WK 5 continued...The Second Article

This next article, Learning as a Way of Being, by Peter B. Vaill, is actually a Harvard Educational Review of Vaill's book.

It started off as a challenging and complex read, but once I passed the academic jargon, I began to understand the true heart of this review.

Understanding our 'self-cultivation'.

As continuous learners, we need to continually grow and challenge ourselves. When reading this article, I imagined our learning development as a garden. 

Sometimes we need to pull up the weeds and turn the soil to have healthy new flowers and green leaves appear.

Sometimes we need to be explorers in order to discover ourselves, capabilities, and even our limitations.

The author quotes Vaill (below) and distinguishes between those of us who 'explore' and those who don't. 

"It is the non explorers who rather naively assume that once they have a clear picture in mind of where they are going, they can trust that picture through to the end. To be an explorer is to not know where, precisely and concretely, one is going. . . . The explorer feels your uncertainty and your fear and even sometimes your fury. However, he or she does not think these states of mind can be escaped. Instead, they are part of what the explorer explores. Perhaps that is the difference between the explorer and you." (p. 45)

As explorers, we cannot learn without facing our fears and making mistakes. Despite all costs, we must forge ahead to learn and grow!

Who do you represent in this quote?

Of course, this discussion could not be complete without outlining the author's Seven Aspects of  Learning as a Way of Being (LWB):

• LWB1: Self-Directed;
• LWB2: Creative Learning;
• LWB3: Expressive Learning;
• LWB4: Feeling Learning;
• LWB5: Online Learning;
• LWB6: Continual Learning; and

• LWB7: Reflexive Learning (similar to metacognition)

While I have not read the book yet, I can already relate quite easily to the above seven aspects of learning.

However, the author reminds the reader that Vaill is concerned that most learners are not aware "how different parts of the learning processes relate to each other and to the whole."

Therefore, it is up to us, as educators, to help learners understand each LWB aspect in relation to their current and future learning endeavours.

So, let's encourage exploration!!