Learning Networks Article 1

Enlightenment of any kind is possible only through long and determined engagement with other people’s understandings and ideas. Understanding requires constant self-questioning. The philosophy of the learning networks is the acquisition of information, then sharing and transforming that information into learning through structured reflection. This means in effect that the networks have access to a greater range of knowledge and understanding allowing direct access to comprehensive shared learning, as distinct from that of departmental formal education.

 

The major advantage of the learning networks approach is the capacity to respond in positive ways to the complex and rapidly changing environments that both communities and organisations often find themselves in. From a learning network perspective the aim of collaboration is to shed new light on problems that affect us now, or will affect us in the future, and with which we are presently struggling.  Thus the overall purpose here is to increase awareness of the relevance of the learning networks to all areas of social and organisational frameworks.

 

Again, the learning networks must draw in those who are normally left outside the ‘learning’ process. They will provide a means of involving people that will lead to improvements in their own lives and in the communities in which they live. The learning networks are able to encompass not only those actors who have a history of visibility in local affairs, but also those who have in the past not necessarily taken an active role in organisational, or civic life

 

Learning networks will help to enhance levels of achievement, while at the same time encouraging people to see themselves as learners working in collaboration with others in the social, or organisational, context, as well as with the broader society. They will also encourage the exercise of both leadership and shared learning within and between networks and thus allowing the communities and organisations involved become truly learning enterprises, setting their own agenda for change in response to local needs and generating capacity for ongoing innovation and adaptation. The workings of the learning networks can, and have been described as:

• Learning together.

• Learning from each other

• Learning with each other.

• Learning on behalf of each other.

 

Learning networks are organic. Their purpose is to improve the quality of life of people and the health of the natural world by making real and sustainable advancements in the social, economic, environmental and educational areas of everyday life.

 

A learning network approach to improvement acknowledges that resolving social and environmental problems requires coordinated action. The adoption of learning networks will make a real and positive difference to the health and welfare of both the natural environment and human societies.

 

The aim of learning networks is to engage the talents and resources of people and resolve problems in an integral manner. Genetic networks have been evolving over billions of years, growing in complexity and interdependency in order to sustain the multiplicity of life that in turn sustains human life on Earth. We could describe such networks as learning networks.

 

Again, were appropriate, learning networks will also be able to address issues relating to cutting-edge research leading to new understandings that will enhance human well-being. Apart from the opportunity to meet and to share insights that are of real and sustainable benefit regarding local and national interests, the learning networks themselves offer the opportunity to develop ‘networks of learning’ that link into a number of global perspectives.

 

The learning networks will also encourage a more interconnected and multidisciplinary approach to issues of concern, allowing participants an opportunity to take an eagle’s-eye view of the connections and interactions within and between various communities and organisations operating across the broader social, educational, environmental and economic context. But, most important, they will give people an ideal vantage point with which to seize opportunities relating to their own current situation. The operation of the learning networks will also allow us to create a useful network of expertise across various sectors of human interdisciplinary learning. Expertise from one sector is shared with another for mutual benefit.

 

In addition, they will help to maximise the contribution of people to the life of their communities and organisations, as well as the contribution of the various support bodies in their efforts to achieve success and sustainability. Remembering that to ensure such transformation the work of the learning networks must be truly relevant with regards to the everyday lives of people themselves.

 

Without a focus on the engagement of local people there is little hope of achieving long-term success and sustainability. In addition, the learning networks will help to break down barriers to learning. They will also help to create new ways of learning and working together that will allow for the unravelling of what were previously seen as intractable problems, while identifying and making the most of new opportunities as they present themselves.

 

However, there is often a lack of cohesion in achieving these shared goals due to a lack of effective communication. The result: a deficiency of learning and sadly a loss of knowledge that could have proven to be of benefit for all concerned. Effectively, learning networks act as an antidote to the fragmented and wasteful nature of much of modern culture that continues to have an adverse, and often hidden negative effect on the long-term development and prosperity of society in general.

 

The learning networks will not be the basis for some abstract conceptual pursuit, but will allow participants to acquire new and beneficial insights, insights gained through the sharing of ideas and experiences regarding sustainable improvement that had not occurred before, and make a number of arresting observations that had not been previously considered. Another important role of the learning networks would be to subject our thinking, and the way we normally organise and do things regarding both reflection and critical examination, and to do so as rigorously as circumstances allow before committing real resources to any given project and to revise, if necessary, the resources needed in the light of effective and on-going scrutiny.  Also in terms of the learning networks themselves, keeping a watchful eye on their practical implementation to see if they are having either positive, or negative, consequences and to be prepared to revise, or rearrange them following any invalidating evidence of their effectiveness.

 

Learning networks derive solutions from the interaction and discussion they encourage. Again, from the substantial research and evidence gathered in recent times in areas such as medicine, as well as numerous other areas of scientific endeavour, there is a growing realisation that shared-learning is central to the successful attainment of new knowledge and understanding that is truly beneficial to human and environmental well-being.

 

The key to success in relation to social and environmental improvement is to link into appropriate learning networks. The idea of people working together, reflecting on and utilizing the wealth of knowledge available is a powerful and compelling way of ensuring sustainable improvement. For example, in social terms learning networks will provide a way of tapping into, and employing the innate knowledge of people for the benefit of their communities, that neither the local authorities, nor government agencies have the means of doing, or doing so effectively.

 

Participating organisations and social groups must acknowledge the fragile basis of all such networks. Thus the need to build into all learning networks the principles of leadership along with those of shared-learning, and the relinquishment of the traditional hierarchic and bureaucratic forms of organisational, as well as social procedure. It is worth keeping in mind that each learning network is, in turn, a network of free and independent partners having various interests and requirements that must be taken into consideration in the decision-making process.