Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:1336] Re:NonLinear Learning
From: Charles Nelson (c.nelson@mail.utexas.edu)
Date: Sun 11 Mar 2001 - 17:13:01 MET
Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2001 10:13:01 -0600 From: Charles Nelson <c.nelson@mail.utexas.edu> Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:1336] Re:NonLinear Learning
Sorry about hitting the send key too quickly. I had planned to put
these points aside and think about them for a day or two.
>Bill Ellis wrote:
>
> >This means that we do not learn linearly
>
>and
>
> >Life is a jumble. The
> >internal process of the brain sorts our the information one needs at any
> >time.
>
>and
>
> >The internet is yet to be succesful as a
> >learning tool because we look for linear stories on the internet and spend
> >too little time for ourselves and for our students in trying to search for
> >ready made stories that fit our multiple minds rather than recognizing the
> >reality of nonlinear learning.
These are interesting thoughts, but how do we translate them into
pedagogical tools/stories? Chaos/complexity theory supports that most
learning would be nonlinear, but it also suggests that learning would
be optimal on the edge between chaos and order. How do we determine
where that edge is? Is there an optimal amount of nonlinearity in the
information provided to learners? How do we determine what is
"optimal"?
How do we determine the nonlinearity of stories? It doesn't seem to
me that it would be determined simply by how many links are
available; rather, there should be some juxtaposition of new and old,
related yet unrelated, concepts. If that's the case, how do we
recognize optimal juxtaposition? Or even satisfactory juxtaposition?
I like the idea of nonlinear stories for our multiple minds, but not
having really given it much thought before, I'm curious: What will
these stories look like, or how will we recognize them? And how do we
determine which ones accomplish nonlinear learning the best, or at
least better than others?
Plus, is nonlinear learning the best for all situations? Should there
be a mix of nonlinear and linear learning? Simply because the brain
is forced to sort information doesn't necessarily imply that it can't
learn better/faster if could receive information requiring less
sorting.
Any thoughts?
Charles Nelson
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