RE: Hillside Yellers - education

["Ivan Webb" <Ivan.Webb@bigpond.com>]

Gordon Hall wrote 

"Our battle is to change the perception that learning is a linear
process ... In its place we want to see learning as a long term cyclical
process with a strong feedback loop where we continually learn from each
other..."

I concur with Gordon. But I think the starting point is to understand
the two views of knowledge.  Firstly most of the world thinks of
knowledge as a thing that exists and can be codified and transferred as
a linear process. This may be true in relation to some physical
phenomena but I do not believe that it is true for most of the phenomena
that occur in our organisations.

The alternative view of knowledge is that in reality we continually
construct and reconstruct the knowledge we need in order to act in the
current local situation.  The SoPK comprises a powerful set of tools for
constructing and reconstructing knowledge in the current local
situation.

The difference between the two views is actually one of paradigms. And
this is a real challenge because (as Joel Barker has shown so well) we
are largely blind to the things that don't fit our own paradigms. 

There is both hope and concern as traditional approaches to knowledge
become less useful. 
- Hope, because some will search for more effective approaches. 
- And concern, because some organisations will impose more stringent
traditional approaches, eg, individual contracts, performance
management... Management by objects (in various guises) is still alive
and well... especially in education: Outcomes Based Education is all the
rage with teachers being held responsible (as if they can choose any
approach they like) while particular approaches are often required
whether students will benefit or not. The result is that teachers work
ON students with the 'help' of the school system because school systems
have replaced students as the teachers' clients.

The alternative is clear but not well supported. The ideal (consistent
with the SoPK) is when teachers work WITH students on the students'
learning systems. Example: Feuerstein's mediated learning (as elaborated
by Myron Tribus).

Ivan Webb