Pulling It All Together

So let’s put it all together to define Learner Driven Education and the goals of this blog.

OH WAIT! What ABOUT TEACHERS? And parents and all the people that care about Learners and their Education? We can’t define Learners, Driving, context, Education, and learning and not discuss the role of these individuals.

 Always two there are, no more, no less: a master and an apprentice. Yoda

 Often the most conspicuous part of a learner’s context, teachers, parents, and others continue to be, of course, learners themselves. Here we’ll call them Prime Learners (PL) and while sharing much, but not all, of a Learner’s context, their Relationship with the Learner has probably the largest impact on a Learner, their Context, their long and short term needs and how all of those things are processed than anything else.

There! Now we can define LDE. Rather than simply defining it, however, let’s give it a truly honorable start by expanding that definition into:

• DREAM -      To help create a world where Learners seek the very best context and the very best Primer Learners to help them reach their goals.
• VISION - To discuss educational situations and theories with people around the world in any educational venue in light of the value of educational contexts and relationships in helping Learners drive their own education.
• MISSION -   To help Learners differentiate between effective and ineffective learning contexts. To help Learners and Primer Learners foster effective learning contexts where Learners Drive their own Education.
• PURPOSE -      To explore educational situations, discussions, and theories from the perspective of how learners process contexts in order to meet long and short term needs.

Now, why do I care about LDE? What meaning does LDE have for me?

LDE is the end and the beginning of my life long passion for Education. It’s the current answer to my own long unfulfilled desire for an advanced degree in Education. It’s helping me better understand and gain more confidence in my abilities as a teacher and a home school mom who constantly rethinks existing educational practices. Through the defining journey of this blog, I hope to become a Prime Learner who creates a world where Learners seek the very best context and the very best Prime Learners to help them reach their goals.

In short, I hope to use this as a context for meeting my own long term need to pursue my own LEARNER DRIVEN EDUCATION. I hope it will also be an inspiring context for you as well.

And in case anyone else is tired of the bare skeleton types of discussions, I can’t wait to really get started now!!!

~vbb

What is Education? Part 2 – Redefining Education and Learning

So society’s definition of education is based upon learners seeking some sort of societal approval through accepted actions in order to participate in and be rewarded by society.

Compare that to the LDE definition of Education which is based on learners processing their context and then acting within that context in order to meet long and short term needs.

Based on this definition, processes of Learning include:

~       exploring and theorizing about context in order to understand it

~       a change in the methods of processing the Learner’s context

~       a change in a Learner’s means of accomplishing goals based on a change in context or processing context

~       taking steps to meet long and short term needs

Evidence of Education includes:

~       meeting needs

~       a continually evolving understanding of context and methods for processing

What are some basic needs that Learners seek to meet with Education?

~       physical

~       mental

~       emotional

~       spiritual

Those are pretty broad and obvious categories, but are there any more?

What kind of impact for society would there be if more people adopted these, admittedly underdeveloped, ideas?

~vbb

What is Education? Part 1 –Understanding Society’s Definitions

We have defined a Learner as someone who is actively looking to fill a need. Does filling a need always mean someone has learned something? Is filling a need always a part of education? Furthermore, what is learning and how does it relate to education?

While we’re pondering that, let’s take a closer look at how society defines those.

What does society accept as evidence of an Education?

~       degrees

~       grades

~       certifications

~       What else?

What processes are used in society to learn?

~       worksheets

~       tests

~       textbooks

~       classrooms

~       libraries

~       lectures

~       What else?

What needs does society expect education to fill for Learners?

~       Get a job

~       Be a good citizen

~       What else does society expect from education?

~       What other needs is Education filling for society?

AND for us individually, since we are a part of society:

~       What needs is education in our society not filling?

~       What needs does it not fill for you now or has it not filled for you in the past?

~       How do you define Education?

~       What processes facilitate learning for you?

~vbb

What Drives a Learner?

So, we’ve defined a Learner as someone who is actively looking to fill a need. They are generally looking for the means to meet

~       immediate needs

~       long term needs

Now, what drives a learner? What is the fundamental motivating factor that causes someone to seek learning in order to help them meet immediate and long term needs?

I would suggest that a learner is driven by the realization that fulfilling their needs depends upon some action on their part.

What do you see is the fundamental drive for a learner?

The next question is:

What influences

~       the immediate and long term needs they are seeking to meet and fill?

~       the kinds of actions that are needed to meet and fill those?

This obviously begs the question: Are all actions learning? Unfortunately that question will have to wait until my next post titled, very cleverly, What is Education? However, for now I would suggest that two things influence a learner’s needs and actions, namely:

~       the learner’s context

~       how they process their context

Context, for our purposes, is briefly defined as everything in the Learner’s environment, including external and internal influences.

What would you say are the most influential elements of a Learner’s Context?

~vbb

Excuse me?

My plan was for the next post to discuss what drives a learner. Before I do, however, I wanted to clarify a couple of things.

One of my goals for this blog is to take a look at our basic definitions of Learning and Education and offer new definitions and a new framework for understanding these essential elements of our society. As we build this framework, I’ll post the skeleton of which on the Basic LDS Principles page and then we’ll begin fleshing it out by applying it to existing educational forms and opportunities within our homes, our communities, and our world.

The next thing I want to do is clarify what, essentially, a Learner is.

Here is what I posted previously:

Let’s define a Learner as 

someone who is actively looking for something.

If that’s the case, what are they looking for?

I would suggest that 

a Learner is basically looking for the means to

~       reach a goal

~       fill a need

~       recreate

We can refine that to say:

A Learner is

someone who is actively looking to fill a need.

If that’s the case, what needs are they trying to fill?

I would suggest that 

a Learner is basically looking to meet

~ immediate needs

~ long term needs

Now, on to what Drives a Learner!

~vbb

What is a Learner?

If we’re going to talk about Learners driving their education, we really should decide what a Learner is.

At the very heart of learning, what is a learner and what are their basic motivations?

In order to answer that, the first questions that came to my mind were:

~       Are our children always learners?

~       Are our students always learners?

~       Is it even possible to define what a learner is without also defining how learners learn?

Next I wondered: Is a Learner basically someone

~       with a goal?

~       with curiosity?

~       with a pressing need?

Can you be a Learner without any of those?

For today, let’s define a Learner as 

someone who is actively looking for something.

If that’s the case, what are they looking for?

I would suggest that 

a Learner is basically looking for the means to

~       reach a goal

~       fill a need

~       recreate

What is your definition of a Learner and what is their basic reasons for Learning?

~vbb

An Introduction

Today, I'd like to start a new blog about education. My own inquiries into education began long ago. This post gives only a review of my most recent study of education. My goal with this blog is to explore Education in our homes, our communities, and our world, in ANY educational venue, from the perspective of the Learner as truly the driving force in all instructional decisions. I’m excited to take this journey of exploring and conversing together with all of you about LEARNER DRIVEN EDUCATION!

                                                        So here we go!! 

Ten years ago I had my first opportunity to read A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver DeMille and my passion for education was relit. These educational principles, commonly called TJEd, set the stage for my home schooling adventures that also began that same year as my oldest child reached preschool age. At the heart of these principles were The Seven Keys of Great Teaching, namely:

1.       Classics, not Textbooks

2.      Mentors, not Professors

3.      Inspire, not Require

4.      Structure Time, not Content

5.      Quality, not Conformity 

6.      Simplicity, not Complexity

7.      YOU, not Them 

As my children grew, I worked to apply these elements of Great Teaching. Yet, occasionally, I worried that the kids and I weren’t doing enough to help them get a great education. According to TJEd.org:

For great education to occur, students must choose to study long, hard and effectively because they genuinely love it! It must be their passion and their delight. When students are deeply in love with studying, they learn in “the flow” and they absorb massive amounts of information, knowledge, understanding, connections and wisdom in a very short time.

John Holt’s book How Children Learn provided incredible insight into a child’s ability to learn and push themselves to do hard things. Still, I began to wish for a better understanding of what they were doing as they learned in order to give me more confidence and more direction as I applied the Seven Keys of Great Teaching.

Recently two sources have given me new insights and resolve. They also form the basis of this new educational endeavor which is, for now, a blog where I hope to discuss

·         Learners

·         what Drives them to educate themselves

·         How they do it

The first source is a book by Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek Ph.D. and Diane Eyer called Einstein Never Used Flashcards: How Our Children Really Learn--and Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less which outlines how children learn even when they are too young to be taught. While reading this book, I began to wonder if these learning techniques really ever change as children grow and develop.

The second is an article by Larry D Spence entitled “The Case Against Teaching” which is only one of a whole list of people calling for an educational Renaissance. Still, it spoke to me about the need to fundamentally Change education for the better and gave me added direction in what that Change needed to look like and important impetus to part of it.

Many people care deeply about education meeting the needs of learners today. If you're reading this blog, you probably care that education be Learner Driven. 


Tell me:
Why do you care about Education? 
What makes you passionate about Learners driving their education?

~vbb