Lifelong Learning

[Dingfod]

I'm not quite sure where to post this, so here it lands.

In Ronin's Born Again thread (http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=106)...
One thing that was drilled into me through grad school is that a "commitment to lifelong learning" is paramount. I like to think that this attitude is one that is necessary in anyone claiming to be a freethinker. Plainly, because at what point can you rest on your laurels and satisfy yourself with the knowledge you currently possess?What would you consider acceptable material for lifelong learning?

I've learned many things quite varied in subject matter my whole adult life, but none were what I would consider scholarly. I possess a lot of general knowledge, not a whole lot of it real useful in everyday life, unless one wants to do well at Trivial Pursuit or excel at crossword puzzles.

My innate curiosity and the internet as we know it now are excellent companions for learning. I feel compelled to follow all sorts of links and read all sorts of things, would that qualify as lifelong learning? Or would only university level study or research really considered lifelong learning?


Warren

[Hugo Holbling]

I don't think Godot intended his remarks as having anything to do with a particular level of learning, Warren. Lifelong learning is just that: a determination to continue learning for the rest of your days, never stopping when you might suppose that you have something completely understood. Here is how Tennyson characterised it:

How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!
As tho' to breathe were life. Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains: but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

How many of us actually do this, i wonder?

[Godot]

I'm not quite sure where to post this, so here it lands.

In Ronin's Born Again thread (http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=106)...
What would you consider acceptable material for lifelong learning?

I've learned many things quite varied in subject matter my whole adult life, but none were what I would consider scholarly. I possess a lot of general knowledge, not a whole lot of it real useful in everyday life, unless one wants to do well at Trivial Pursuit or excel at crossword puzzles.

My innate curiosity and the internet as we know it now are excellent companions for learning. I feel compelled to follow all sorts of links and read all sorts of things, would that qualify as lifelong learning? Or would only university level study or research really considered lifelong learning?


Warren
I never meant to imply that a higher education was a prerequisite for lifelong learning. I've met a good number of people at uni's that don't even have an interest in learning while they are they, let alone developing the habit of a lifetime. A scholarly mein is hardly the only way to get there (hell, it can even be a hamper to LL in some respects).

I like to think of it as learning for the sake of learning; that your education (whether formal or informal) is not a means to an end, but an end unto itself. The process is just as important and valuable as the material (if not moreso).

Playing trivia games and doing crossword puzzles are excellent practical applications of lifelong learning that anyone can do (posting on message boards is another example, but not quite so good: how many people can you think of that have not changed their stance one iota as a result of discussing it?). But that is just the tip of the iceberg. Lifelong learning entails a concept known as reflective practice.

Reflective practice involves the application of a model to best cesribe your way of thinking. I happen to like the Kolb Cycle of "reflect, generalise, test, and experience" best. The idea is that you first think about an issue (reflect); then you brainstorm solutions or lines of argumentation regarding said issue (generalise); then you subject those ideas to the severest of scrutinies, not the least of which will be by presenting them to others or implementing them (test); and then learn about it all more fully through putting those ideas in practice, or by defending them against criticism (experience). The process does not end there by any means. You then begin the cycle anew. You then reflect on the experience you just had, and try to figure out what it is you learned and how best to apply this newfound knowledge to your system/ideas in order to strengthen it. You can also use this to evaluate your personal feelings towards the experience and not jsut on how others went through it.

The point is, the Kolb Cycle is just an example of a structured approach to lifelong learning. How you choose to go about doing it in your own life is your decision, but be prepared to call yourself on it after some time spent on reflection.

[jorgea]

"Lifelong learning" has no particular restrictions in how real knowledge is earned. Do you realize how anyone actually learns a lot more from living life than from sitting in university courses? You can discover a "whole new world" online that opens the doors to deep knowledge that you may not have had access at school.








_____________________________________
George Alarcon
georgealarcon@yahoo.com

[Doctor X]

Perhaps had you stayed in school, rather than relied on the internet, you would have known that spam is powerless in the face of :livita:

We will pray for you.

--J.D.

[Leesifer]

Blimey, that's what you call a thread :bump:

[Ensign Steve]

Wow. It was like four years after the OP was posted that I got hired by the "LEAP" (lifelong education, administration, and policy) department at the college of education here at the UGA. Even that was so damn long ago that I don't even work at that job anymore. My point is this forum has been around for too damn long.

My particular small project had to do with adult literacy and ESL, but the larger department covered a whole range of types of lifelong learning, including those such as myself who simply refuse to ever finish school and go out and get a real career. Love it, still.

[Kyuss Apollo]

...including those such as myself who simply refuse to ever finish school... Love it, still.

:yup:

[Rickoshay75]

"Lifelong learning" has no particular restrictions in how real knowledge is earned. Do you realize how anyone actually learns a lot more from living life than from sitting in university courses? You can discover a "whole new world" online that opens the doors to deep knowledge that you may not have had access at school.
George Alarcon
georgealarcon@yahoo.com

How can you be sure that new courses can get it right?

Life is a learning process in which we're continually learning that we learned before isn't true Ashleigh Brilliant

[Rickoshay75]

Dingfod: What would you consider acceptable material for lifelong learning?

First and foremost, teach yourself to accept things the way they are, not the way you want them to be.