XplanaZine

Transcript

I remember my father’s fiftieth birthday with a fair amount of detail. My mother was the type to make a big deal out of everything so this was an occasion ripe for exaggeration.

She put ads in the paper, planned some sabotage at the office, and has a bunch of friends over that evening for a roast and a wake. Just the right amount of torture. Of course, at the time I had trouble seeing what the big deal was. My dad was part of a generation that had always seemed about fifty. He didn’t look much different to me on that day than he had when he was thirty-five or forty.

My generation, on the other hand, was the one that discovered aerobics and cosmetic surgery for the masses. We are in love with looking vibrant and we take great exception to growing old. Which is why I had a such hard time this past week when I found out that I needed glasses.

I’ve always had exceptional vision, at night or during the day, and it’s only been in the last six months that I began noticing some difficulty focusing on sign lettering or the scores of baseball games posted at the bottom of the TV screen. Heck, I thought it was just a matter of stress or lack of sleep. The reality is that I am now the proud owner of progressive bifocals.

For all of those out there who’ve been wearing glasses since you were in the seventh grade, my experiences may not seem like such a big deal. But wearing glasses has made me see things differently, both literally and figuratively. The biggest realization I’ve had is that I spend a fair amount of time out of focus and not caring.

That’s right — out of focus and not caring. I never noticed it before because I was seeing everything the same. But, with my new bifocals there is this crisp distinction between being in focus and out of focus. So, if I’m staring off into space while looking through the reading portion of my lenses, or looking down at a text and gazing through the distant vision of my glasses, things are noticeably out of focus. But, as I’ve noticed, it really doesn’t bother me because, at those times I’m not really paying any attention to the object or the space in front of me. I’m just gazing and thinking.

I’m telling you, it’s a huge distinction and one I could never see before. Now, since I am acutely aware at all times of the difference between in and out of focus, I am also aware of the difference between seeing and simply staring with my eyes open but with no intent to see.

Why does it matter? Well, I’m not sure it makes much of a difference to me personally, but it does provide some insight into the types of thinking that go on in the learning process. It can also help us see how we might want to rethink the different types of learning materials we create for online learning.

For the most part, we cram our online courses with material designed only for people who are seeing "in focus." That is, we build content that is immediate, task-based, and requires full and concentrated attention. The problem with this is that it bypasses one of the important weapons in every person’s learning arsenal — unfocused contemplation. The ability to stare off in space and gradually let the pieces all fall into place.

Traditional readings and assessments provide us with crystal clear reports that tell us who did well on a particular assignment. Unfortunately, they don’t always tell us who really learned a lesson or, for that matter, if any learning is really taking place at all. In my opinion, what we need is more assignments that encourage learners to sit back and relax, to try to take in the big picture.

We need to create more assignments that alter the learners’ perspective of the material being studied. We need to confront them with panoramas so enormous they can never get it all into focus. That will push them to a place where they are out of focus. It will make them reach higher and try to take a bigger bite out of things.

I want my students to see the details, no doubt about it. But I also want them to learn to think, to see the context for what they are learning. When that happens, they will finally have learned how to use the new lenses of learning that we are giving them.

Broadcast Information

podcast feed
i-podder download