Summary+Q1

=**Summary of Week 4**=

Hey Brendan, I am adding a word document on which I started to work. It follows prior weekly formats to some extent except that I haven't physically broken it into themes.
//Wow, Doug your being way more organized than me. Do we need to record who said what? Duffie said we should not quote people. I am just saving highlights that I think answer the question or add interest. What do you think? Things are greating intense, Laura keeps doing our job!!// //Cheers Brendan//

Q1
Kristen Trustham; May29, 2012 at 12:32 PM two key conditions that exist within social movements that create immense opportunities for learning. First and foremost, those who join a social movement are likely to be passionate about the cause for action. When one is passionate about a topic or event, they tend to be more engaged in learning. In addition to this, social movements also provide incredible opportunities for reflection. To me, this is another key condition (yes, I would like to add another) for learning that exists within social movements. To get the most out of an experience, reflection is a critical activity to undertake. In social movements, I would argue a lot of reflection happens unintentionally, but is still incredibly powerful. Protestors involved in a movement constantly engage each other in dialogue, whether it’s about the day’s events, an upcoming tactic, or reviewing actions that did / did not work in the way intended. In engaging in conversation and analysis, the protestors are participating in reflecting upon and, ultimately, learning from their actions.

Kristen Trustham: May 29, 2012 4:01:43 PM

In reflecting back on their involvement, people involved in social movements would be able to uncover “gems of learning” that have stayed with them over time.

Consumer Ed. Laura Graham; May 29, 2012 at 6:46 PM In order to gain support and attract new protesters, for instance, their educational message needed to reach local, national and international audiences. Learning and creativity were required to respond to unique challenges presented by the movement and to ensure its progress. Soft skills, such as building relationships, mediating differences, living in a communal environment, coping with periods of hopelessness and despair, negotiating skills, and assertiveness were also developed and honed during these times of adversity and purposeful action. These learning opportunities focussed on the individual and the collective and were relevant to the social, economic and ecological context.

Cheryl Babin: May 31, 2012 11:37:58 PM

The leadership and learning styles we've discussed in other threads are so crucial. Democratic leadership coupled with a transformative approach to learning would certainly enable participants and outside observers to better understand the concepts worthy of highlighting.

Consumer Ed. John Little: May 31, 2012 6:12:46 AM Also, I think appealing specifically to the 10% we are discussing is important. Like it or not, that is where a lot of public opinion is formed, as this is the group the media targets and, again, like it or not, the media has a huge influence on society. If a movement can get the 10% on board, it will be taken seriously and the media will carry its message. If it tries to restrict itself to the underprivileged, it risks being labeled as radical and never getting its message across.

Patricia Nuyten; May 29, 2012 7:12:12 PM Experiential learning seems to be a characteristic of social movements where knowledge is generated, as discussed, through informal and formal means but it is the selfless sharing of this knowledge that is unique to social movements. Most often learning is an individual process but learning caused by participation in a social movement becomes a communal process where the knowledge is shared in order to educate the collective. Social movements provide the venue through which whole person learning occurs by way of a direct connection of what was learned, cognitively, and what was done, kinetically, to take action.

Doug:

I think that a lot of people get involved in a social movement for altruistic reasons. Lauria Graham: 1.What if altruism is nothing more than enlightened self-interest?

2. self-interest can certainly motivate people to become interested in and learn about a cause, especially one that personally affects them.

3. I think the trick is to draw out the personal connection to a cause by reframing key messages in terms of how it does affect us.

Arlayna Alcock: May 30, 2012 6:58:05 AM benefits of globalization that counters the negative impacts- the average person has more access to specialized information and a more rapid ability to communicate within the community and the world and this pressure is what forces change.

7:34:02 PM Arlayna Alcock: May 30, 2012 7:34:02 PM It is very easy for us to say that we should reduce our consumption, but that there are social repercussions to making a fundamental changes in lifestyle. I

Cheryl Babin; May 30, 2012 5:04:02 PM Anger, outrage, indignation, and pride, on the other hand, encourage action. Growing research has examined how action is sparked through emotional dynamics. A sense of agency is important for both recruiting new members and motivating existing ones."

Cheryl Babin: May 29, 2012 11:25:13 PM Also, our understanding of how adults come to a situation with their own perceptions and ways of knowing, make it challenging and intersting to think about how you would come to know the members of your group. The time, effective teaching and learning strategies and, as Kirsten mentioned 'reflection' is required to know how each individual may react when pressured through such intense situations.

Cheryl Babin: May 30, 2012 5:04:02 PM Goodwin and Jasper (2006) uncovered historical perspectives on the culture of the "group think" that Duffie mentions as well as emotions and adult learning in conjunction with activism. Often leaders seek to engage susceptible individuals, who may already feel alienated, marginalized or predisposed to violence. Suddenly, they are part of a group that values their contributions and generates the identity they seek to fulfill.

Motivating adult learning. John Little: May 31, 2012 6:00:22 AM I was thinking while reading the texts his week that a person could really use this way of learning to drive an adult education class. There are any number of ways to do this, but I think it all stems from motivation. As you alluded to in your post, adults come into a classroom with already-developed skills and beliefs. For teachers of adults, the challenge then is to find a way to make use of these skills in a way that motivates the learners. Finding a common cause within a classroom could be a challenge, but a key focus would also be in allowing the learning to be directed, to an extent, by the students themselves. Assigning roles to case studies and letting people run with those roles could initially have people working within their own comfort zones, but with the cross-disciplinary learning that is so heavily discussed in the text taking place, these comfort zones would soon break down and people would begin learning from each other. It could make for an excellent learning environment if it were managed properly.

Cake: Duffie Vanbalkom: May 30, 2012 4:04:55 PM So, what else is needed to bake a learning-cake?

Duffie Vanbalkom: May 31, 2012 6:39:09 PM Thanks for rising to the challenge with thoughtful posts, and three important emerging "cake ingredients": transformative education, the role of leadership, and critical thinking. Just, as I was starting to doubt myself, perhaps I am on the right track, after all, to keep pushing the critical analysis piece of the minis... ;) Duffie

Cake: John Little: May 31, 2012 5:42:34 AM As an administrator where everyone is passionate about what they are doing and there is potential for this passion to have negative results, you almost have to flip the administrative switch and try to ensure people are not working too hard. It'd be an interesting contrast from trying to engage people to trying to, in a sense, disengage them. Managing people in this situation would be a very different skill set.

John Little: May 31, 2012 5:50:19 AM I'd also add that a very important lesson to come from social movements is the sense of agency that occurs. I think getting involved in these things teaches that people who actually act (when so many do nothing, even if they agree with the cause) have their destinies in their own hands.

Motivating learners. John Little: May 31, 2012 6:00:22 AM There are any number of ways to do this, but I think it all stems from motivation. As you alluded to in your post, adults come into a classroom with already-developed skills and beliefs. For teachers of adults, the challenge then is to find a way to make use of these skills in a way that motivates the learners. Finding a common cause within a classroom could be a challenge, but a key focus would also be in allowing the learning to be directed, to an extent, by the students themselves. Assigning roles to case studies and letting people run with those roles could initially have people working within their own comfort zones, but with the cross-disciplinary lear

**Extra resources mentioned by course participants for week 4**
Budd Hall's blog: []

Jarvis, P. (2006). Towards a comprehensive theory of human learning: Lifelong learning and the learning society New York, New York: Routledge (p. 33-51).

Goodwin, J. & Jasper, J. (2006). Emotions and Social Movements. //Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research//, Section IV, pages 611-635.

Voltaire, //Philosophical Letters// (1734

http://www.peoplesgrocery.org/

http://youtu.be/mRumFIcRtFk

http://takeaction.walmartwatch.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=6103

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http://calgarydollars.ca/listings/