ImagiLearning: Creating The Future of Learning
Someone has to create it...why not us?
My 10 Month Old Grandson: the Boy Genius!
Ok, I sound like any typical grandfather there don't I? "There is none smarter...or cuter...or...whatever, than my grandson!" Well, however true that may actually be...that's not really the point of this post. It's about "Genius".
This morning I stumbled across an article I've had on my laptop for a few months...in that folder I keep sticking things in that I really need to read "someday". It's an article by Thomas Armstrong, called "Awakening the Genius in the Classroom". I decided to skim it before I cleaned the folder, and ended up spending some time reading through it...and now, recommending it to you.
Here's the main point. The real meaning of "Genius" goes back to the Greeks, linked to the word meaning "to be born", as well as to the word Genial, which means "festive", or "jovial". Armstrong pulls them together for a working definition of genius to be "giving birth to one's joy." That struck a nerve.
I had flashbacks to Saturday afternoon as 10 month old Benjamin sat on my lap and hammered on my wireless keyboard (the new one gets picked up today). But what was cool was the point at which he accidentally pressed the Up cursor key...and my on screen Second Life avatar moved forward in response. Benjamin saw that. He paused...then pressed the key again. The av moved. Over the next few seconds, my genius figured out that those four little arrow keys could make the avatar do some pretty wild movements. Learning!
But what struck me was not that he learned this at 10 months...but that he was so darned excited as he learned it. He squirmed, giggled, laughed out loud, jumped up and down...he was truly giving birth to his joy. This was "learning" at it's finest and fullest.
As I've thought about that, I remembered the times I have heard the same joy, though tempered with age and learned professionalism, from the adults taking part in the SLemester Experience in Second Life. That first time they actually create an object out of thin air, or the first time their avatar actually lifts off the ground to fly...for an instant there you hear the same giggle that I heard on Saturday. Learning.
It's one more piece of the puzzle that leads me to think more and more about how I can bring emotion into the classroom and training room. And it causes me to think more and more about those educators and trainers who still complain that their learners "just want to be entertained and have fun".
What would happen in your learning activities if the goal was changed from "mastering the objectives", to "giving birth to your joy"?
This morning I stumbled across an article I've had on my laptop for a few months...in that folder I keep sticking things in that I really need to read "someday". It's an article by Thomas Armstrong, called "Awakening the Genius in the Classroom". I decided to skim it before I cleaned the folder, and ended up spending some time reading through it...and now, recommending it to you.
Here's the main point. The real meaning of "Genius" goes back to the Greeks, linked to the word meaning "to be born", as well as to the word Genial, which means "festive", or "jovial". Armstrong pulls them together for a working definition of genius to be "giving birth to one's joy." That struck a nerve.
I had flashbacks to Saturday afternoon as 10 month old Benjamin sat on my lap and hammered on my wireless keyboard (the new one gets picked up today). But what was cool was the point at which he accidentally pressed the Up cursor key...and my on screen Second Life avatar moved forward in response. Benjamin saw that. He paused...then pressed the key again. The av moved. Over the next few seconds, my genius figured out that those four little arrow keys could make the avatar do some pretty wild movements. Learning!
But what struck me was not that he learned this at 10 months...but that he was so darned excited as he learned it. He squirmed, giggled, laughed out loud, jumped up and down...he was truly giving birth to his joy. This was "learning" at it's finest and fullest.
As I've thought about that, I remembered the times I have heard the same joy, though tempered with age and learned professionalism, from the adults taking part in the SLemester Experience in Second Life. That first time they actually create an object out of thin air, or the first time their avatar actually lifts off the ground to fly...for an instant there you hear the same giggle that I heard on Saturday. Learning.
It's one more piece of the puzzle that leads me to think more and more about how I can bring emotion into the classroom and training room. And it causes me to think more and more about those educators and trainers who still complain that their learners "just want to be entertained and have fun".
What would happen in your learning activities if the goal was changed from "mastering the objectives", to "giving birth to your joy"?
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Thanks for your comment John, we have more videos available http://sgvwtv.ulster.ac.uk/
Wow, does THIS open a lot of new doors for innovation in SL! Thanks Kerri!
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