I have just read Susan Wilcox’s chapter in Transformative Learning in Action which clearly outlines her journey of becoming a faculty developer. It very nicely interweaves the learner and educator roles together that I am also experiencing and for her this realisation became a transformative experience.
Given the content of this blog, I could very strongly identify with her experiences, in particular that of journaling one’s inner thoughts in a more public place. For her, this was through including her reflections as part of her doctoral studies. For me, it involves using this blog.
One of the other chapters that I also read this morning picked up on the either-or issue that Dewey wrote about in 1938 that I commented on the other day. In this case, Clarke (1997) explains how Western society arrived at this point. Where once we took a more inclusive view of the world, over the past 2000 years we have increasingly identified ourselves as ‘either/or’ rather than ‘both/and’. I like the both/and concept and it fits rather nicely with a quote I read a while back about the sign of an intelligent mind was to be able to hold two opposing thoughts at the same time and be okay with that. Unfortunately, I can’t remember who came up with that little gem, and I’m not sure that I am always okay with holding opposing thoughts at the same time although I suspect I am more of a grey thinker than black and white. I also suspect that as I continue to learn about learning and teaching that I will also delve deeper into my own assumptions and habits of mind leading to further transformative experiences. I hope so because this journey is turning out to be a rather intriguing one and even over the past few weeks since commencing this blog, I have learned so much.
References
Clarke, JE 1997, ‘Of writing, imagination, and dialogue: a transformative experience’, in Cranston, P (ed), Transformative learning in action: insights from practice, Jossey-Bass Publications, San Francisco.
Wilcox, S 1997, ‘Becoming a faculty developer’, in Cranston, P (ed), Transformative learning in action: insights from practice, Jossey-Bass Publications, San Francisco.
Wendy,
I’d argue that being a “grey thinker” is actually much better than being black white. I tend to prefer the both/and approach, but it’s more than just black and white. For me, it’s a recognition that the real world, and especially really meaningful tasks like L&T, are inherently grey. They are wicked problems. There is no one, two, three… solutions.
Not to say that “anything goes”. There are things that are wrong. There are always problems and limitations with different approaches. It’s a question of choosing which of the problems/limitations you are willing to put up with in your context.
This is one of the reasons I hate most IT and management folk who tend to be very black or white. There is never allowed to be any shortcomings or criticisms of the ideas….but that’s a hobby horse.
Bring on the grey thinkers. It’s all shades of grey.
David.
I wouldn’t disagree, David. The only problem with grey thinkers is it is very difficult to get a definitive answer from them at times!
I’ve heard you speak of wicked problems before and I am beginning to understand what you mean by this, but it is a concept I haven’t come across previously – which is interesting given the nursing work I have done where nothing is controllable or predictable and every situation needs to be assessed individually and responded to accordingly with whatever happens to be available at any one point in time. I guess I have just taken this as granted when I’ve come into a L&T situation, but just haven’t thought of it in these terms before. However, by articulating them in this way, I am learning to appreciate and see things from a different perspective. Thanks
Wendy
I agree about the difficulty of getting a definitive answer. There is a danger in the “grey thinking” approach to say nothing is right or have difficulty adopting and particular answer.
In the end, you still have to act in the world, you have to do something. There’s a fine line between being dogmatic/black or white/having the one answer and believing every answer is ok.
I’m tending towards that bit in the middle, you end up choosing a solution, working with it and allowing yourself to learn from it. Not to get too stuck with the one thing. I often see this in L&t with people who have adopted the latest technology or the latest pedagogy.
Authentic learning/Blended learning/Moodle is the solution to everything. Once people like this get into management, the seek to apply their silver bullet across the board…..rather than allowing/encouraging/requiring everyone to come up with what works for them.
No chance of me adopting the latest technology or pedagogy – I’m at least 10 years behind the frontier line and being trendy has never interested me (you only have to take one look at my wardrobe to know that!).
Re silver bullet, I guess that is human nature and most of us are uncomfortable with diversity because we can’t file people/things/events into nice neat little compartments. For those of us who are allergic to filing cabinets (literally or figuratively), dealing with this can be difficult, but you are right, if we can draw on the best aspects of these different ways of thinking – ie find the middle ground – then we have the potential to see something really innovative that is also grounded and practical.