XplanaZine

Introduction

The human mind evolves by arranging perceptions by means of connections. Applied to learning, this means that it is important to understand how the mind makes connections, at different moments in time, and to develop tasks and learning experiences that complement the connection patterns and preferences. This paper outlines some of the categories around which adults perceive and to develop connections, and offers practical applications for online learning within the framework of those categories.

The Mind Makes Meaning By Means of Connections:

According to connectionist theories of mind, proponents and vociferous opponents of which include such figures as Fodor, Polanyi, Brentano, and Minsky, the human mind arranges perceptions (and develops a capacity to perceive) by means of connections.

According to Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky (Thought and Language, and Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes). and other developmental psychologists, the mind makes connections in different ways as the human develops. A young child will make connections when facilitated by peer groups, group interaction, hands-on practice, and by means of “scaffolding,” a process by which a new concept is linked to one just mastered, with degrees of difficulty ascending in stair-step fashion.

Although some designers of instructional programs have argued that Vygotsky’s ideas should be applied to adult learners, this is not always a good idea. Adult learners make connections in different ways than young children. For an adult, the ability to perceive and to develop connections must be centered around the following categories.

Lived experience: Each person’s life and experiences will be different, and each person will have remembered the events in his or her life in a unique way. The individual will process perceptions, which will trigger automatic responses to a previous experience, developing a connection. The lived experience will also shape how a person’s mind perceives, and allow the mind to perceive elements that otherwise may be overlooked.

Applied to online learning: Select course content that encourages the learner to make a connection to his/her lived experiences. Reinforce the connections by means of (a) guiding questions; (b) assignments that require the learner to analyze the material and synthesize content with lessons learned from lived experience; (c) ask students to conduct research that brings together individual experience, course content (underlying concepts and principles), and current events.

Media-shaped experience: With virtual experience, and the sensations experienced vicariously through multimedia (video, CD, DVD, Internet, television), it is becoming more likely that people form an opinion of the identity or essence of a thing, person, or entity via the media-generated experience, rather than through real experience. This is perhaps not problematic except when one is confronted with the real thing, and its authenticity is doubted due to having had only experience with the simulacrum. For example, one could visit Walt Disney World or watch a movie (such as Aladdin) and form an idea of quintessential Islamic art and architecture. Then, one could see photographs of the Islamic architectural treasures of Samarqand, Uzbekistan (the former center of the Silk Road) or even visit it and believe that they do not measure up to the standards — that they are somehow less than authentic. Media is in a position to make things “more real than real” leading to some dissatisfaction with the authentic.

Applied to online learning: Shape course content so that students become aware of the fact that they tend to believe media images, even if they know that they are managed or manipulated. Make certain that the program includes coursework focused on developing students’ ability to determine the reliability of information from media (including Internet) sources. Help learners separate credible and reliable information from opinions, propaganda and commercially-motivated sites. Ask the question regularly, and in different contexts: How can one actually determine if information is reliable?

Prior knowledge organized in a socially agreed-upon manner: According to post-structuralist and deconstructionist philosophers such as Michel Foucault and Jurgen Habermas, we learn how to organize knowledge by social interaction. For example, how we make the determination that something is “religion” rather than “government” depends upon how society views the topic at a given time and place. When individuals perceive something, and then are asked to make a classification, they are more likely to success if there is a connection (or a path) to a particular classification process that has been learned in their own socialization process. These can be subjective, and they vary from one society to another. For example, what is considered a crime in one community is not a crime within another. A striking example is female circumcision, which is considered a normal rite of passage in certain African communities, but is considered female genital mutilation in many Western communities.

Applied to online learning: Foreground the knowledge-organization process by asking students to question the assumptions they make as they classify information. Ask students to create categories, then place information in the categories. Then, ask them to question if the categories are/were influenced by certain customs. When students place information in the categories, ask them to provide a one-sentence justification of why and how they made their determination.

Family-determined senses of self and place in society: Connections made to how a person views oneself must take into consideration how the person was raised, and the family (or extended family) environment. If perceptions do not coincide with the image or idea that one has about himself or herself, then it is likely that the perceptions will be disregarded or placed in another category altogether. This is especially the case with gender roles and the notion of how genders should look, appear, behave. If one receives information or perceptions that purport to give information about the self, then it is imperative that there is a clear connection to either what is “inside” or “outside” one’s own sense of self and place in society. If not, the perceptions degenerate into a state of meaninglessness.

Applied to online learning: In an early phase of the program, ask students to complete an inventory or survey that gives an idea of socio-demographic backgrounds, as well as key values. For effective learning, place students in groups where individuals have little in common, and then construct a discussion forum or bulletin board, with questions that will encourage active and lively discussions. Design assignments that ask the learner to keep a journal in which they chronicle their reactions, their thoughts, ideas, and responses (including personal opinions). Keep in mind that the goal is to expand a learner’s horizons, but not to go so far as to move too far, to the point that it crosses an epistemological boundary region and goes into personal meaninglessness.

Peer group (professional and career-related) determined sense of self and place in society: Categories of socially-acceptable appearances, roles, and behaviors are continuously in flux, and are mediated by a number of factors, including one’s profession, the structure and size of one’s organization, its geographical location, nationality, gender composition, means of communication (e-mail-dominant, face-to-face meetings), sense of future growth of the profession itself, religious and ethnicity-based factors. It is important to provide as many options as possible, since there are likely to be many images and experiences that will be in an individual’s consciousness, based on one’s own experience, and that taught to one by one’s group, or the media sources deemed credible by the individual.

Applied to online learning: Particularly in social sciences and humanities programs of study, it is important to focus on inclusiveness. Guide the learner into new conceptions of himself or herself so that he/she is able to envision new possibilities. Focus on new trends and/or career opportunities, provide information, ask the student to conduct research, with the goal of asking him/her to engage in the activity of projection so that he/she starts to think of the necessary steps to be able to master the new role.

Fantasy / role-playing notion of self: This is a psychological reality that is often denied (actually, that is one element that makes this group of connections so impossible to obliterate, alter, or erase). Suffice it to say that every person has at least one fantasy-based alter ego. As perceptions come into one’s mind, then meaning-making processes involve the fantasy-life of individuals, which have much to do with wishes, dreams, and “the impossible.” These change over time — children often role-play and “play” characters, and then go “underground” as such games change their shape and form. And, yet people attempt to achieve a “protean self” which is to say they would like to be able to reinvent themselves by reshaping themselves, re-costuming, etc. In our society, the most acceptable and applauded form of self-transformation (transmogrification) involves education. In addition, the “dress for success” guides suggest that one’s appearance is a determinant of one’s destiny.

The joy of adult learning has a great deal to do with re-triggering these early fantasies and the idea that the world has no limits, and shape-changing can continue as long as mental cognition is possible. To trigger real joy and satisfaction, one must validate the fantasies and dreams, help guide individuals so that the realization of such dreams is psychological “healthy” given a person’s context (time and place in the world). Otherwise, it would be possible that such “joy” could fall short, and result in delusional disorders. Adults who are liberated from repressing their inner fantasies and encouraged to believe that the world has fewer limits than they’ve come to believe (after many discouraging forays into the “real” world) find a new energy and enthusiasm for exploring their worlds and lives, and are willing to make more connections between the “new” and their old experiences.

Adult learners often resist learning when they perceive that to make a connection will cause psychological or emotional discomfort.

Applied to online learning: Use image, multimedia, links, and biography to engage the learner in the world of fantasy and endless possibilities. Decriminalize creativity by encouraging the learner to provide imaginative solutions, and giving the response a participation grade. Encourage the learner to break new intellectual and expressive new ground by (a) making new connections by juxtaposing seemingly unrelated material; (b) applying the “wrong” approach or technique to a solve a problem to see where it takes one; (c) find images, colors, and audio files to accompany one’s written discourse.

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