In Frank Smith's, The Book of Learning and Forgetting, he explores the differences between the classic and official theories of learning. Since much of his focus is on the benefits of the classic theory of learning he voices out the importance of the social activities that the classic view is based upon. Smith says that, "learning is an inevitable part of our normal lives, and it only takes place...when we are in a normal frame of mind (13)." In comparison, the official theory of learning is based on "individualistic" activities and is "limited" as well as "easily forgotten (5)." We can assume then that learning environments that introduce relative material to an audience that is given opportunities to collaborate will grow more than learners that are confined to solitary circumstances. Furthermore, he states that, "the main thing we learn when we struggle to learn is that learning is a struggle (13)." In which case we can compare to Dewey's dislike of superficial learning environments. Dewey says, "making the individual a sharer or partner in [an] associated activity so that he feels its success his success...he will recognize the means employed to secure success (2)." In essence he makes us cognizant of the fact that humans by nature associate their learning experiences with the behaviors and actions of others: if learning is fun and easy we will internalize as such, if we are only driven by the task of receiving a good grade, then we suppress our negative attitudes on learning. This very argument of social learning and solitary learning has driven many conversations withing Cadre 13...
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| Social learning creates an effective means of collaboration. |
In one of our discussions about social vs. solitary learning a really great talk by Chris Anderson on TED was brought up. He brings up what he calls, "crowd accelerated innovation" in which he explains three important aspects: crowd, light and desire. The crowd would consist of people sharing a similar interest, light would be the open visibility into the subject and of course the desire to learn and share about the said interest. So in our cyber circles the most popular ways of shedding a "light on [an] interest [is] directly through Facebook, Twitter etc...and indirectly through views and links to similar resources." Through this group sharing of knowledge and building of ideas it's clear that social learning environments really foster growth in educating. And although there are many learning styles, i.e. auditory learners, visual learners etc., it is through the collaboration with others that we really internalize new materials and expand upon what we already know.
After all, as Anderson states, "we're a social species: we spark off each other," and this leads to great innovations.
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