tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323202250325013491.post-80499903331133626832008-03-28T09:50:00.000-05:002008-03-28T09:50:00.000-05:002008-03-28T09:50:00.000-05:00Perhaps we could redefine <I>disintermediation</I> as a disruption of our default notion(s) of appropriate information-distribution models and <I>mediation (re-mediation?)</I> as the act of remaining open to a variety of perspectives on the same topic (including perspectives that relate to one's own experience and the experiences of peers.<BR/><BR/>Ellen Langer (Harvard, social psychology) has spent 30 years building a (to my mind elegant) theory of mindfulness that challenges most of our deeply held ideas about learning, teaching, expertise, and behavior change. <BR/><BR/>Although Langer has published widely in the professional literature, her popular books make much of her research available as quick and easy reading. <BR/><BR/>Here's a brief snippet from <B>The Power of Mindful Learning</B> where Langer argues for the importance of uncertainty, ambiguity, and multiple perspectives (contexts) in fostering mindful learning. It contains a cogent note about expertise:<BR/><BR/><I>Uncertainty creates the freedom to discover meaning. If there are meaningful choices, there is uncertainty. If there is no choice, there is no uncertainty and no opportunity for control. The theory of mindfulness insists that uncertainty and the experience of personal control are inseparable...<BR/><BR/>Expert observers tend to focus on particular features of a situation that enable them to hold variables constant….Perceived stability is often in the experts’ interest because their authority frequently rests on the stability of the categories they employ.<BR/><BR/>One of the fears people may have of an educational system that creates a place for several perspectives is that nothing will remain stable, there will be nothing reliable on which they can lean for continuity. Yet we discover that by viewing the same information through several perspectives, we actually become more open to that information…. If we fail to explore several perspectives, we risk confusing the stability of our own mindset with the stability of the phenomenon itself.</I>Peghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14161350241459517207noreply@blogger.com