The Learning Science Guidebook

The main text for my next Social Age Guidebook is now complete, although i feel a fair amount of trepidation around releasing it: it explores Learning Science, with a broad approach to helping people to ‘explore their landscape of curiosity’, and to ‘curate their own discipline’. It’s a pragmatic line: if we can build our personal discipline through a solid understanding of evidence, research, and validity, but also pragmatic tools, then we should be able to move our practice forwards.

I have gone into this work with three objectives: firstly, to help build an understanding of what we actually mean by ‘learning science’ and broader scientific discipline, and what it can do for us (and explicitly, what it cannot do for us), secondly, to help people choose the areas they are most interested in, and thirdly, to explore (through a Learning Map), their own view of learning, and the ways that this understanding will inform personal practice.

But it’s imperfect work: necessarily high and broad, but also pragmatic and personal. I can only share my answers, not give answers to anyone else.

I am taking an unusual approach to releasing this: an initial version will be available online, but as a first draft, and then it will iterate to a full version in the new year. This is because i am immediately using it with a full cohort on the Modern Learning Capability Programme, and i know that prototyping this first draft fast will ensure i learn what works, and what does not. This is part of #WorkingOutLoud: being willing to share prototype work, and being unafraid to be wrong.