A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Douglas Thomas (Author), John Seely Brown (Author), Stephen Bowlby (Narrator),

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The 21st century is a world in constant change. In A New Culture of Learning, Doug Thomas and John Seely Brown pursue an understanding of how the forces of change, and emerging waves of interest associated with these forces, inspire and invite us to imagine a future of learning that is as powerful as it is optimistic.

Typically, when we think of culture, we think of an existing, stable entity that changes and evolves over long periods of time. In A New Culture, Thomas and Brown explore a second sense of culture, one that responds to its surroundings organically. It not only adapts, it integrates change into its process as one of its environmental variables. By exploring play, innovation, and the cultivation of the imagination as cornerstones of learning, the authors create a vision of learning for the future that is achievable, scalable and one that grows along with the technology that fosters it and the people who engage with it. The result is a new form of culture in which knowledge is seen as fluid and evolving, the personal is both enhanced and refined in relation to the collective, and the ability to manage, negotiate and participate in the world is governed by the play of the imagination.

Replete with stories, this is a book that looks at the challenges that our education and learning environments face in a fresh way.

Listening Length

3 hours and 10 minutes
Author

Douglas Thomas, see all
Narrator

Stephen Bowlby
Audible release date

September 18, 2012
Language

English
Publisher

Podium Audio
ASIN

B009CR3UI6
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	3 hours and 10 minutes
Author	Douglas Thomas, John Seely Brown
Narrator	Stephen Bowlby
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	September 18, 2012
Publisher	Podium Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B009CR3UI6
Best Sellers Rank	#241,750 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #921 in Inclusive Education Methods #1,425 in Computers & Technology Education #5,565 in Education & Learning

Customer reviews

5 star		64%
4 star		18%
3 star		7%
2 star		6%
1 star		5%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Aaron Schumacher

read Failure to Disrupt instead

Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2022

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I read this book and it introduced me to the word aporia, which I appreciate. Here is a definition that comes up on Google:

aporia: an irresolvable internal contradiction or logical disjunction in a text, argument, or theory

Here is a summary of this book, in one quote from its page 107:

In our view, MMOs are almost perfect illustrations of a new learning environment.

I have minor gripes and major gripes about this book. A minor gripe is they say "petri dish" a lot, and I think they shouldn't. A major gripe is that the whole book is essentially a false dichotomy between a straw man version of schooling and impoverished, unworkable gesticulations labeled "new learning." It isn't that there aren't any good ideas here, but they are old ideas misunderstood and presented as if new.

Skip this book.

Helpful

Donald N. Philip

An excellent book

Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2012

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This book is an excellent and well researched of how, due to technological change, it is now possible to envision a school system that moves from a teaching centred model to a learning centred model creating a new culture of learning. Among other things, they note, for example, that many criticize the current generation for not reading enough, but if you look at sites like the Harry Potter fan sites, quite young children are writing reams of material just for fun. So they're not just reading, they're creating material in a way that schools currently neither recognize nor encourage. This aspect of following one's passions and being creative are among the forces that are driving the new culture of learning.

5 people found this helpful

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J. Scott Shipman

Much to admire

Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2011

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The first six chapters of this book are remarkably insightful. The authors offer innovative examples just how our digital world is altering the means and methods of effective education. The last three chapters left me with more questions than answers (and perhaps that was part of the goal, since questioning and reframing are extolled). Our world is changing to be sure, but "to what" isn't developed beyond models inadequate to the question---the gaming example seems more symptom/by-product than predictive for it is almost entirely context based. Gaming is an excellent example of self-organized communities gathering to meet a challenge for entertainment, but in reality it is also a consequence free environment.

This volume is highly recommended to anyone curious about the impact of technology on our children and our culture.

2 people found this helpful

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Michael D. Kennedy, Professor of Sociology and International Studies, Brown University

the opportunity for liberal arts education

Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2011

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Anybody who cares about how we might engage a world of increasing complexity, uncertainty, and possibility needs to read this book. Educators especially need to pay attention.

We want to instill a passion for learning, but we typically address our desire by first thinking about designs - of syllabi, curricula, distribution requirements and more. Thomas and Brown invite us to change our starting point by asking how people learn today in a world with unprecedented access to information.

The authors invite us to recall that disturbing memory - even when America was poised to invade Iraq, most US citizens could not find Iraq on the map. But some, Thomas and Brown suggest, would simply draw on their internet facility to find the answer. While we should expect more of a citizenry in what they know, we should also think anew about how people learn.

Yes, people learn in classrooms, but the authors encourage us to think about how people develop their knowledge beyond the classroom. Colleges are great not just for what the professors offer, but what the students do with their assignments off hours. To be immersed in a world of learning, as Thomas and Brown say, is the real inspiration I recall from my college days at Davidson, and what I now see among my students at Brown. But thirty years make a difference.

My college learning depended on terrific anchors - an honor code that assured integrity, a set of distribution requirements that inspired breadth, and a college culture that could move my passion from golf to sociology. Today's culture of learning, the authors propose, flows more, relying less on preexisting stocks of knowledge or fixed cultures of intellectual authority and more on a passion for learning that itself is a form of play.

My students and I discussed this book in our class on knowledge networks and global transformations yesterday. These digital natives debated it - how American are the assumptions? How much can we trust that this new culture of learning moves toward truthfulness rather than truthiness? Are there ways to move digitally produced collectives toward more ethical behavior, and away from destructive practice? It was a great discussion, evidenced by how it continued well beyond the classroom.

As I listened, I wondered whether in fact I was observing just what Thomas and Brown were describing - this different culture of learning in action, and whether, in that assembly, I was seeing in formation that next incarnation of the thing which made Brown University famous more than three decades ago: its new curriculum.

Universities and colleges are embracing, at different paces, the revolutions in information and communication technology, from digitalizing libraries to blended online and onsite learning. But after this volume and its classroom discussion, I would like to understand better the effect and potential of this new culture of learning in higher education. And it begins with these questions:

Do Thomas and Brown capture this new culture well? It strikes most of my students to be on target, but it does call out for more research.

How does this new culture of learning combine with traditions in liberal arts? There are complements to be sure, but there are some real tensions that need to be faced.

Even as the information revolution promises to globalize knowledge, it proceeds with the accents of its vanguard. Are there ways that the global conversation might find and elevate the diversity that the authors themselves acknowledge to be the fount of creativity?

"Where imaginations play, learning happens". That's the message, that's the invitation, and that's the hope. And next time we figure out how to assess our institutions of higher education, let's identify the spaces for imagination in our local worlds of learning.

20 people found this helpful

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Phil Vice

Required Reading

Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2012

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"A New Culture of Learning" by Thomas and Brown should be a required read for all educators. The text walks us through how students interact in today's world. A couple of things have always interested me while teaching. First, if we want to educate all students how do we reach those that are completely disconnected from learning or at least how we teach in schools presently. As a High School teacher in North Carolina teaching Career and Technical education curriculum, I find that some of my students are not academically motivated. They are the ones that "keep me up at night". How do you reach a child that feels school has nothing to give them? What also seems to be connected to this thought is the fact that many of these students are accomplished at computer games. I have tried computer games and continue to be amazed at the abilities and complexities required to master these games. How can we as educators tap into this learning model? How does this generation learn? Are we missing an opportunity in not utilizing technology in the classroom? If these questions peek your interest then this is the book to read. The authors do a great job of relating how students of this generation learn and how education might shift to incorporate this learning style.

4 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Mrs. M. Mcgrath

Learning for the 21st century

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 28, 2014

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Thomas and Brown provide a brilliant summary of what is happening to the world of learning in the internet era.

There was a time when the only ways to gain knowledge were limited and often convoluted. Knowledge was parcelled up by experts and delivered in a format that was suited to their way of thinking.

The limitless access to information that we now enjoy has democratised the learning process by making pretty much any information available to pretty much anyone.

This means that teaching and learning has new roles. The content provider is obligated to make their content as engaging and relevant as possible. The teacher has to be an enabler, helping learners to discover, interpret and use the content that is available to them and to judge its integrity. And finally, the learner takes on a much more accountable role in the process; they must assume responsibility for setting out and pursuing a learning journey, seeking input, coaching and mentoring to overcome the difficulties they encounter.

We are seeing this transformation happening all around us, every day. Just watch what happens when someone posts a problem they are tackling on Face book or Linked in - friends and colleagues pile in to help out, recommending sources of help and the like. Thomas and Brown, describe this phenomenon as 'Arc of Life Learning', and they see this as a healthy and life long pursuit.

This all requires a new way of thinking about the process of learning, but I find the new 'spin' almost entirely positive.

HIghly recommended book that is an easy read.

One person found this helpful

Bruno Costa Teixeira

great book

Reviewed in Brazil on June 22, 2013

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The best book I have ever read about the art of learning in the digital age. . . . .

R. Kay

You could skip this one

Reviewed in Canada on February 2, 2015

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Usually books associated with the second author are quite good. Unfortunately, this books was quite light in terms of theory and substance. The point could have been made in a chapter. I enjoyed the writing, but I am not sure there is a solid, evidence-based argument made for the claims made in the book. Some are quite reasonable, but I was looking for a well-developed, substantial argument. Not a total loss, but I would not recommend this book.

Lawrence Baldwin

A New Culture of Learning

Reviewed in Canada on January 10, 2013

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I chose two stars because the concept of game playing as a valid form of learning and the collective on line study groups.
the collaborative live study groups can foster more inter personal participation and development
Gaming can become addictive and what is learned may not be as predicted. The internet as research tool or a information source or assignment that can be kept current is already established. The authors filed to convince me that their thesis is that profound but did get me thinking and maybe that in itself has merit.

One person found this helpful

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A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

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