Digressions (NCL)

The themes in the next three chapters sent me on a few digressions as I pondered the absorption of tacit knowledge, the need to focus on questions, learning from failure, and information literacy.

Another post related to A New Culture of Learning (NCL) (chs. 6–8).

(references in parentheses are to NCL.)

First, I really like NCL's notion of tacit knowledge in tension with explicit knowledge. That we pick up tacit knowledge as we go about our day—by doing, watching, and experiencing. This reminds me of the idea common in the medical field of see one, do one, teach one, where you watch someone perform a skill, then you perform the skill, and finally you share that knowledge with another. It is a very powerful way to learn, and NCL sees tacit knowledge as being the dominant form of knowledge as the domain of explicit knowledge becomes more unstable in this ever changing world.

While I agree that explicit knowledge is what traditional education has focused on and measured, I do not agree that the tacit dimension of knowledge has traditionally been left "to build gradually on its own, over time." (p. 75) Tacit knowledge has been highly valued in the past in the United States, but that has unfortunately waned as we have moved to a primarily service and information economy. See the decline in manufacturing jobs in the last 50 years below.

My grandfather provides an illustration. He had a lot of tacit knowledge that he gained by doing, watching, and experiencing because he was illiterate well into his 70s. Out of necessity he learned (without user or repair manuals) how to fix most things mechanical. In his generation, many of his peers similarly learned their trade by absorbing tacit knowledge in apprenticeships, working to help there families at a young age, and just on the job. But we did not measure this knowledge in schools, even though it was actually a reliable route to a well-paid middle class lifestyle for many Americans. In our global economy, even thought they are hiring, these blue-collar jobs are less secure and don't provide the same standard of living as they did in the past.

I view NCL's collectives as similar to traditional apprenticeships, where people absorb tacit knowledge, but for the information economy. I also see a parallel to apprenticeships in NCL's admonition to focus on questions and not answers. (p. 81) In learning by watching and doing environments, questioning is how you learn and deepen your knowledge. There aren't a lot of lectures, you are just shown and it is incumbent on you to ask questions to make sure you understand. But in my experience, many people need to learn to make asking questions a habit. It sometimes seems that like has taught them not to ask questions. Questions are not always welcome and can make us uncomfortable because they draw unwanted attention.

In my previous life, I participated in thousands of interviews and depositions. I regularly observed interviewers and questioners accept a superficial answer, especially when it confirmed what they already believed. Then someone else asked the follow-up question and pushed them to return to the issue in the deposition, and the answer was not as expected. It led to new information and revisions to what we thought we knew. You need to make questions a habit. In the end, all I know is that I've never learned anything from the question I didn't ask.

In this environment, NCL also points out that you often learn even when you fail.

Just ask Thomas Edison, who is credited with saying, "I haven't failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that won't work." But it also seems to lead into the common tech company mantra of "fail fast, fail often." But too often people get fixated on the failure part of that mantra, rather than focusing on their goals and iteration that the mantra implies. It's important to fail with a purpose. Edison failed with a purpose. And if failure is punished, which is often the case at those same startups where people are chanting the mantra, you are not truly learning from your failures because often people just cover up their failures. Just ask Prof. Amy Edmondson from Harvard Business School who explains that there are smart ways to fail and hat punishing failure limits your ability to learn from it.

NCL's collectives again seem optimized for learning from failure in a supportive environment that encourages questioning. As I've observed before, I need to find a way to join more collectives.

We are now in a world information being able to find answers is often more important that knowing answers as noted by NCL:

This notion also feeds into an "expanded notion of literacy" because many sources lack traditional markers of accuracy and truth. (p. 96) This is made even worse when news media, which has traditionally been reliable, has outlets who have a very tenuous relationship with accuracy and truth. This problem feeds into something that will be an emphasis in my teaching—information literacy. For me this term encompasses various notions of media and digital literacy and consists of at least the following

• Skills necessary to create and produce media, especially digital media;

• Locating and selecting online and offline information;

• Online etiquette and safety;

• Responsible use if AI;

• All forms of media, including games, social media, advertising, social media, and virtual reality;

• Media literacy, emphasizing the critical evaluation and use of information, which includes

  • Learning to recognize and evaluate

    • misinformation (false, but not intended to be used to mislead),

    • malinformation (based on fact but usedout of context to mislead, harm, or manipulate), and

    • disinformation (deliberately created to to mislead, harm, or manipulate);

  • Recognizing the agenda, perspective, or bias of the sender of the media message; and

  • Inuring students to the persuasive techniques that permeate media, or at least recognize them.

Social studies is the perfect environment to help students gain information literacy because it necessary to prepare them to be a contributing member of our democracy. Within the everyday lessons in social studies, there are opportunities learn and practice information literacy as you evaluate sources and assign them appropriate weight based on who authored them and the purpose of the author. I didn't know how much this topic meant to me until a recent assignment in my Curriculum Integration of Technology class in my teacher prep program at UDC. It was called Operation Watershed and we were asked to pick a topic to make a presentation and proposal to the school system about. I chose digital media literacy, which I now think of as information literacy, and proposed that is should become the 4th R in our schools. You can see a video of my presentation or download the PowerPoint below.

I really haven't commented on Chapter 8 – Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out. I really could not relate to it, which may be because of my limited use of social media. Though, the three phases of engaging online remind me to some extent of the progression I went through when going to a new school. As an Army brat, I moved a lot and whenever we arrived at a new posting, I would "hang out" to get acclimated and work out my identity in the context of the new school. Then I would gain the confidence to try out different situations and things—experimenting or "messing around." Over time, I would have the experience to confidently navigate this new context and "geek out." Maybe as I work to expand the collectives I am involved in, I will be able to better relate to the ideas in Chapter 8.