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Subject:Re: Creativity and 'cross-linking' in the brain From:Elaine Winters <ewinters -at- NETCOM -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 14 Nov 1994 11:02:34 -0800
Richard Lippincott <rlippinc -at- BEV -dot- ETN -dot- COM> refers to cross
linking in the brain as an aspect of creativity ( I hope
I understood your meaning, Richard.); I've been doing
some thinking along these lines as creativity/learning
are impacted by this new technology.
I welcome the thoughts of others.
___________________________________
We must get away from old curricula models that say each
person must learn every single item of information.
This is a hold over from the olive grove, a remnant of the
original academy.
Internet availability means the academy encompasses more of us
each day; the body of knowledge is now estimated to double every
5 or 6 years.
While genetic engineering makes great strides; I doubt that they will
find a way for us all to learn everything about any given subject with
the confines of a lifetime.
As an Instructional Designer I've been looking at the issue of how to
'design' information in a way that is totally non-linear.
My thoughts right now, are to develop 'frames' from which information
can be accessed and connections formed to the next frame.
That's right, it starts to look like a web.
In this model not every person learns every single item of
information; people take what they need. If there is
frequent evaluation, reinforcement, and practice, then people
learn what they need to learn to acquire a given skill.
Electronic Performance Support Systems work a bit like this.
We know that when information is delivered when the person
needs, wants, or asks for it directly, it gets 'indexed' and
remembered.
Frames, on which we hang ideas, develop questions, find solutions,
share alternatives - - may be a timely, and ideal, model to grow
with the current explosion of knowledge, and well as increased access.
The other part of this is that while we acknowledge that people
learn differently, we don't pay more than lip-service to this truth.
The most obvious example I've seen recently is the inability of
software interface designers to accommodate the variety of
preferences that exist within the population of people who use computers.
Why is the interface rectangular; what keeps it from being round? Oval?
