“Independence Media believes in the power of media to forge understanding.”
Minds of Adult Learners
In 1968, psychologists didn’t know very much about the inner lives of pre-school children, or how they learned. Now, we know a lot about early learning, and we offer a great many government, nonprofit and for-profit services to help pre-schooler succeed.
A half-century later, we don’t know very much about the inner lives of normal adults (though positive psychology is making progress), and we haven’t thought much about people from 20 to 100 think, learn, understand and share wisdom.
We should learn more about adults and how they come to understand. Let’s do this for the public good, and because new ventures already demonstrate high potential (TED, Coursera, and many more).
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Personal & Social Wellness
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Your body and your mind
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Your family and friends
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Your community
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Longevity
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Responsibility to Others
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Your inner circle
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Your everyday community
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People you see, don’t know
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People you don’t know; duty
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Progress, and the Future
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Role of individual vs. society
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Public vs. private good
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Who controls progress?
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Who designs the future?
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How the World Works
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Self-interest, common cause
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Social and income equality
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Trade, money, power
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Social and natural forces
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Briefly, here is the work to be done:
Synthesize the best available knowledge and theories about adult learning. Organize and present the information on this website so that our growing community can comment, and add to the knowledge base.
Deeply evaluate our current theories of understanding and wisdom. Determine whether these are worthwhile, achievable, measurable outcomes.
Involve many experts, and curious souls, in the R&D process. There is so much we do not know about how and why adults learn, we will invite professional guidance and what may be the wisdom of the crowd as well.
Build a shared document that includes all that we know about adults and learning. In part, our goal is pure research, and encouragement of a community of interest about adult learning. Our larger purpose is practical: we plan to develop the foundation and the guidebook for the collaboration of people who will work on curriculum, creative, technical and adult behavior aspects of future projects.
Four Areas of Focus
Understanding and Wisdom
Although some forms of adult learning apply to practical concerns, or personal interests, our concern is a higher-level approach to the cognitive and emotional power of the adult population.
These ideas are work-in-progress.
Understanding
Wisdom
Understanding is the opposite of ignorance.
Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance promotes social inequality, economic inequality, poor health, shorter life expectancy, obesity, lousy decisions, limited options, and stupidity.
Understanding is forged from observation, reason, knowledge, beliefs, spirit, and social interaction.
It rarely results from a single news story or even a documentary. Understanding requires a lot of time, a lot of thought, and a lot of input from a wide range of sources.
Understanding requires significant, ongoing effort.
The process may begin with practical competence, but often requires advanced capabilities in observation, literacy, numeracy, patience and the fine art of sense-making.
An adult who takes the time to understand often becomes a valued member of society.
Understanding is connected perception of self. In time, understanding leads to wisdom.
Wisdom combines understanding with abundant, robust life experience.
Wisdom imbues understanding with purpose.
Wisdom involves sharing as a sacred responsibility to others.
Understanding exists in the individual mind, but wisdom demands engagement with others.
Wisdom is connected to inner peace, secure love, compassion, awe, strength, power, deep humor, beauty, kindness, and endless curiosity.
Understanding may involve the taming of complicated ideas and connections, and navigation through layers of complexity.
Wisdom is simple, but never too simple.
Often, learning gets caught up in the details (an old habit learned in school), but adults ought to focus on what’s most important (and then celebrate the details as they wish).
Adults who pursue and share wisdom distinguish themselves from children.
An adult is generous, and works hard for the common good. A child is selfish and works hard for himself or herself.