Many of us can remember a moment of learning where our eyes and mind lit up with new understandings. A “deeply moving, exhilarating, elevating moment” (Maslov, 1964, p. 5) of transformed perception that psychologist Abraham Maslov (1964) calls “peak experiences,” author James Joyce (1969) refers to as epiphanies, Design Thinkers label “mindshifts” (Goldman, 2014), and cartoonist simply infer with a lightbulb materializing over our heads.
As a lifelong learning superfan (aka. a geek), I am an ‘aha!’ moment evangelist. As a community development and learning designer, I adore exploring how pedagogy and technology can be interwoven to increase access to “peak” and deep self-in-systems learning.
In this vein, Athabasca University’s Jon Dron (2014) gives a layered exploration of learning technologies’ creative tensions and possibilities for innovation. For Dron, open universities and the like are proven incubators for innovation. “This is a distinctly Darwinian evolutionary pattern,” Dron writes. “Like the species of finch evolving on different Galapagos Islands, parcellation enables a higher rate of evolution that may then spread to the broader population as links and isthmuses form” (p. 247).
This concept of ‘innovation incubators’ and idea evolution that Dron describes are well known in the start-up world, where ‘makers’ play and rapidly prototype ideas through design thinking (Crichton and Carter, 2017; Goldman, 2014; ). So how can we experiment with those practices within personal leadership and distance learning?
Dron’s (2014) response returns us to the natural world for inspiration. Building on Otto Peters’ (1994) writings on systems perspectives in distance education, Dron advises learning designers to evolve in their generative understandings of the diverse systems that define next-generation education. Once again using ecological and system thinking language, Dron advises us to find equilibrium or balance between innovation and integration, soft and hard learning technologies, and change and change management. What this might look like in practice is not included in the scope of Dron’s exploration, inviting imaginative, innovative thinking to explore possibilities.
I’m always on the lookout exceptional distance learning design for deep learning and personal leadership. Have you ever experienced an innovation incubator as described by Dron (2014) that sparked a “peak” learning experience?
Crichton, S. & Carter, D. (2017). . Open School/ITA. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2zFkUwo
Dron, J. (2014). Innovation and Change: Changing how we change. In Zawacki-Richter, O. & T. Anderson (Eds.), Online distance education: Towards a research agenda. Doi:10.15215/aupress/9781927356623.01
Goldman, S., Carroll, M., Kabayadondo, Z., Cavagnaro, L. B., Royalty, A. W., Roth, B., … Kim, J. (2012). . In H. Plattner, C. Meinel & L. Leifer (eds). Design thinking research: Understanding innovation. (pp. 13-33). doi-org.ezproxy.royalroads.ca/10.1007/978-3-642-31991-4_2
Joyce, J. (1969). Ulysses. London: Bodley Head.
Maslow, A. H. (1964). Religions, values, and peak experiences. Retrieved from www.bahaistudies.net/asma/peak_experiences.pdf
Peters, O. (1994). Distance education and industrial production: A comparative interpretation in outline. In M. Keegan (Ed.), Otto Peters on distance education (pp. 107–127). London: Routledge. Retrieved from https://journals.openedition.org/dms/