At and group,
When I started reading about the 7Es of deep learning (a labeling I have
seen At use and I myself prefer) I was a bit confused, not the least since
I have only been a member for about 1 year. After a while I realized that
I could not even begin to understand them unless I somehow grabbed the
bull by the horn and narrowed things down.
It seems like a bit of a paradox perhaps that in order to start learning
about the 7E's one first has to apply the principle of spareness and
sureness. After all, these two are the essentialities of rote learning by
themselves, but since they are part of the 7 Es as a whole, this strongly
indicates that deep learning cannot be achieved without some rote
learning.
One needs to realize, however, that this is a step in becoming a learner
and realize that the more one learns, the blurrier the limits between the
7 become and the more one will be able to be fruitful in using them while
becoming more aware of ones own limitations and need for other paradigms
and approaches (qualitites) to learning than ones own.
But understanding "wholeness" and "liveness" is dependent on spareness and
sureness and that is why I decided to limit the 7E's to a few questions as
follows, in order to be able to start learning them at all. I thought they
may be of interest and a source for discussion. I have also inserted
comments to illustrate some of the ways the 7Es interrelate:
I look at the following 4 as essentialities of knowing and understanding:
Liveness ("becoming-being")
- Where is the system headed? (eg. what is our current state?)
- Where should it be headed? (eg. what are we trying to achieve?)
- How far is the system from being what it should? (eg. are we acting to
become?)
One of the very important functions liveness serves is to guide the
purpose of using the other Es. You could say that "liveness" has a
"spareness" function, which helps us prioritize the use of our limited
cognitive capabilities.
Sureness ("identity-categoricity")
- What are the past, present and potential events {anything that has a
beginning i.e. physical elements (number/characteristic) and their actions
(number, characteristics) as well as relations between the elements and
their description} of the system?
- How can the events be categorized and grouped based on how do they
relate, how they are similar, and how are they different?
It is now clear that you cannot understand becoming and being properly
without sureness.
Wholeness ("monadicity-associativity")
- How do the relationships of the events affect the characteristics of
the system as a whole or as groups of events?
- How do the events relate to those outside the system?
- How does the events of the system as a total affect the relationship
with outside elements and systems?
Wholeness is part of being and becoming, and cannot be understood without
sureness. Sureness reduces the cognitive load of understanding a system,
though the understanding will always be limited; if we could achieve
perfect understanding there would be no need to categorize. Increased
understanding of wholeness will help you to learn more about sureness
also, because you can see new and different relations and characteristics.
Spareness ("quantity-limit")
- What are the limitations of the systems inputs, outputs and processes?
You cannot understand spareness without sureness, because you don't have
the "what" in the question: how much of what? By understanding wholeness
and liveness you will know better what to measure. Also, you cannot
properly understand becoming or being without spareness.
I look at the next 2 as solution-search essentialities. Although they do
deepen understanding, and can be used solely for that purpose, they are
relatively dependent on the abovementioned 4. The more firm one has become
in the first 4, the easier and more effective it becomes to use the next
3:
The first 2 of the last 3 are solution search:
Fruitfulness ("connect-emergence")
- Can relation-events be made to something seemingly unrelated to provide
a solution? I.e. 1 + 1 => 1 + 1 + 1
- Can the system or part of it be connected or merged to another or vice
versa? (e.g. sell/buy a factory or part of it, J/V, etc.)
- I see this one primarily (but by no means only) as an extension of
wholeness. For example, fruitfulness refines your understanding of
wholeness, but also sureness, spareness, and liveness (e.g. maybe after
fruitfulness you realize you want to go somewhere else.) etc.
Otherness ("quality-variety")
- Can we increase certain types of events or introduce (currently alien)
ones into the system?
- How would it affect the events of the system as a whole or in groups?
- I see this one as PRIMARILY an extension of sureness and wholeness
I look at the 7th and last E in my categorization as a feedback point:
Openness ("open-paradigm")
- Mental paradigm shift: how might the physical and mental
characteristics, capabilities, environments and experiences change ones
view?
- I look at this essentiality as taking imagined or real advice and
firmly understanding it logically and emotionally.
- I see this E as an extension of the other 6 equally. Actually, it is a
feedback prompt for all of them including itself! This is why "openness"
is very helpful in all stages of learning and why good teachers are
important to make rote learning effective while reducing its negative
side.
Although I consider sureness and spareness as 1st steps in the learning
process, I do not mean that it is a linear process. Each of the 7Es
correlates positively with the others; sometimes directly and sometimes
indirectly.
Terje A. Tonsberg
--"Terje A. Tonsberg" <tatonsberg@hotmail.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <Richard@Karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>
"Learning-org" and the format of our message identifiers (LO1234, etc.) are trademarks of Richard Karash.