Anya Kamenetz, one of our favorite authors on OTL trends, posted a story recently on tools that help motivate, and specifically on the work of Jordan Peterson, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. Dr. Peterson has a number of programs underway, one of which is called “Maps of Meaning“, numerous youtube videos and a number of TED talks.
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Motivation is so crucially important for learning in most circumstances, including traditional learning environments and new cloud based learning environments, and perhaps especially so for “at risk” or “marginalized” youth and adults. Maps of Meaning has been around for decades, and focus on meaning as a central human drive, has also been around for millennia in philosophy.
So, it turns out, to make effective DLE, one needs to know a lot about a lot of elements…as we know “meaning” becomes a very challenging undertaking when we consult philosophy. Theories of how meaning works in our use of language can become discouragingly abstract and opaque. Yet, here we are, and we’ll take guidance where we can find it. Perhaps from Dr. Peterson in this TEDx talk.
Or this one:
Or maybe in this Google Hangout where he talks about his new book, “42”, which is the famous Douglas Adam answer to the big question of life the universe and everything. Maybe we should do more “Google Hangouts” ourselves for What Is Learning Today….