Cultivating Learning Communities

How Can We Cultivate Learning Communities?(presented by: David Koenig)

First…Some Definitions (Mine)

Purpose of providing definitions: so we have some idea what we are discussing as we move forward; to be intellectually sound. Learning: knowledge, insight, habit or skill gained from learning.Community: an interacting population of various human beings in a common/certain location (ex: one’s family; BNU; China; the globe).

Next…Why This Topic?I.e.: Why Should We Care?

Why do you think…?

Today’s Basic Idea…

Why am I Qualified to Speak to You on this Topic..?

My main professional or academic qualification is my Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science.

So, I Will Argue That as Long as Things Like This Exist…:

A BetterWorld

Reason for Optimism..?

Today We Will…

Think about learning communitiesLearn more systems thinkingConsider how systems thinking might help to

solve some real-world problems

Today’s Aims & Objectivesare to…

Have you consider more about what causes problems

Have you think about how we might solve those problems

Offer systems thinking as one possible way we might solve those problems

The Joy and Importance of Learning

What If All Communities Were Dedicated to

Fostering the Connection between

Learning and Living?

A Personal Story about

Community Learning

Ventures

The Campus

Interdisciplinary

“Nature vs.

Nurture”

Advertising: connections

Reality

Connections

Why Did I Tell You

This Story?

core point

Teams and Organizations Can Learn

We Can NurtureThis Learning

Another definition of learning that I

think is relevant is…

“Increasing our capacity to do

what we want to do.”

why it matters

(pause)

Some Suggested Ways to Approach

Issues/Concerns/Problems

Some Ways – Tools and Techniques – that Use that Approach to Develop New Kinds

of Capabilities

Questions More Than

Answers

How to Know Rather Than

What to Know

• So how might we solve some of these problems using learning communities?

• What do you think?• I would suggest one possibility is leveraging...• “Systems Thinking”

You and Your Systems

Your Qi

Your Family

evolution’s purpose

Working Definition

(pause)

Systems Thinking

The Tale of the Slinky

The Blind Men and the Elephant

Or to Put it Another Way…

core point

You might think that because you understand "one" that you must therefore understand "two" because one and one make two…but you forget that you must also understand "and."

- Sufi teaching story

Systems Thinking is All About the

"and."

Working Definition: “Systems Thinking” (Mine)

“Thinking that is aware of, appreciates the role of, and tries to work with systems in how we learn and live.”

Caveat:Is “Systems Thinking” THE Answer..?

What would you like to change about China’s education “system” in your wildest fantasies..?

How Would You Do It?

Here’s One Possible Framework

for Productively Realizing that

Change

Have you Heard of the

“The Fifth Discipline?”

First: What is a “Discipline?”

Here’s an Example:

And…:

“The Fifth Discipline” is a

Pioneering Work about

Learning Communities,and Systems Thinking

The Book’s Cover

Author: Peter Senge

Let’s Create a Context for

Organizational Learning

What are Some Challenges

at BNU for…

Teachers?Students?

Administrators?

Deep Learning

A Metaphor for Adapting and Evolving

Learning about your Learning

Teams and the “Three-legged Stool”

The Three Basic Skill Types

Expressing individual and group ideals

Recognizing and managing complexity

Reflective thinking and generative conversations

First Discipline: Personal Mastery

PM

What is it?

surrender

present-moment awareness

action-without-doing

effortless action爲 無爲

What is a Good Test of Personal Mastery?

the degree of peace you feel within

Second Discipline: Shared Vision

PM SV

What can be an

Important Tool to Nurture a Shared Vision?

Dialogue

What Might be a Good Starting

School-Wide Question?

Do We Have a Clear Idea of the

Results We Are Creating through This Vision?

Third Discipline: Mental Models

PM SV

MM

What do you see…?

And here..?

What is the

Danger of a Single Story?

Fourth Discipline: Team Learning

PM SV

MM TL

What are Some Examples of

Team Learning?

What is Perhaps the

Most Important Goal of Team Learning?

Perhaps…Alignment

What can be an Important Tool for

Team Learning?

Again…Dialogue

And a Sample Tool..?

What Do You Think… is the

“Fifth Discipline?”

A Hint…:

Fifth Discipline: Systems Thinking

PM SV

MM TL

ST

What Does It Help You

to Do?

Adapt in Context

A Final Analogy…

The Phantom/no-explanation

Traffic Jam

(pause)

Final Thoughts:“Learning

without thought is wasted labor.”

- Confucius

“Everything is in everything.” Henri Bartoft, physicist

AnyQuestions?

Remember:

“Feel your way across the river over the stones.”

( 摸着石頭過河 )Deng Xiaoping

And Be Like Water…

Thank You