glasser says about Bandura's social learning theory (1977).
- Attention: a model behaviour in the environment must grab or capture a potential learner's notice. so this is partly the role modeling, partly the dreaming about one's self and where you want to be
- Retention: remember the observed behaviour
- Reproduction: replicate the observed behaviour. This is the skills development in leadership and science supported by mentoring
- Motivation: the environment must offer a consequence that increases the probability for a learner to demonstrate what she has learned. So these are the institutional settings, but also the Senge 'success breeds success' virtuous circle.
This makes me think how many of the fellows feel the need for an alumni program in order to keep being inspired. I guess you can't have a promotion every day so you can motivate yourself by the 'Attention' part of the model.
p50 Glasser talking of ecocultural sustainability, exemplifies Bandura, which gives an idea of entry points
"Ecoculturally sustainable behaviours are commonly seen as less appealing, so they fail to grab our attention. They are frequently unfamiliar so they are less likely to be retained. They are also often more involved and more compled so they are less likely to be reproduced. Finally they are seen as inconvenient, time.consuming, uncool so there is little motivation to try them out"
Active social learning is change. Glasser breaks it into three categories (p51):
- hierarchical - predetermined inflexible relationships between teacher and taught
- non-hierarchical - two way learning between experts in their own right
- co-learning - based on the above, collaboration, trust, full participation and shared exploration
he claims that 1 and 2 are great for expanding existing knowledge, but 3 also "supports the generation of new knowledge and novel strategies for addressing real-world problems"
"Co-learning supports change, positive change in particular"
so that is the shape we should aim for in the alumni group - co-learning. This is why i have felt a resistance to traditional alumni programs which are vertical built. Yes, they are about sharing information and expertise, but this is a key difference - the creation of new knowledge, which for me is new ways of being and doing and this calls out for co-learning. IMPORTANT
"I posit that the most successful forms of active social learning will result from non-coercive relationships that rest on building a common language, transparency, tolerance, mutual trust, collaboration, shared interests and concern for the common good" (pp52-53)
p55 is the definition I used of social learning in the last assignment: [attempts] to funnel uncoordinated and inharmonious individual actions into collective actions that support explicit goals". Though in the light of what i was thinking above about the new knowledge this is probably a bit of a lite definition.
