From Now On
The Educational Technology Journal
 Vol 11|No 1|September|2001

Learning New Skills


There are often some thinking and learning skills we may not possess when we begin our project. We wade in full of confidence, only to hit a dead end, break a tool or find ourselves "at wits' end." What choice do we have? We can quit then and there, or we can figure out a new way, learn a new skill and get on with the project.

Sometimes we don't know what we don't know. At other times we may not know what skills are missing from our repertoire but required for success. We may not discover what is missing until we fail, fall flat on our faces and hit bottom.

Old models of research placed a premium on finding and collecting. Invention requires much more. We must still be skilled at learning what we need to know, but we must also be skilled at knowing how to learn new ways of learning and thinking as we proceed. We must be good at learning new skills on the run, on the job, in the trenches and wherever!

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Credits: The photographs were shot by Jamie McKenzie.

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