A New Culture of Learning: Rethinking Education

The evolution of education, particularly as filtered through the prism of emerging technology and new media, is something we’re keenly interested in and something of increasing importance to society at large. Now, from authors Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown comes a powerful and refreshing effort to approach the subject with equal parts insight, imagination and optimism, rather than the techno-dystopian views today’s cultural pundits tend to throw our way.

A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change makes a compelling case for a new kind of learning, one growing synchronously and fluidly with technology rather than resisting it with restless anxiety — a vision that falls somewhere between Sir Ken Robinson’s call for creativity in education paradigms and Clay Shirky’s notion of “cognitive surplus.”

We’re stuck in a mode where we’re using old systems of understanding learning to try to understand these new forms, and part of the disjoint means that we’re missing some really important and valuable data.” ~ Douglas Thomas

The book touches on a number of critical issues in digital learning, from the role of remix culture to the importance of tinkering and experimentation in creating, not merely acquiring, knowledge. Central to its premise is the idea that play is critical to understanding learning, something we can get behind.

Sample the content with some excellent talks by the authors on the book’s site and grab a copy of A New Culture of Learning — you won’t regret it.

Thanks, Helen

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The Power of Nightmares: BBC on the Politics of Fear

What al-Quaeda has to do with ancient Egyptian morality and Ronald Reagan’s liberalism.

BBC’s The Century of the Self, an ambitious documentary on the history of consumerism, is one of our most read and shared pieces. Commenter Jeremy recently brought to our attention another excellent documentary by the same British documentarian and writer, Adam Curtis: The Power of Nightmares — a provocative three-part miniseries subtitled The Rise of the Politics of Fear, exploring the origins of radical Islamists and Neo-Conservatives through archival footage and Curtis’ characteristically insightful narration.

Much of this threat [of international terrorism] is a fantasy, which has been exaggerated and distorted by politicians. It’s a dark illusion that has spread unquestioned through governments around the world, security services and the international media. This is a series of films about how and why this fantasy was created.” ~ Adam Curtis

The documentary, timely and necessary as we head into another year of “the war of terror” and all the political propaganda that propels it, is available on YouTube in 18 parts, six per episode, which we’ve conveniently compiled into 3 playlists: Part 1: Baby Its Cold Outside, Part 2: The Phantom Victory, and Part 3: The Shadows in the Cave.

If quality is your thing, a digitally restored version with imporoved sound and picture quality is available on Collectors Edition DVD.

Ultimately, The Power of Nightmares is an investment in your informed global citizenship — a compelling, controversial and thought-provoking exploration of some of the most fundamental building blocks of our present media reality and sociopolitical landscape.

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Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, Remastered

It’s no secret we love Carl Sagan, who has done for science what John Szarkowski has for photography and Paola Antonelli for design. What pushed him into the forefront of cultural awareness was the now-iconic 1980s 13-part TV series he narrated and co-wrote, entitled Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which was digitally remastered in 2002 and is now available in a glorious 7-disc DVD set. Nearly 3 decades ago, Sagan, eloquent and prfound as ever, touches on a number of today’s most critical issues — from international politics to our doomed dependence on fossil fuels — as he explores the universe and our place within it.

The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be. Our feeblest contemplations of the Cosmos stir us — there is a tingling in the spine, a catch in the voice, a faint sensation of a distant memory, as if we were falling from a great height. We know we are approaching the greatest of mysteries.” ~ Carl Sagan

Cosmos is an absolute cultural gem that we think should be required viewing in any education curriculum that purports to foster intellectual well-roundedness. The DVD set is well worth the investment, but you can also scour YouTube for segments from the different episodes.

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