Depression: an obstacle to learning LO11057

Mnr AM de Lange (AMDELANGE@gold.up.ac.za)
Tue, 19 Nov 1996 13:37:15 GMT+2

Ben Compton wrote (LO11000)

> In my department we play computer games over the network. Duke Nukem and
> Monster Truck Madness are among our favorites. We conference each player
> on the phone, and then play against each other on the network (all after
> hours, of course).
>
> It gets noisy, it gets crazy, and its absolutely wonderful! One night a
> bunch of guys came in at 10:00 pm and coaxed me into a game of Duke Nukem.
> The next thing I knew it was 4:00 a.m. My wife wasn't very pleased when I
> came home.
>
> Game playing has helped build unity, and for some it has increased their
> technical competence (those who struggle to get the software installed and
> configured for the network). But, at the same time, it will ruin your
> intellectual, spiritual, and physical life. It is all consuming.
>
> Now I avoid game playing after hours by closing and locking my office
> door, logging out of my phone, and turning off all network broadcasts.
>
> It's to the point where I have sneak out of my office to go to the
> bathroom or the break room. If someone sees me (or my office door open),
> they'll coax me into a game. . .and the next thing I know I'll be firing
> missles, shooting machine guns, and blowing up my colleagues. . .and
> relishing every moment!
>
> Yes, sometimes we need to find a way to release our stress. And many new
> computer games provide just such a release. If you haven't tried playing
> Duke Nukem, I highly recommend it. Just be weary. . .its a nasty meme that
> will destroy your life!

In a previous contribution I have stressed the importance of emergent
learning for individuals and organisations. I now wish to point out that
there are certain templates which promote emergent learning. Four of them
is known, namely: play (game), problem-solving (task), dialogue
(conversation) and exemplar (case).

* Ben gave a wonderful description of 'play' as a learning
template. It is the first example of its kind to be used in
this forum since I have subscribed to the list.
* Alison Glover's contribution on depression is itself a
wonderful description of 'exemplar' as a template. Another
example is Don Kerr's contribution on Christian life.
* We have had many examples of 'dialogue' as a template. It is
also the template on which this forum was founded.
* We have had a few implicite examples of problem-solving.

I wish to thank Rick for his wonderful insight to include all these
templates in a forum created for only one template. Alison's contribution
was somewhat controversial, probably because some judged it to be
problem-solving rather than exemplary. My reply to Alison was both
exemplary and problem- solving, hopefully not making it too controversial.

Let us investigate the following statement:
"Denying the four learning templates is an obstacle to learning."

The following questions come to my mind.
1. Is this statement true or false?
2. Which obstacle occurs most frequently, 'depression' or
'denying learning templates'?
3. Will the promotion of emergent learning through templates
reduce the occurrance of depression?
4. Can the excessive use of one template to the detriment
of the others cause depression and other psychological
disorders?

How would you answer to these questions?

Or do you think that the idea of learning templates to foster emergent
learning is absurd?

Best wishes

--

At de Lange Gold Fields Computer Centre for Education University of Pretoria Pretoria, South Africa email: amdelange@gold.up.ac.za

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>