New Horizons

The Learning Innovator - Week 1 – Peter Taylor

1. Whatever we pay attention to, becomes more important to use.
2. We are living in a state of continuous partial attention.
3. Our sub-conscious operations are responsible for the "Ah! Ha!" moments in the middle of the night.
4. Unconsciously we "act" and then think about it later. When we are fluent at doing something our performance will degenerate once we start paying attention to doing it. (I thought about when I tried to change my backhand in squash and by concentrating on that I found my whole game fell apart!)
5. Issues we give attention to are framed by past experiences.
6. Leaders of change go through deep learning. (I've been on my new learning journey since late 2000 !) Need a different timeframe around our thinking - if it took me time - it's going to take Faculty Directors and other Business Unit Managers longer!!!
7. Routines of older teachers are so automatic and will be very hard to change!
8. Easier to lead rational changes - harder to lead emotional changes. We move from stability to chaos to stability. We have to acknowledge that old relationships will break down and we will build new ones!
9. There is great value in diversity. In a business - if a product is identified as a loser it is "killed off".
10. A group is more powerful than individuals only as long as individuals can speak their own mind. (Don't start with a conclusion.) If a working party comes up with a recommendation, don't toss it out. Allow groups to make decisions.
11. Knowledge is a capacity for effective action.
12. Refer to Peter Senge's Model of Change
13. We have to let go - look around and explore issues. Confusion and uncertainty are part of any good learning. We need to engage in open discussion and constructive confrontation.
14. We have lunch breaks - some companies have "hunch breaks" - time for people to be innovative i.e. not a forcep's birth to innovation. Microsoft example was quoted.

The Learning Innovator - Week 1 - Erica McWilliam

1. There's too much going on to quote mantras to each other e.g. "facilitators". (Concentrate more on what's going on!)
   
2. End of a traditional life narrative e.g. go to school, get a degree, start a job, save for a house, get married, have children!
3. We need to unlearn as much as learn.
   
4. Today's young people want things instantly - NOW - their decisions etc are fast - no delay! They want to wear technology.
   
5. There's a major shift from providing content to building capacity. Knowledge is embedded in technology today e.g. if my sewing machine is broken I can't fix it like I could the old one because there's a computer in it. Therefore "knowing what to do when you don't know what to do is really important!" (Guy Claxton, Bristol Univ)
   
6. We need a disposition to learning e.g. the old "rat in the maze story" what would happen if the walls were put on castors and were constantly moving?????
   
7. "What to do if you need something to do" now appearing on classroom walls.
8. There's been a shift from the normal supply chain to networks. Erica has a good article on Networks by Greg Hearn (available on request). No couch potato consumerism. People will by-pass you if you don't add value.
9. "Learnacy" a term invented by Claxton - being a "resilient learner" and "learning from constructive complications of failure".
   
10. Guy Claxton, Robert lePage, Rushkoff and Brad Haseman all talk about multi-tasking and being inter-generational. We need to edit a meaningful world rather than master content.
11. Learners need a simple front end that's unpackable.
12. Michael Gallagher - what would we stop doing on our learning journey? (Erica thought this was a good question for us to work with.)
13. It is anticipated that young people today will have seven careers.
14. What is the future of podcasting? (Stanford University have a great website detailing a podcasting experiment.) Is their an audio uprising? (Good questions Erica).
15. We have to give people access to good ideas and they will be called "good ideas" if they are understood. They'll probably be called "theory" if not understood.

I commenced a Graduate Certificate of Education (Learning Futures) with QUT and had my first lecture for Cyberlearning: Information and Knowledge in the Digital Age on Monday 27 March.

I am going to use this blog to record my progress and post some of my key learnings on my way to completing my Masters of Learning Innovation.

Thanks to Talia Love-Linay one of my fellow learners, for inspiring me to resurrect my blog that I haven't used since May last year.

Lyn