A Whole New Mind, chapters 1, 2 and 3

A Whole New Mind

By Daniel H. Pink

Chapter 1: Right Brain Rising

We live in a world the demands a new perspective, a new set of rules, a whole new mind. In the first section Daniel Pink discusses the functions and characteristics of the left and right hemispheres of the brain and which kinds of thinking spring from those hemispheres. The right hemisphere controls the left side of the body, the left, the right side. The left brain is sequential, serial and responds to comprehension of events in a chronological manner, and operates speech, writing, reading; the right brain is simultaneous, geometric and instantaneous in comprehension and meaning, seeing many things at once. The left brain recognizes faces, interprets meaning from facial expression. As Pink says, the left brain is the picture, the right brain is the thousand words. In terms of language, the L-brain decodes the text; the R-brain decodes the context. An interesting detail about this is that in some languages like Hebrew and Arabic, words have no vowels, so meaning is anchored on to the context. In some ways, the L-brain looks at the dots, while the R-brain connects the dots. The R-brain also interprets metaphors.

Chapter 2: Abundance, Asia, and Automation

A few decades ago, we relied heavily upon the results of assessments like the SAT test and highly revered the education of MBAs for success in the business world. Pink argues that that age is dying and more creative thinking is in demand because L-brain resources are abundant in places, like India, for instance, where a majority tech support calls are funneled through from US companies in order to save big money hiring low-paid, highly-educated L-brain people.

We live in a world of extreme abundance (well, some of us…) We can buy designer products at discount prices because of the sheer abundance of available goods.

Automation is changing the need for the dominantly L-brain people. A computer can beat a world-class chess champion, an electronic law site can deal with many straightforward legal actions at a fraction of lawyer’s wages, a database can solve many ailments and diagnose medical conditions without the need of a physician because there are thousands of repeatable scenarios that can be computed and accurately assessed automatically. All of these conditions lead to the necessity for us to adapt to a new way of thinking with a more R-brain emphasis to tackle problems that 1. cannot be done more cheaply by someone else overseas, 2. cannot be done faster by a computer and, 3. transcends the materials needs and provides fellow humans with empathic solutions and comfort.

Chapter 3: High Concept, High Touch

Pink talks about the evolution of modern society from the age of agriculture, industrial, information, to the new 21st century: the conceptual age. Skills that are in most need now are conceptual, big-picture, creative, and empathetic. We need to have the ability to detect patterns and speak differently. In schools of medicine, it has been discovered that patients heal more quickly when treated by doctors who deal with them in a narrative manner, by learning their stories, not just their ailments. This approach yields better understanding of the patients and affords a deeper empathy for the patients.

Big business is starting to realize that creative, artistic types can better solve problems that the L-brain MBAs they had historically hired. Others traits for successful business managers are a sense of humor and playfulness. In this age more and more people are turning away from material desires and now seek meaning over the material.

Net Generation Learning Style

My group read and worked on a presentation from:

Barbara R. Jones-Kavalier and Suzanne L. Flannigan (2006). Connecting the Digital Dots: Literacy of the 21st Century. Educause Quarterly, 29(2), Retrieved July 4, 2007. from http://www.educause.edu/apps/eq/eqm06/eqm0621.asp


I wrote the following script to accompany our presentation, but this idea was abandoned and Lynda went off to create her own version of this with video...

Connecting the Digital Dots: Literacy of the 21^st Century

1. Literacy then—‘literate’ defined a person’s ability to read and write, separating the educated from the uneducated. In ancient Egypt, scribes recorded the journey of pharaohs in the afterlife.
2. In ancient Greece, the dialogues of Plato and Socrates were recorded for students of philosophy.
3. The illuminated manuscripts of Medieval monks…
4. …and the scrolls of Asian calligraphy recorded brilliant poets and philosophers.
5. The proliferation of the printed word in the 19^th century, and then radio and television in the 20^th century.
6. Science fiction writers prophesized the current age of PDAs with information and communication literally and figuratively in the palm of our hands.
7. But the magnitude and scope of the E-generation literacy is only now being realized.
8. How do educators bridge the digital gap between the linear, analog, old-school educators…
9. …and the technological savvy generation who navigate the plethora of informational input as nonchalantly as we flip through channels with our remotes.
10. We will lose the opportunity to provide a meaningful learning experience if we don’t re-align our instructional focus and methods.
11. If the digital 21^st century is in constant flux—perhaps our teaching methods should reflect this dynamic. Even this presentation could morph into a different arena tomorrow because we received fresh input that alters our point of view.
12. Old methods of instructions do not engage these new learners. Students should play a more pronounced role in the creation of the learning experience.
13. It’s critical that we see beyond the flash and zing of new technology and bring a new understanding of a dynamic environment where both the teacher and the learners interpret, assimilate, recreate learning and attempt to connect the dots of the digital 21^st century.
14. What are the digital dots? They are multifarious and multidimensional—but what does it mean to connect the dots?
15. Digital literacy means effective interpretation of multi-media input and proficient manipulation & participation in a digital environment. Possession of sound judgment in a sea of online sources is a critical trait.
16. Visual literacy involves design, imagination, and mutable recreation of visual input to produce meaningful new learning, new realities.
17. kill this slide?
18. Marshall McLuhan said “the medium is the message.” As instructional designers, “the interface is the instruction.”
19. keep
20. keep
21. keep
22. keep
23. Far better to have the skills and competencies to comprehend and discriminate within a common language than to be left out, unable to understand. But in the 21^st century, it is a language that is ever in flux with multiple competing perspectives that are simultaneously considered.
24. We’re connecting the dots, but the dots are connecting us.

Project Management Speaker

It was useful to have our guest speaker. I felt that Rod adequately covered essential project management topics for our purposes. Once you become involved in PM, you realize the infinite minutiae that you need to track and manage. Defining scope is a critical component in order to accurately be able to plan the necessary resources and time to complete the project. Identifying the key stake holders are also required to move forward because you don't want to commit too much time if you not not answering to the right stake holder and find your work is wasted on a non-decision maker. Plan, plan, plan is a key advance activity. The better and more thorough planning stage will ultimately save you because you are most apt to accurately cover the scope with the required time and resources and less likely to make errors. Within that, a very detailed work breakdown hierarchy is essential. Built in review cycles should be incorporated to keep you on track and have major sections of the project approved before moving on to subsequent sections. Thanks for you time, Rod!

Flickr Story

http://flickr.com/photos/13205383@N02/sets/72157602823417386/


I decided to use paintings to convey the story for this project. The story is my interpretation of Joseph Campbell's hero cycle. The first image is 'departure,' the hero leaves the known world to seek wisdom on the hero's journey. The next is the challenge or the abyss that the hero must endure. The third image is "Odin's Initiation" and the fourth another initiation image. The fifth image is a depiction of Akhenaten, the Egyptian pharaoh who first introduced the idea of a monotheistic deity in the form of the sun. Akhenaten is receiving the divine gift. The sixth image was chosen to represent the transformation into the new self, a critical component in the hero cycle. The seventh image is the return to the world in order to share the new knowledge attained by the hero on his or her journey. The final image is from a Campbell concept that the when you are at the base of the pyramid, your vision is limited, but the "eye of god" is attained at the top of the pyramid...the returning hero has attained the eye of god and has come back to his home world to share what was learned on the journey.

Blogospheric

Educational Blogging by Downes was a much more concrete article than the Pew laundry list of blogger demographic statistics...though what I did glean from the Pew article was the evidence that with blogging, there are more people writing! (At least that is my impression.) Not only are people writing but they are connecting. In a world that seems jam-packed with stimuli and impersonal, people have the opportunity to connect with others and share meaning and experience. In this way, it differs greatly from personal journals that collect on the shelf. Blogging is a public act and begins the possibility of creating community.

In the Downes article, this sense of community is manifested in the grammar school educational environment. What some of the students learn is that points of view can be shared with an enormous network beyond their immediate world.

For me the most important use of blogging is that it gives students the opportunity to reflect upon their learning in an informal manner. Sitting in front of a screen and keyboard writing a blog can be less threatening than writing a formal paper to turn in. While it possesses these qualities. it does remain a public act, therefore most people will perform in a way that does not cast them in a bad light. I other words, while it may informal, we will still make sure our ideas are clear and our grammar properly expressed.

The points made in relation to the power of blogs in the aftermath of 9/11 were profound. Blogs allow for personal accounts of an historic events--the true reality of history is reflected in the impact upon the individual, not just the exchange of wealth or political boundaries. For this, blogs act to democratize information, so that we respond to the voice, the opinion, the idea or experience of an individual because we feel it has integrity, not only because it is CNN, slyFOX or whatever.

9.12.07 >> 21st Century Skills

OK, maybe because this article (report) is written in such a dry manner, or that it stays at a safe distance, but there was a cold feeling about it. I do agree, however, that it is critical to create a learning environment that has the best opportunity to prepare students for the outside, working world. A way to do that is to design learning that uses tools students will mostly likely encounter…as well as the other conceptual & soft skills: Information/communication skills, problem-solving skills, interpersonal skills—all of these can of course be embedded into the curriculum of other subjects: English, Science, History, Geography, Political Science—it doesn’t necessarily have to be a separate course or area of study. Implementing problem-centered learning, constructivism, and element of connectivism into other curricula can impart these skills.

“All students need highly-qualified, effective teachers and regular, reliable access to modern technology” (p 22) The report did not seem to address a lot of obvious gaps. For one, the teachers need to be re-taught to embrace this type of learning. How will they accept it? Will they be forced into teaching to the assessment, which plagues many schools now with the “No millionaire left behind” Act? Many teachers are so restricted by the mandate to teach to the assessments, they cannot be creative imparting subject matter. Also, I think teachers are not quite prepared to teach many 21^st century tools. I do think it is a good idea to figure out a good way to make this happen, though. Regular, reliable access to technology would be refreshing! There are huge gaps between school districts when it comes to technology, access, etc. Some schools barely have books or current resources.

While I don’t want to be too negative, because I do believe in the ‘idea’ of what this report advocates, I just think that few schools are ready to embrace this; few schools have the staff, the resources, and accessibility to pull it off.

Sidenote: on p16-17 of report there is mention of the need to reflect 21st century skills with 21st century assessments--this is very important. The example sites a written, open-ended question that is intended to be filled out by hand, when the students are likely to be accustomed to typing on a computer. I also found this funny because I read it right after sketched a navigational roadmap for my Flash project and using pencil and paper!

9.10.07 Connectivism (Siemens)

I see Connectivism as an outgrowth of Constructivism enabled by new technologies. Instead of learning being constructed by the individual, the network reshapes the construction, then the individual reshapes the new product based on the connections…externalizes the knowledge…the network is the individual. As soon as I type such statement I think: “We are Borg.” Or “Resistance is futile.” Another image that comes to mind is pixilation, the individual’s knowledge is patterned and reverberates into a larger form. But there can be no static description, by nature, of the form of learning…

If “the bulk of learning occurs as a desire to make sense, understand, develop personally,” (Siemens, 7) then the level of input and the amount of desire that the learner contributes to the community, the more value they are to likely achieve, right? Surely we all agree that we get the most out of the learning we that we put the most into, but isn’t there a certain type of ‘voyeur’ learner who scans the internet, reads the blogs, etc and rarely contributes, if at all? Will these learners get any less out of the learning community? I’m not sure—but certainly we need to look at what evidence there is that learning occurred. According to Siemens, we need to externalize our knowledge into order to cope with the plethora of information we take in.

I like the idea that “when knowledge is communicated through dialogue, the progressive growth of understanding is tied to the process, not the artifact.” (Siemens, 11) This seems to be what Connectivism is all about, that we don’t possess knowledge, but instead we share, participate in the evolution of ideas—we all progress together, transform together.