Time is being a major constraint for me right now, but could not resits
the temptation to make some comments about this particular post...
> Date: Wed, 10 Jan 1996 11:22:22 -0600
> From: kcby@gpsi.com (K.C. Burgess Yakemovic)
>
> Forwarded with permission of the author. My gut tells me what she says is
> 'true'. I wonder what it means for the learning organization.
>
> -- kcby
>
> >Date: Tue, 9 Jan 1996 19:02:56 -0600
> >From: Gail Barnes <gbarnes@DSU.DELTAST.EDU>
> >Subject: Re: Learning
> >To: Multiple recipients of list NETDYNAM <NETDYNAM@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU>
> >
> >Simon, after 25 years as a teacher in the college and university
> >classroom, I make it a point to remind myself at the beginning of every
> >semester what learning is all about.
> >
I do the same. I don't want to get back into the habit of
"teaching" (in the traditional way), because not much is accomplished if
we ignored learning! I might even do this self-questionning at the
beginning of every class meeting.
> >When I was 12 I discovered horses. I read every book I could get my hands
> >on, vet texts, show judges instructions, breeders digests, and histories
> >of everything from the percheron to the Cannamaragh (sp) pony. I nagged
> >my father to call in some chits and hung out at stables, from the
> >Anheiser-Busch facility in St. Louis to the Santa Anita race track. I bugged
> >trainers and jockies, breeders and riders for lessons and information. By
> >the time I was through there was nothing about horses that I didn't know,
> >including the finish times of every major race winner from 1840's on,
> >trotters, pacers and flat track racers. I could ride a cutting horse or
> >dressage, identify a bowed tendon or fistula withers, and and position a
> >crupper or a martingale.
> >
> >There was no teacher. There was no syllabus. There was no test. There
> >was only a consuming interest in the topic. Does any other kind of 'real'
> >learning ever take place?
> >
One of the messages I try to convey to my students at the
beginning of every semester, which I repeat several times during the
semester, is that I cannot teach them anything. They learn! Of course
they would have to want to learn. If they don't have the desire to learn,
I will not be able to teach them anything. I tell them that learning is
their own thing, that I can only try to facilitate the process. I came to
this realization some time ago too! Observing my students for many years
now, and looking at their desks and notebooks, I have concluded that the
amount of learning that takes place in the classroom is minimal. I share
this with my students because I want to shift part of the responsibility
from "teaching them" to leearning together!
> >I always suspect that those who view any activity as non-educational simply
> >lack sufficient interest. Perfectly OK by me, by the way. You can't
> >structure learning. It is only possible to provide the tools and
> >opportunity. Thus we learn that which we are passionate about. We simply
> >memorize the rest. Gail.
>
> K.C. Burgess Yakemovic Group Performance Systems, Inc.
> kcby@gpsi.com http://www.gpsi.com
It is very unfortunate that we do not pay attention to the
learning that takes place outside the classroom. This is part of own
arrogance. Back in a December's message, Bobbie Turniansky was asking me
if it was possible as a professor to "... stop talking and start living a
learning organization in the classroo." I would say that we are so busy
(distratced?) by the 23 chapters we must cover, the grades to report, the
examsn, etc., that we very rarely stop to check on what we are doing,
really doing! I not only give waight to the out of the classroom learning
experiences, but I incorporate them into the learning system in my classes
(David Fearon -Central Connecticut State U., and I have been working on
this format for several years now).
I stopped talking all the time in the classroom, which was not
very easy for a talker like me, when I realized how boring it was to be
listening to me all the time. Learning is not boring! Teaching in the
traditional sense is! It as boring to the students as it was to me. No
wonder why we have spent so much effort and resources trying to get
students interested in the classroom. The problem was that all this
effort was concentrated on the material (publishing colorful books),
presentation (using colorful transparencies, videos which say the same
things as teh book, etc.). Very little effort was put on the meaning of
the material, the learning process itslef, and not too many people
questioned the lecture approach itself.
I stop here, Ivan
--
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