Metanoia: Mindshift - Exploring pathways through freestyle learning

Free Culture Incubator No 9

Saturday August 27th, 13.00 - 18.30 @Supermarkt, Berlin. Brunnenstraße 64, 13355 Berlin (between U8 stop Bernauer Straße and Voltastraße)

This workshop was held in English.

Exploration Guide, Host & Facilitator: Pippa Buchanan

Workshop documentation:

http://freestylelearning.pbworks.com/w/page/43833635/FrontPage

"...in everyday use, learning has come to be synonymous with “taking in information.”…Yet, taking in information is only distantly related to real learning…Real learning gets to the heart of what it means to be human. Through learning we recreate ourselves. Through learning, we become able to do something we never were able to do. Through learning we re-perceive the world and our relationship to it. Through learning we extend our capacity to create, to be part of the generative process of life."

Peter Senge, The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization.

Can you explain your job to your parents?

Our ideas of a traditional career path and what we need to know in order to work have changed. Formal learning institutions in many parts of the world are too expensive and too slow to change.Technological advances have made it easier than before to share information and meet people with common and diverse interests. Formal education institutions such as MIT are sharing their content and community organisations such as P2PU are innovating with peer-driven online learning. Alternative learning (eg. skill shares, learning exchanges) has always existed outside of traditional education contexts, however the motivations and opportunities for learning outside and between institutions have changed significantly due to technology and a globalised economy.

This half-day workshop explored how we can navigate, define, share and remix our own learning (both formal and otherwise) in ever-changing contexts. Workshop participants shared their ideas and visions of learning futures to develop the foundations of a handbook for managing alternative learning journeys.

What happened during this workshop? The group worked along these 6 core questions:

How can we...

• identify, learn and record our experiences?
• connect with others and get feedback for what we've learnt?
• balance what we want to learn with what we need to learn?
• find space for continual learning amongst work, family and other life responsibilities?
• connect our personal learning experiences with our formal learning opportunities?
• negotiate the transitions between online, international learning and our local context?

Please find the documentation of the whole workshop here:

http://freestylelearning.pbworks.com/w/page/43833635/FrontPage