Learning and Change

Doing

I’ve always been a bit of a hippy.  Raised by people with a healthy interest in such idealist pursuits as Intentional Community.  My reading list varies but one that I keep coming back to and really enjoy is Dave Pollard for Intentional Community.  One aspect to his journey that I find interesting though that when trying to think about coping with change, better options etc he has created a fairly rigid timetable of activity.  For me I’m still at the beginning of the journey of doing things the way that feels right, I try to change my habits so that the routines are more important than the activities but it just doesn’t happen, I end up following leads, chewing on thoughts and talking to people.

Learning

‘The tendency seems to be for most educational institutions…’ (and I would suggest people) ‘to fall imperceptibily into a role devoted exclusively to the conservation of old ideas, concepts, atttitudes, skills and perceptions.  This happens largely because of the unconciously held belief that these old ways of thinking and doing are necessary to the survival of the group and that is largely true if the group inhabits an environment where change happens very, very slowly.’  This is a quote from a vlog by Howard Rheingold entitled Does The Use of Social Media Necessitate Changes in Pedagogy.  He goes on to say something along the lines of in groups where the environment changes rapidly different skills are required including the ability to forget.  In an educational context I that a real focus on the value of the task rather than the outcomes could be a good place for us to start thinking about changing the ways we learn.

Being

One thing I have realised is that making time for producing content in a variety of ways helps me deal with the change.  It isn’t really that useful for me to tag things and put them into Diigo or del.icio.us , I only really focus on what I’m reading and how it affects me when I write or create.  I wonder if artists have always know this?  I also wonder if when we’re kids we get this impression that if you’re not going to make a career out of it it doesn’t matter too much so we stop creating anything just for the sake of it.  Steve Hargadon discusses his thoughts on the topic in his post ‘The Solution to Content Overload: A Thought Takes Hold‘.  This tool, the Social Technographics Profiler enables you to look at the different demographics and their relationship to content.

I think we have always know the best way to teach, the best way to live, the best way to work – it is now time for us to put our knowledge into practice.  It is about being at one with the change and that really means being a fluid kind of being.  For practical tips on doing this check out this post by Zen Habits, 8 Great Anti-Hacks to Fundamentally Change Your Life, it challenges some of our assumptions about goal setting and work habits.  It includes such counter-intuitive tips as; denounce the culture of permanance, stop hiding behind the comfort of stepping stones, say no to the industrial productivity complex and convert money back to time.

Anyway this has been a big week in my head and also lots on so I hope this post makes sense, at least to me a month from now.  It’s time for me to direct my attention to music and learning and to practice some of these new skills.