Learning . . .
Something To Talk About!
Naomi O. Story, MCLI

In the last four years there appears to be a rediscovery or rebirth of the notion of learning at Maricopa. We are talking about something that's at the core of our system -- a value everyone shares. But why does it appear so controversial, so revolutionary, or so unique? And, what is even more amazing why are people from St. Louis, Los Angeles, and Orlando calling me to find out how Maricopa is leading the country with this new dialogue on learning!!?

Being an INTP (we faculty/staff developers have recently done our Myers-Briggs Inventory), I have been reflecting on this Maricopa phenomena with glee. Thinking about learning has been an energizing core value since I first discovered Piaget, Freire, and Vigotsky, and especially after being exposed to Bonnie Meyer and Ray Kulhavy at ASU and when I learned about organizational learning through Schein, Argyris, and Schon in the late 70s and early 80s. We were immersed in the learning not only as theory and practice, but also as students and teachers.

For many of us, learning is a given. It's what we have been facilitating in our classrooms and laboratories for decades -- such an obvious state of being that why should we even spend time discussing it? For others, discussing learning is merely the newest trend, at least since Peter Senge and Meg Wheatley became the organizational masters of the universe for today.

There is a recursiveness that exists as we discuss learning among our colleagues. Chancellor Elsner has written about our Learning Organization. The Maricopa Roundtable group wrote a draft of the Desired Learning Paradigm (DLP) in 1994. And, when the DLP draft was introduced for review across the district through the Instructional Councils in the fall of 1996, there was enough energy generated among faculty to power several electrical cars for a decade.

And now, as social and organizational systems like our Maricopa leadership has extended the dialogue, are we in fact starting with the same set of assumptions about what learning really is? Have our assumptions about learning evolved as times have changed? Are we treating learning differently these days? Are we learning differently now? Are we defining learning similarly across the district . . . across disciplines . . . across our organizational infrastructures? Is organizational and classroom learning the same? How do we measure learning? Do we even care to assess learning? What does it mean to be learning centered . . . For whom? Why now are we questioning learning? So many questions!

And, who should reflect and answer these questions? Well, it's simple...all of us! As we approach the 21st Century, we may not always have a "bridge" to cross the turbulent rivers of change. Fritjof Capra's recent book, Web of Life, provides a new scientific understanding for the interdependencies and interrelationships of psychological, biological, physical, social, and cultural phenomena as a synthesis of complexity theory. Can Learning also be our web of life? As Capra has fostered a new theory set to begin the discourse on the interconnectedness of systems, we as professionals should similarly continue to elevate the dialogues on learning to the next plane.

Jane McGrath, MCLI Faculty Fellow, has edited a rich collection of insightful articles on learning. Our thanks to all our authors and to Jeanne Fitzgerald, Phoenix College, Sally Rings, Paradise Valley Community College, and Jeannie Wyatt, Scottsdale Community College for engaging their students in our discussion of "What is learning?" You'll find their students' definitions throughout this issue. We hope this issue will provoke thought and dialogue so we can raise our collective consciousness about learning to a higher level. We encourage you to bend, fold, and mutilate your concepts of learning as academicians and learners