Reading Reflections
Where and What is learning?
To me, learning is always happening, the key factor that changes is efficiency. When I am aware of my own learning (metacognition) I ama much more effective learner, I am able to remember more, able to code things, aware that I am coding and chunking and generally more confident that what I am doing in the present will influence what I do in the future.
I have also 'learned the hard way' many times recently about how small groups of people (i.e. families) construct shared meanings and understandings and just how hard that really is. A small group of people at different levels of cognitive development can be exposed to the exact same context, stimuli, and other people and still come out of the experience with vastly different understandings of learning.
Notes from National Zoo readings
Educational Approach:
importance of affective learning as perhaps “the” key to moving visitors from exposure to facts about a particular species to encouraging a feeling of personal connection, of caring for the animals and the natural world. This has led to changes in exhibit design with increasing opportunities for visitors to get very close to the animals, separated only by a pane of glass. " - Nice model statement for our projects.
animal adaptations, to urging them to action.
Evaluation:
Narrative:
Presentation:
Notes from Library Readings:
Campbell:
Cochrane: defensive...
Lougee Notes - emergence of standards of organization and technology maturity; learning anywhere/everywhere has maturing technologies but no standards
- theme of openness emerging in many sectors but at odds with traditional library and publisher models; shift from emphasis on product of publication to process of publication;
- library embarks on strategy of collaboration as central to its core mission
- library is part collaborator w/ rest of university, not just own operating repository, centrally involved in the process of knowledge creation
- “In the federated model the library controls neither the content nor the permanence of the material” – wow, maybe it needs to be called something other than a library
- importance of library as advocate for responsible practices – a role I had never thought of, but I can see the need in all kinds of learning organizations
great quote from doug Greenberg (2000) about library being countintuitive and static, and internet being flexible architecture and dynamic
- I know there are things beyond the reach of google, etc. I didn’t know how significant it was and that it has a name “Deep Web”
- Libraries can provide the infrastructure, expertise, and vision for academic collaboration
- libraries should play a role in emergence of the semantic web (or other tools) where their expertise in describing materials could be leveraged for creation of metadata
- libraries should teach information literacy – who teaches it now, how do we get it?
- pp 19 – library as place
- Libraries will work best when they are distributed, open, difuse
Design Within Constraints: Prisons Deborah Stipek Op-Ed regarding preschool citing cost/inmate/year at $34000.
San Diego Union Tribune article about exporting prisoners also gives $34,000/year/prisoner figure. Also has some 'facts from Department of Corrections.
Urban Institute Paper: Prison Programming
- As more people go into prison, more released, importance of prison programming increasing, study aims to describe programming, analyze effectiveness, and make recommendations
- At San Quentin, do you distinguish between educational and vocational programs? How are programs organized?
- funding for programs has not increased with the rapid growth of prsion population.
- At San Quentin, how do staff keep learners motivated within the constraints?
- Are the staff able to track how inmates do upon release?
- Is it ever possible to adjust the space? What does it take to do so?
- In general, prison programming works. Does the SQ staff have the chance to adjust to changing needs of learners and changing population?
- Is the nature of programming affected by labor market on the outside? How do staff stay connected with labor needs from outside?
- Does space promote learning and focused on needs of inmates? Or more focused on reducing idleness..?
How much discussion of learning is there in SQ?
Lave and Wenger
- Notions of apprenticeship have been culturally biased for awhile.. - Adversarial conditions are not going to support learning in apprenticeship models.. - Apprenticeship offers full pathway into legitimate participation, offers ways into communities - family expectations matter, - in case from Africa, though I wonder if the system is similar today? cultural norms have changed so much in last 30 years - as have population patterns migrating to cities etc. I wonder what it is like? - It strikes me that all of the examples in this chapter (except for tailoring) involve some very dangerours activities...the nature of the task is important when thinking about how it is learned - i.e. firefighters don't learn skills by developing their own understanding or through a feel good community of self discovery. learn specific techniques through repetition - with other experienced people no doubt - but lots of behaviorism to keep everyone safe. - How do people learn to tell stories? in AA or outside...
Reflections: What can space really do?
- space can set a context for what kinds of interactions people could have… - space can support a culture of collaboration - space can encourage different people – and different kinds of people to interact with each other - space can inspire people to think about their experiences differently (holy spaces, old spaces, beautiful spaces, terrible spaces) - space can be adapted to fit needs of programs, learners, teachers, and anyone or anything else that takes place there…. - space can mislead the stakeholders into thinking that all they need to do is ‘build it and they will come’ - space can demonstrate the values of a culture or cultures that claim it as their own – but it is up to the people who create those culture to set those values - space can create conditions around learning that make learners feel safe or unsafe, supported or unsupported, communal or individual, etc… - space can be a catalyst for energizing broader reflections on what it means to learn – should we build a new library? Should we build more charter schools?