Saturday, May 23, 2009

Academic Rehab



Transformative Learning.


I prefer not to,”
said my dental hygienist,
quoting Melville as she cleaned my teeth.

*******

Transformative Learning would be Academic Rehab.
Rehabilitation of the previously unexamined habits of
learning to learn—(beliefs biases, semi-automatic
protocols and procedures built up by practice and
performance, cultural relativities, conventions,
disciplines, traditions, common sense): it would be
a trans-formation of the transforms previously trans-
formed by habit and a transformation of the trans-
former transforming.

versus :: and

A transform is a reconfiguration that sustains
message carried thru a change in form while
maintaining a continuity in spirit, idea, essence,
content…

Consider this: the transformer in transforming
is transformed: in composing is composed—a
reciprocity versus a unilateralism, versus a
unilateralism and a reciprocity, versus a
reciprocity-versus-a-unilateralism AND a
unilateralism-and-a-reciprocity.

Sacramental: part-to-whole relationship.
Communion as opposed to (versus)
communication versus Communion and
communication versus Communion-versus-
communication AND Communion-and-
communication.

Differences that make a difference.

*******
Learning is one deal. Learning One, call it.

Learning to learn: another, a bigger deal, yes?
radically incommensurate with just plain
learning—true? Call it Learning Two.

Learning to learn (Two) is a formation of HABIT—
sets of belief & response, generalization & rules
of thumb, semi-automatic & semi-conscious
protocols that work over a variety of situations.

In institutionalized education: a habitat of COURSE,
say, represents a Learning to learn (Two); a habit of
being, call it COURSE-SAVVY that carries the
learner through secondary, college, and graduate
schooling. .

Granted: our emphasis is on content: subject and
object matter. We don’t advertise our selves as
teaching learners how-to-learn—except in our
time-management & study-skills course (which
teach the recalcitrant how to be a course-taker);
but rather we claim to teach chemistry and physics
and the psychology of creativity and gender and
global studies etc so that Learning to Learn
(Course-ness) is tacit, transparent, back-grounded
& contextual rather than textual: largely unobserved,
unarticulated or called into question— an agenda
hidden to players & participants, conscientious and
rebellious, administratorsand faculty, the studious
and not-so.

“I’m studying biology, damnit—environmental
science, introduction to fiction, 18th century
literature, math for liberal artists, Outdoor
Leadership…”

If you asked a student (or teacher) what is being studied,
no one would claim Learning how to learn is what we’re
learning/ teaching
I bet (aka how to think about thinking).
Subject and object matter uber alles. Content is ALL. .

Transformative Learning.

Say attention WAS turned to Learning to learn. Call that
Learning Three —unveiling and making explicit what it is
to learn how to learn. It would be Academic Rehab.
Rehabilitation of the previously unexamined habits of
learning to learn— (beliefs biases, semi-automatic
protocols and procedures built up by practice &
performance, cultural relativities, conventions,
disciplines, traditions, common sense):

it would be a trans formation of the transforms
previously trans- formed by habit and a
transformation of the transformer
transforming: a re-structuring
of the auto-motivation
industrial hire
education
business..

Not at all clear how this would be figured-out
and
practiced: transformative learning, learning
how to learn how-to-learn, thinking about how
to think about how-to-think. Wednesdays at
4:00 in Canon Lounge? Grant from N.E.H to
give us the funds-it-takes to think-about-thinking
together otherwise how would it be possible?.

Mostly I think I already know how to think, my
knowing eclipsing my ignorance, a matter of knowing
versus ignoring as opposed to knowing and ignoring
and why can’t they just get along?

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