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Redesigning the future of education in Knowmad Society: Our next steps from John Moravec

More: 
Website: http://www.knowmadsociety.com/
Book: On the Horizon (online since 2000) http://www.knowmadsociety.com/

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A business approach (digital marketing agency) : http://www.knowmad.com/

Os 4 princípios da "aprendizagem nómada" são assim resumidos por Ann Kramer (Ready for the future: the four principles of nomadic learning in organizations, p. 149-157 http://www.knowmadsociety.com/oth/)

The four principles of nomadic learning 

1. Insert as much reality as possible 

Because the main trait of the world is continuous change, and therefore unpredictability, we need a way of learning that is rooted in this changing reality. That is the first principle of nomadic learning: to bring in as much reality as you possibly can. This means that the ‘‘lessons’’ and the ‘‘applications of these lessons’’are one and the same, so that there is no transfer issue to the work situation anymore. For example, if there is a need to learn about team dynamics, the program is ‘‘on the job,’’ or the whole team comes ‘‘to the classroom.’’

This way, the atmosphere is much more informal. Participants are not even aware that they are learning; they are just their regular selves. At the same time, they are more aware of their behavior, because the situation is not regular. This ‘‘unconscious awareness’’ accelerates and deepens their learning.

Another possibility is to meet an unfamiliar reality, rather than the day-to-day situation of the participants. Once, for example, I took a management team to visit a group of young asylum seekers. First they shared their life stories to get to know each other. After this introduction, the asylum seekers became the personal coaches of the managers. For both groups, this was an impressive learning experience. The asylum seekers were deeply empowered as they realized that their traumatic experiences from abroad had given them much wisdom that they could share. The managers learned the benefits of opening up and letting go of their prejudices. The reality they met was very impressive and had deep impact. 

2. Incorporate multiple perspectives 

In complex situations there is never a single solution. More and even contradicting perspectives are simultaneously true.We have to learn that no one can know the whole truth, which is the core property of complexity. And, yet, we all long for certainty. We are educated by a teacher, a father, and a mother who knows what is ‘‘correct’’ and what to do. But in complexity, we have to learn to accept more realities and perspectives at the same time.

Studying harder or longer does not bring a final solution. The current complex issues of society and consequently of organizations – the lack of sustainability and the financial crisis, to name just two – cannot be solved with logical, linear, one-way thinking. Therefore the second principle of nomadic learning is that multiple perspectives are always needed. That makes collaboration in diverse environments a necessity.

Gratton (2011) shows this need as she describes the second shift towards the future of work: moving from isolated competitor to innovative connector. The basis of professional mastery is personal skill and knowledge development. These are rarely developed in isolation.

Instead, people need to make new connections, virtual and non-virtual, to learn and develop their knowledge: The future is about innovation, and sometime your best, most innovative ideas will come as you talk and work with people who are completely different from you – perhaps they have a different mindset, or come from a different country – or are younger. It is this wide network, the ‘‘big ideas crowd’’ that will be a crucial source of inspiration (Gratton, 2011, p. 262). 

3. Create a strong interconnection between ‘‘action’’ and ‘‘conceptualization’’ 

Nomadic learning is embedded in the action of day-to-day working and living. There is no given structure or model to follow; we have to conceptualize our actions as we go along. We create concepts for today, which may no longer be valid tomorrow. Action and reflection are immediate and interconnected. Social media are yet again a useful image to keep in mind (Lanting, 2010). This is the third principle of nomadic learning: action and conceptualization are strongly interconnected. In a Deleuzian manner of speaking, one could intertwine the two even stronger: action and concept are one and the same. Deleuze uses the concept of becoming.

The world is never fixed, but always becoming. Our interpretations of reality, and therefore our conceptualizations of it, are part of this becoming, and not separate (Romein et al., 2009).

When conceptualizing and action are more interconnected we get a dynamic concept of knowledge. ‘‘Knowing is a dynamic, social and emotional process of constant development, influenced by cognitions and memories of stakeholders, their social relations, the context of learning, interpretations, ambitions and preferences’’ (Keursten, 2006) (my translation).

In Situated Cognition Theory, Brown et al. (1989) write: ‘‘Situations might be said to co-produce knowledge through activity. Learning and cognition, it is now possible to argue, are fundamentally situated’’ (Brown et al., 1989). Knowing and doing are inseparable because all knowledge is situated in activity bound to social, cultural and physical contexts. Nomadic learning correspondents perfectly to this tradition. 

4. Make the learning horizontal 

By translating this nomadic, rhizomatic way of thinking to learning, nomadic learning becomes non-hierarchical. It is horizontal in the way people relate. That is the fourth principle of nomadic learning. There are no longer any experts telling us what to do because there no longer is one, big truth to follow. That is why the trainer becomes a facilitator and the participant becomes a co-learner. Together they are searching, learning, and creating a truth for the moment. They are creating rhizomes. Again, social media present a good example: anyone can ask anything they want to know at any moment all around the world, and share experiences, networks, and knowledge (Lanting, 2010). To put it rhizomatically: ‘‘Any point of a rhizome can be connected to anything other, and must be’’ (Deleuze and Guattari, 1993, p. 29).