On Sat, 14 Jun 1997 June Main said:
> The results of cooperation/collaboration bring so much more depth
> and breadth to any project or undertaking, especially when the a
> group has great diversity of people with different persectives who
> are not afraid to express how they really feel about things . . .
> brings so much more understanding and appreciation of the value
> of different ways of thinking about something,
> different beliefs, and varied pathways with reasoning
> behind all of them. What a tremendous learning community . . .
> risk-free. . .creative . . . dedicated . . . thoroughly absorbing . . .
> emotionally supportive . . . non-hierarchical . . . enthusiastic . . .
> and so much more. Everyone is part of the flow . . . .
>
> Would be neat to have this kind of collaboration spread on a
> university level. . . and everywhere . . . intrinsically motivated . . .
> need more involved in this paradigm shift.
I am a student in the Whole Systems Design program at Antioch University
Seattle. If I am not mistaken, this kind of collaboration is the intent of
the university organization. There are no grades so we can't compete for
grades. We are invited and encouraged to collaborate whenever we can. I am
currently in a "learning cell," where we are expected to give each other
evaluations, in writing, that will be handed in to the registrar for
"grading." In my years in the program, I have never received a bad
evaluation, although I have been given advice and support. The environment
is as you say, "emotionally supportive, enthusiastic, non-hierarchical,
and everywhere intrinsically motivated." We all are expected to choose our
educational and career goals, with support of our degree committee and
each other. There is a high degree of creativity, innovation, and
community spirit. I feel at home when I am there. Sometimes I have
questioned my own ability in this environment, because there is none of
that pressure to perform I am used to, or grades by which I can judge
myself, but seldom have I questioned my fellow student's abilities. They
may be strange (for they are authentic), but I am continually amazed at
what we can do.
Check us out at WWW.SEATTLEANTIOCH.EDU.
I hate to brag, but it's pretty cool.
-- john.P.crutcher@boeing.com, esquireLearning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>