Lifelong learning

Life Long Learning, Note 08
Here is a great way to think about life long learing (Peak Learning, page 46).

Learning is an ongoing process in which you first identity the things that intrigue you, then find out about them to whatever degree you want. Next you process that knowledge and build on it, fitting it in where it is useful and worth keeping, while noting where you can find out the rest when and if you need it. Finally, you start the same cylcle over again.

Let's break it down.

An ongoing process.
It is not an event, it is a process. It is a process that has a number of movements.

Life Long Learning, Note 07

When I was in high school, now I know I had some fears about learning. Now in my "late middle age years" it is hard for me to imagine that I ever had these fears about learning. So I am caught off guard when I talk with adult learners and discover they have some of these fears.

It turns out that if you do have some fears, you are not alone. In fact, you are in the majority. Here are the Top 9 Fears About Learning as Ronald Gross maps them out in Peak Learning.

With a passion for 'lifelong learning', bookstores are one of my favorite places to browse.  I also have grandchildren so occasionally I find myself in the kids section of the store.  I have always liked picture books because they were easy to read.  It also provides a fuller learning experience by using words and pictures to connect.  While I was purusing the shelves I was surprised by a simple kids book by Rana DiOrio, "What Does It Mean to Be Present?".  It had very nice pictures but also an amazingly simple storyline.  

LCI has 'lifelong learning' as a bedrock concept.  Without lifelong learning transformation is impossible.  As long as we think of it as just reading and being open to new ideas we are not being honest about what lifelong learning is really about.  Isn't it really about change?  If we aren't changed have we really learned anything?  That changes the dynamics of lifelong learning for me.