Thoughts on Learning, Teaching and Life
by Leo Casey
What we need to know about how we learn
I attended a lecture in DIT Bolton Street by Dr Carl Wieman titled “Science Education in the 21st Century; using the methods of science to teach science” .This was of great interest to me as in the distant past I studied science and, like many others, I believe that we need to do more to…
I attended an excellent workshop today on the topic of assessment and learning. The workshop was delivered by Professor Sally Brown of Leeds Metropolitan University in the UK. The attendees consisted of a mix of our own faculty at National College of Ireland and teachers from some of the other colleges around the country as…
Somewhere in recent conversations someone came up with the line “if we can’t measure it we can’t manage it”. I have heard this many times before and I’m not sure of its origin – if I was asked in a pub quiz I would suggest Jack Welsh of GE but I could be wrong.Anyhow, the…
1901-1981French psychoanalytical theorist who’ s influence continues today most notably advocated by Slavoj Zizek. Lacan in turn, reinterprets Freud and in particular, the difficult concept of the unconscious. Lacan links language and the unconscious and suggests that the unconscious is structured like a language. This resonates with some of Freud’s ideas as articulated in Jokes…
I face a challenge every time I engage with psychoanalytical theories and theorists. I’m never really sure as to the substance and value of the approach. I remain detached and skeptical and tend to apply a higher degree of critical appraisal. On the other hand I sense that there are some very important ideas in…
Adults learn what they want to learn and what they perceive as useful to them;Internalisation involves the construction of new meaning based on passed experience and new stimuli;Learning can be understood as always involving cognitive, psychodynamic and societal/social aspects;Communities of practice embody all three of these aspects and as such are powerful drivers for adult…