An online double play (Stephen Downes to Graham Wegner to Konrad Glogowski) took me to a thoughtful post on creating genuine learning experiences.
I particularly noted Glogowski’s striving to balance the demands of his job. At one point he says, “We need to move beyond the traditional approach of ‘pick the tools, add students, and stir.'” The next sentence: “My curriculum is still to a large extent dominated by units, lessons, assignments….”
He offers a “work in progress,” his five-stage process for creating learning experiences. (Click the image to view a larger version.)
Chart by Konrad Glogowski. Used here under a Creative Commons license.
As I read the post and the chart, I immediately thought of comments in the August/September issue of Scientific American Mind. Mark A. W. Andrews wrote about satisfaction:
In your question you hint at a distinction between pleasure and satisfaction. In fact, MRI brain scans have provided evidence that there is indeed a significant difference between these feelings. Pleasure and happiness are passive emotions that happen to us as the result of outside stimuli. Satisfaction, on the other hand, involves an active pursuit — it is the emotional reward we get after adapting to a new situation or solving a novel problem.
Glogowski’s work with his students, it seems to me, will greatly increase their satisfaction with their ability to learn.
Reminds me of when a day when I spent several hours moving landscape rock from the front of my house to the back.
My 10-year-old daughter asked, “Dad, are you enjoying that?”
“In a way,” I said.
“That’s kind of weird,” she said.
After reading this post, I realize I should have said, “This activity is not pleasurable, but it does bring satisfaction.”