Action Learning and Learning Organization LO29360

From: AM de Lange (amdelange@postino.up.ac.za)
Date: 10/18/02


Replying to LO29336 --

Dear Organlearners,

Glebe Stcherbina <gstc3416@mail.usyd.edu.au> writes:

>Thank you for your response. You wrote:
>
>>I personally think that learning cannot be fragmented into
>>segments and then become marketed piecewise.
>
>I was not suggesting that learning can be fragmented per
>se, but merely saying that it may be easier to label a
>particular learning approach in order for learner groups
>or individuals to identify themselves as proponents of a
>particular learning style.
>
>Trusting that this has clarified my discussion point.

Greetings dear Glebe,

It did so indeed. Thank you very much. "Kinds of learning" and "learning
styles" are two different things.

There is such a thing as learning styles. I observed them among pupils
myself as a teacher as far back as thirty years ago when (at least here in
South Africa) there was not any information available on it. I think that
the first literature on it began to appear in the early eighties.

A learning style for me is the way in which a learner prefer to execute
the complex act of learning. However, it is important to know that there
are a minimum amount of "elements" or "essentials" required in every
learning style to make it successful. The task of a teacher is not only to
know the different learning styles, but also to help the learner to
improve upon whatever learning style he/she prefers. Sadly, such guidance
is seldom given in schools and virtually never in universities.

I have mentioned in the past the lesson authoring system which i have
created for CAE (Computer Assisted Education) lessons. It is called CACTAL
(Computer Asssisted Creative Teaching And Learning). One of the features
of CACTAL and possibly still unique to it, is that the learner can select
one of eight learning styles. Working through a CACTAL lesson, each time
selecting another learning style, comes as a shock for anyone who never
before had any thoughts on learning styles.

[Rick, i hope to have the files on CACTAL ready for you by Monday. I will
also inlcude a few easy chemistry lessons as well one very complex one so
that fellow learners can explore the efect of choosing different learning
styles.]

It is possible to think of Action Learning as a "learning style" rather
than a "kind of learning" since it is sufficiently complex. But this is
not the case with many of the other "kinds of learning" in that list
which i had given. But here is an important point. No learning style can
be marketed as more superior than others.

With care and best wishes

-- 

At de Lange <amdelange@postino.up.ac.za> Snailmail: A M de Lange Gold Fields Computer Centre Faculty of Science - University of Pretoria Pretoria 0001 - Rep of South Africa

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