A New Culture of Learning [Paperback]

I can't in good conscience recommend this book. It is weak, simplistic and in some cases flat wrong.

I was hoping this work would reflect the same reasoned insightful treatment Seely Brown and colleagues provided in earlier works such as "The Social Life of Information".
But this book - if you can even call it that - is 180° in tone and tenor from that earlier work. The only thing this book does is make it clear that people who write pop management tomes should stick to what they know and leave the important issues of learning and education to those who know how - not just know about.

Thomas and Brown offer some enticing examples of what they call "The New Culture of Learning" but the subsequent discussion is simply a stringing together of aphorisms, overly enthusiastic interpretations of anecdotes and an almost total lack of familiarity with cognition, learning and education research. Their "evidence" is almost all anecdotal based on their own limited experience. It is most noteworthy by the absence of truly key work by recognized experts, scientists and the very academics they criticize. But this doesn't seem to be a problem for the authors. They preach. predict and prescribe with abandon.

Using terms from The Social Life of Information, these authors preach from a standpoint of "knowing about" rather than "knowing how". The fact that they hold positions at a university does not make them educators. To me - this work smacks of a rushed attempt to crank out something to sell consulting and speaking services - not a serious view of learning. It is rife with trendy thoughts - not a serious work examining actual trends. There really is nothing new here and quite a bit that is very old - yet no credit is given to original sources.

What some see as leading edge - and the authors present as descriptive of the present and predictive of the future "culture of learning" is laughably old school. They fail to acknowledge or even mention the work of Dewey, Vygotsky, Bandura or the pedagogical approaches of Reggio Emilia, Waldorf or even Montessori - not to mention a host of others. These foundational building blocks of learning and education are more relevant and informative and have been available for 50 to 100 years.

One example of how silly it is to view this work as new is that fact that Thomas and Brown are being heralded for

It would appear the present authors felt they could put that fine old wine in a new bottle and none would notice. It would seem Thomas and Brown didn't bother to ask their own "critical" question of "where." This is the central weakness of this book. It is a weak attempt to reframe the discussion of learning and education in terms the authors introduce but fail to adequately define or support with evidence while ignoring others' work that is on firmer footing, supported by evidence and in many cases preempts Thomas and Brown's ideas.

After finishing this little booklet I was left to wonder - have either of these gentlemen been in a classroom recently? - or ever taken a course that included a lab? Have they interacted with learners in a 21st Century learning environment? Had they done any of these things they would realize what they identify as "traditional" and "new" are neither. Their traditional approach has been obsolete for decades and little used with the rigor they imply. Their new is now mainstream. Yet they barely mentioned truly new approaches to learning and teaching - if at all. Rather than acknowledging where we are with regard to learning and education the authors seem intent on criticizing the remnants of tradition, creating new jargon, confusing the issue and claiming they discovered the new world. Like Columbus - they are sadly late to the party, yet they will probably get credit for "finding" something others have known for a long time.

Should one think this review is too harsh, I recommend searching for serious book reviews reviews by people who are actively engaged in education, learning and teaching.

Standardized educational systems face the great challenge of adapting to a time where facts, knowledge, research, methods, tools, interpretations, applications, and contexts available regarding any piece of information are expanding and changing by the moment. "A New Culture of Learning" gives insights into how, what, and why we learn in the information age, including a powerful message that we "know more than we can say" when learning is approached intuitively, with intrinsic motivation, and with the interplay between peers learning and working naturally toward common goals. How the educational system can guide and evaluate such tacit learning, which seems more effective and valuable in many contexts than rote memorization, seems to be the core of the dilemma the system faces. As a medical student at an institution undergoing some radical changes to the curriculum structure, I'm making sure a few copies get into the hands of the administration.

Haven't some of your most meaningful memories been of times when you accomplished something greater with others? Didn't it bring you closer in the flow of camaraderie - even when someone in your group didn't act right - like you?'

What we learn from those times is vital in an information-flooded, connected world - and that's a good thing.

The most common and satisfying ways we learn and invent are not from sitting in a classroom seat being taught or trained. The world is too complex and fluid now to keep up with everything all by yourself. That doesn't mean that we aren't sought-after for our mastery of a topic or skill. It simply means we stay relevant when we engage in projects with diverse others, learning and experimenting as we go. Like children we still learn best by observing, imitating, re-mixing, making fresh mistakes and, most of all, by playing and using our imagination - with others.

That's why this book by two long time lovers of social learning-by-doing is so relevant today for students of all ages, in school, at work and involved with the causes and projects that most matter to us.

While their book is aimed at transforming learning in schools every concept I read can be equally applied to any part of our lives - lived well with others.

If you'd like to see the next chapters of your life as the kind of adventure story you co-create with others and want a bigger voice in the role you play - literally - read and share this book with those you think will make engrossing, imaginative playmates.

Some of my favorite quotes from this book:

* The new culture of learning gives us the freedom to make the general personal and then share our personal experience in a way that, in turn, adds to the general flow of knowledge.

* In the new culture of learning, people learn through their interaction and participation with one another in fluid relationships that are the result of shared interests and opportunity.

* Play is the tension between the rules of the game and the freedom to act within those rules. When play happens while learning it creates a context in which information, ideas and passions grow.

* The important thing about the Harry Potter phenomenon is not so much what the kids were learning, but how they were learning. Thought there was no teacher in this setting, readers engaged in deep, sustained learning from one another through their discussions and interactions.

* In a world of near constant flux, play becomes a strategy for embracing change rather than a way of growing out of it.

* The challenge is to find ways to marry structure and freedom to create altogether new things.

* Study groups dramatically increase the success of college students in the classroom.

* The connection between the personal and the collective is a key ingredient in lifelong learning.

* When information is stable, the explicit dimension becomes very important. The speed of light, for example, is probably not going to change....The twenty-first centry, however, belongs to the tacit. In the digital world we learn by doing, watching, and experiencing... not by taking a class or reading a manual.

* Students learn best when they are able to follow their passion and opeate within the constraints of a bounded environment. Without the boundary set by the assignment there would be no medium for growth.

* Indwelling is a familiarity with ideas, practices and processes that are so ingrained that they become second nature. When engaging the learner, we must think about her sense of indwelling, because that is her greatest source of inspiration, but it is also the largest reservoir she has of tacit knowledge.

* Dispositions indicate how a student will make connections on a tacit level... how she is likely to learn.

* Learning from others is neither new nor revolutionary; it has just been ignored by most of our educational institutions...

... and, I would add, by most of our organizations.

From the people under 30 who grew up studying and playing in groups I have enjoyed playing and co-creating on everything from business start-ups to models of more effectively serving causes. I hope that a version of this book is put up online for shareable input from us all - commenting, adapting, re-mixing the ideas, thus turning it into an ecosystem where we can hone our ideas on the new culture of, not "just" learning but also inventing and co-creating better ways to work and play together. You may also enjoy another book, co-authored by John Seely Brown, Pull.The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion