Eric states:
"learning is not the same thing as teaching"
At one level this is obvious. There are differential power and reward
issues in terms of the overall division of labour and community mebership
within the activity of formal learning and teaching institutions. My
motivations for teaching are different to my motivations for learning (or
in light of Bill's recent posting my researching). However you do not have
to push the envelope too far to see the commmonalities are far stronger
than differences. As I have noted previously we do not have words which
distinguish between teaching and learning in Welsh; it all comes from
context.
What do I do when I teach? I make my tacit understandings explicit. I
mediate these "understandings" to make them available to others. I examine
the response from others to see if I am making sense and modify my
mediation (and in so doing my tacit understandings) in the light of the
dialogue with others.
What do I expect my learners to do in their formal learning setting? Much
the same.
The mediation may include conversation, contrived but authentic (or
inauthentic) activity, use of a tool to achieve some object. Even my
principle roles as a teacher in the activity system are often those of
the learner: initiator, guide, designer, author, steerer, soundboard,
mirror. And, in most cases, the teacher and learner are the same species.
Martin
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Aug 01 2001 - 01:01:20 PDT