A few months ago I wrote here (when it was still my 'learning blog') about defining learning as creating. I was very excited about the idea at that moment but I didn't manage to make a next step there. Then yesterday the postman brought me a book. Well....I ordered it. It's not that my postman just brings me books all the time.
Anyway the title of the book made me curious so I ordered it. It's 'A new culture of learning' written by Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown (available online everywhere...). I'm halfway the book now and the excitement is totally back again. It's funny to see what makes you excited. Well what makes me excited anyway is first getting confirmation of what you already think. It's nice to read and say all the time 'yes!! I agree' or 'I could have written that myself!'.
But then that of course is not enough. You need something new. And it's there. They explore a lot all the huge possibilities and opportunities that 'going online' offers but at the same time they show that this new learning culture is already happening everywhere, especially on the web.
It showed me as well where I got stuck. When thinking about creativity and learning I was just not creative enough. There are simply always these things you take for granted, old thinking which limits you and you have to throw overboard.
Some quotes from the book:
' ... New learning.. cultivates the imagination to harness the power of almost unlimited informational resources and create something personally new.'
'.. the connection between resources and personal motivation leads to an unexpected, unplanned or innovative use of the space...'
'If the twentieth century was about creating a sense of stability to buttress against change and the trying to adapt it, then the twenty-first century is about embracing change, not fighting it.'
As I said I'm only halfway... but I'm sure it will not take me long to finish it...
Funny thing is though that I'm learning a lot about new learning by reading a book.....
Saturday, 14 May 2011
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
watching the news in the last week was shocking, amazing, painful, confusing.
in 126 countries billions of people watched 'the wedding'.
why!?
from what i saw on the news it was extremely boring. let's be honest: the english royal family is not the most exciting bunch of people. the most thrilling event they produced in the last 15 years was having elton john singing a song at the funeral of diana who then already had left the family years before because of being totally bored. still billions of people over the whole world sat in front of their television to watch a ceremony with the speed of a cripple turtle to get excited about a white dress, funny hats and two people showing their well polished teeth. an enormous crowd of people shouting and cheering as if england just won the world-cup when the two kiss. if i ever have kissed a lover with such lack of passion i apologize here to her now. but the crowd gets crazy and the kiss is repeated in every bloody tv programme. in the talk-shows they say that we all love it.
the next day over a million people at the vatican because the former pope gets beatified. (the pope is the leader of an institution which is amongst other things famous for discrimination of women and gay people, promotion of sexual diseases by banning rubbers and institutional rape of kids)
again broadcasted world-wide! and it's not enough yet! we seem to need a second miracle to make to the man a saint. and what miracle do we need then? a spontaneous sex-change for the actual pope: johanna ratzinger! in all comments it was said that this was a good day for the image of the catholic church... well maybe that is already a miracle as such!
and then yesterday world-wide excitement again! we have been spoiled this week! the devil has been defeated! the world will be a better place from now on because it was him, now eaten by the fishes, who made it such a horrible planet!
so...have sweat dreams and don't worry any longer...they will live happy ever after...there will be a new saint... well and let's see who wins the champions league!
in 126 countries billions of people watched 'the wedding'.
why!?
from what i saw on the news it was extremely boring. let's be honest: the english royal family is not the most exciting bunch of people. the most thrilling event they produced in the last 15 years was having elton john singing a song at the funeral of diana who then already had left the family years before because of being totally bored. still billions of people over the whole world sat in front of their television to watch a ceremony with the speed of a cripple turtle to get excited about a white dress, funny hats and two people showing their well polished teeth. an enormous crowd of people shouting and cheering as if england just won the world-cup when the two kiss. if i ever have kissed a lover with such lack of passion i apologize here to her now. but the crowd gets crazy and the kiss is repeated in every bloody tv programme. in the talk-shows they say that we all love it.
the next day over a million people at the vatican because the former pope gets beatified. (the pope is the leader of an institution which is amongst other things famous for discrimination of women and gay people, promotion of sexual diseases by banning rubbers and institutional rape of kids)
again broadcasted world-wide! and it's not enough yet! we seem to need a second miracle to make to the man a saint. and what miracle do we need then? a spontaneous sex-change for the actual pope: johanna ratzinger! in all comments it was said that this was a good day for the image of the catholic church... well maybe that is already a miracle as such!
and then yesterday world-wide excitement again! we have been spoiled this week! the devil has been defeated! the world will be a better place from now on because it was him, now eaten by the fishes, who made it such a horrible planet!
so...have sweat dreams and don't worry any longer...they will live happy ever after...there will be a new saint... well and let's see who wins the champions league!
Sunday, 1 May 2011
bird watching
well i'm not. i'm not a bird watcher. which doesn't stop me from seeing them.
last week i saw suddenly two big canaries in our street. very very yellow. after a second look i realised that this could not be canaries. far too big. and apart from being very yellow they had black wings. i asked neighbour salvatore. he was aware of the two birds but didn't know the name. so i started to look it up and finally found out that this were golden orioles. i also found out that when bird watchers would read this they will immediately start to shout and jump. normally you hardly see them, they prefer to hide. one of the bird watchers was writing about the golden oriole and had seen one three times in his life after long travels. he could name place and date.
i also realised that i knew the birds' name because of a song we were singing at school in the netherlands when small kids. in dutch the name is 'wielewaal'. and the song says that the 'wielewaal' makes a sound which goes like: judeljo. to be honest i never realised that i was singing about that bird but it made anyway a connection to the yellow black birds flying around. although i didn't hear any 'judeljo'
yesterday when checking if they were still flying around somewhere i saw a group of birds even more exciting. about the same size but full of colours! red, green, yellow, blue... just flying around in my street! they are called 'bee-eaters'. so that's what they probably do.
as i said i'm not a bird watcher and will probably never be. think i'm to noisy. but the bee-eater and the golden oriole had an impact. i'm wondering now how many other birds i missed in the last 6 years living here in the south of italy. maybe not just birds but also other animals. i'm quite sure i will anyway see some more new colourful birds in the street in the coming months. the focus is there....up...high in the trees...
by the way the bee-eater and the golden orion have left today.
last week i saw suddenly two big canaries in our street. very very yellow. after a second look i realised that this could not be canaries. far too big. and apart from being very yellow they had black wings. i asked neighbour salvatore. he was aware of the two birds but didn't know the name. so i started to look it up and finally found out that this were golden orioles. i also found out that when bird watchers would read this they will immediately start to shout and jump. normally you hardly see them, they prefer to hide. one of the bird watchers was writing about the golden oriole and had seen one three times in his life after long travels. he could name place and date.
i also realised that i knew the birds' name because of a song we were singing at school in the netherlands when small kids. in dutch the name is 'wielewaal'. and the song says that the 'wielewaal' makes a sound which goes like: judeljo. to be honest i never realised that i was singing about that bird but it made anyway a connection to the yellow black birds flying around. although i didn't hear any 'judeljo'
yesterday when checking if they were still flying around somewhere i saw a group of birds even more exciting. about the same size but full of colours! red, green, yellow, blue... just flying around in my street! they are called 'bee-eaters'. so that's what they probably do.
as i said i'm not a bird watcher and will probably never be. think i'm to noisy. but the bee-eater and the golden oriole had an impact. i'm wondering now how many other birds i missed in the last 6 years living here in the south of italy. maybe not just birds but also other animals. i'm quite sure i will anyway see some more new colourful birds in the street in the coming months. the focus is there....up...high in the trees...
by the way the bee-eater and the golden orion have left today.
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