Learning As A Way Of Being

I highly recommend reading Peter Vaill's book Learning As A Way of Being . Vaill describes seven qualities of learning as a way of being. He differentiates this type of learning from what he calls institutional learning--our current mode of educating. The seven qualities of learning proposed by Vaill include:

• Self-directed: The learner should be able to manage his/her efforts to confront unique learning challenges.


• Creative: An attitude of exploration is needed when confronting novel learning problems.


• Expressive: This is learning by doing.


• Feeling: The learner needs to be able to deal with feelings of confusion, fear, and incompetence as well as experience the meaning of what is learned.


• On-line: Learning takes place within the environments we find ourselves rather than being confined to educational institutions.


• Continual: The realization that we are to learn throughout our lives and maintain the mindset of a beginner.


• Reflexive: Learn about learning and be aware of one's own learning process.

Vaill explains each of these qualities in depth. I am considering how to incorporate these qualities into my future courses.