Welcome to the Summer Learning Series, a collection of short pieces on how to learn and how to design.
This is the first input in the Pembroke House Summer Learning Series. We are talking about core ideas to get you ready for learning.
Summer Learning: Introduction to the series
Why are we doing this, how is it structured, and how to use the material.
Getting Ready
1. Getting Ready: The way we learn continues to change
Historical changes in the way we learn, and the challenges and opportunities presented by the power of machines.
2. Getting Ready: Proving versus improving
In recent decades there has been a focus on demonstrating effectiveness and efficiency, bringing benefits and pernicious side effects.
3. Getting Ready: Improving versus proving
More recently, the focus of learning has shifted to continuous improvement, and embedding learning into day to day work.
4. Getting Ready: Learning from mistakes
The shift to continuous learning has shown that error, mistakes, the failure to achieve goals is as if not more instructive than evidence of success.
5. Getting Ready: Principles and ethics
The shift in the way we learn cannot be achieved without strong principles and ethics. Laziness, fudging, over-claiming and plain lies are the enemy of progress.
6. Getting ready: Making decisions
Being wrong depends on making bold, clear decisions.
7. Getting Ready: The Settlement as a frame
The Settlement is a frame to see the world. The 21st Century Settlement brings that frame up to date.
8. Getting Ready: We versus I/s-frame versus I-frame
We can see the world in terms of ‘we’ -how communities flourish- or ‘I’ -how individuals flourish. Similarly we can use an s-frame -the systems and structures that bring out our better selves- or an i-frame -influences individuals to do what is thought to be in their best interests.
9. Getting Ready: The systems frame
Some challenges comprise linear chains that link problems to bad outcomes. Others are systemic, meaning challenges are produced by complex interplay between many variables.
10. Getting Ready: Emergent versus goal-led frame
We can set out with an objective, or we can set out not knowing where our path will take us.
Mentioned in these pieces:
Don Berwick for Ratio Talks talking about his Era 3 paper
Decline in airline crashes/fatalities from airlines
Five-year cancer survival rates
Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo’s Good Economics for Hard Times
How to Be Wrong report
Robert Putnam and Sheylyn Romney Garrett’s The Upswing on the historical shift between a ‘We’ society and an ‘I’ society
Camerados learning report
Chater and Loewenstein on the I and the S frame
I’m going to write these thoughts in here, just to capture them, happy to talk through them to…
A few thoughts:
– Meaning vs Learning – these seem very connected but maybe we need to discuss state what we think the relationship is. How much meaning do we draw from learning?
– Knowing the timeline that you are testing something within helps everything make sense. I don’t think everything can have the same learning loop of a week.
Some questions:
– How do we know that people are angry about data collection, specifically in Walworth. This is stated in one of the episodes and I wonder if there is some work that has been done on this that I don’t know about.
– Do we agree that it has to be written down to be considered learning? Sometimes for me a conversation is much more useful – maybe that conversation has to be written down?
– Where does the learning process sit in the hierarchy of our work, and is it the same for all roles?
On the format/content:
– Having some visuals really helps me. I could take in the ideas that there were visual references for much more quickly than those there didn’t have any
– I really don’t feel like these episodes stand alone. If they started with a one sentence summery of what they covered then maybe they would…but I don’t feel like I can start half way, and I do feel like I am not completing the task by not listening to them all.
The era 3 design principles to learning were used in DT17 by Ali and Nina…!