Futures Of Open Source Information (FOOSI), For All You FOOSI-NIKS, Wherever You Are !!! Options Rating

[Jonny Cache]

A Theory of Uncertainty Orientation

Yes, that's the very research group I had in mind —

Sorrentino, Richard M., and Roney, Christopher J.R. (2000), The Uncertain Mind : Individual Differences in Facing the Unknown, Taylor and Francis, Philadelphia, PA.

That Heart Of Higher Education Conference Blog is apparently no longer being maintained and has in the meantime been overrun by spambots, so here's a copy of the exchange that I was trying to remember:

Developmental Stages

I've been thinking more and more about the importance of Robert Kegan's notion that we need to address carefully the developmental stages of our students and not expect that they will find fascinating or important the things we find important. As I consider my own desire to engage my students in thinking about ways to meaningfully transform the information they gather, I realize that I do not know enough about the developemntal stages of 18–21 year olds. I wonder if anyone could provide with some recommendations of reading that would be lively and helpful. I have not read Kegan's The Evolving Self which seems like a natural place to start. I wonder if anyone who has, would recommend it.

Thanks, Michael Glaser

Source. Michael Glaser, Developmental Stages

Thirst for Knowledge and Fear of Knowledge

Michael, Just a thought that came to mind as I read your note.  Although it's been a long time since I taught in a classroom, my participation in online communities — everything from academic list-serves to Wikipedia — has brought me into continuing discussion with people who are in the 16–26 age range.  One of the things that strikes me about this group is the severity of the struggle between a thirst for knowledge on the one hand and a certain apprehension about or even a fear of knowledge on the other.  When I ask myself why this might be, my best guess at present turns on a certain universal of human experience that appears to be especially acute at this age.  The human factor is this, that the incipient recognition of how little we know, and the fact that others might know something that we don't, makes us feel small and a little afraid.

One of the books that I remember being most helpful to me personally in this connection was John Dewey's Quest for Certainty, though I find that it's still something of a challange to draw out all of its developmental implications for practice.

Dewey, John (1929), The Quest for Certainty : A Study of the Relation of Knowledge and Action, Minton, Balch, and Company, New York, NY. Reprinted, pp. 1–254 in John Dewey, The Later Works, 1925–1953, Volume 4 : 1929, Jo Ann Boydston (ed.), Harriet Furst Simon (text. ed.), Stephen Toulmin (intro.), Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale and Edwardsville, IL, 1984.

Source. Jon Awbrey, Thirst for Knowledge and Fear of Knowledge

Jonny

This post has been edited by Jonny Cache: Thu 1st November 2007, 2:34am

[Jonny Cache]

One of the issues that comes up when one seeks to craft a learning community is that different people have different preferences and predilections for how they learn.

A colleague of mine who has done a lot of research on such differences has proposed a model of four different types of learners. Of the four types, the group that is hardest to reach is what she calls the Resistant Learner.

As near as I can tell, the Resistant Learner is the one most likely to become embroiled in emotionally turbulent personal drama.

As you might expect, Wikipediots have a page that "covers" Resistant Learners.

It's called WP:OSTRICH.

If you want to get banned faster than an ostrich can find its hole (in the ground) — and who docent, if they know what's good for them? — just allude to the Categorical Imperative, "Don't Be An Ostrich", in a discussion with a resistant learner, especially a WikiPediAdmin.

Jonny

This post has been edited by Jonny Cache: Thu 1st November 2007, 3:47am

[Moulton]

There is nothing new under the sand.

[Jon Awbrey]

I continue to think that we should return to our dreams, learn from the nightmares that some of them became, and start e-visioning what the post-Sanger-Wales era in Computer-Aided Learning Media (CALM) ought to look like.

That was The Big Idea that I had in mind here, so I may spend some time sorting the wit from the chafe and trying to get this line of inquiry back on course.

Jon Awbrey