翻译《开放大学课程T205_1：学习、思考与实践》

Learning, thinking and doing

学习、思考与实践

T205_1

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• Time: 16 hours

• 时间：16小时
  Level: Introductory

• 水平：介绍
  

Introduction

导言

• Introduction
• 导言
• This unit has been written because it is all too easy not to take an active approach to learning, thinking and doing, merely reading information but not actively engaging with it. The unit itself is a...
• 制作本课程之因为大家觉得太容易而没有积极主动的去学习、思考和实践，仅仅阅读信息而不投入其中。本单元……
  

Reading 1 Learning and reflection

阅读 1 学习与沉思

• 1.1 Learning to learn
• 1.1 学习如何学习
• This unit is about developing your effectiveness as a learner. For example, there are activities which invite you to apply theories to practice and also to criticise theories in the light of practical...
• 本课程用以开发你的学习效力。比如，有活动邀请你将理论付诸实践并在实践中批判理论……
  
• 1.2 Effective course study
• 1.2 有效的课程学习
• Research into how people study effectively suggests that it is important to pay attention not only to the content of what we are trying to learn but also to the process of our learning. Time spent on the...
• 对人们如何有效学习所做的研究显示，在我们学习的时候不光我们学习的内容很重要，我们学习的过程也同样重要。花在内容上的时间……
  
• 1.3 Learning beyond course study
• 1.3 超越课程的学习
• Learning how to learn has become an important goal in higher education. There is a national context in which an emphasis on ability to learn has come to prominence. It is now widely asserted that an ability...
• 学会学习已经成为高等教育的一项重要目标。强调突出学习能力有其国家背景。现在广泛宣称……
  
• 1.4 Reflection and course study
• 1.4 反思与课程学习
• Many of the units on the openlearn website include self-assessment questions and activities designed to require you to stop and think, sometimes to take action. This is also true of many Open University...
• 开放学习网站里的许多课程都包含自我评估相关问题，以及设计来需要你停下来思考、甚至采取某种行动的活动。
  
• 1.5 Defining reflection
• 1.5 反思的定义
• Reflection is both an academic concept and also a word in common use, combining ideas of thinking, musing, pondering and so on. This everyday meaning is a good basis from which to start: reflection is...
• 反思，既是一个学术的概念，也是一个常用词，结合了思考、沉思、考虑等等。其常用意思是一个很好的出发点：反思是……
  
• 1.6 Making the most of your reflections
• 1.6 充分利用你的反思
• The value of the work you do on all the activities in this unit will be strengthened if you can keep track of it and follow the development of your own ideas as they build up. It helps to keep your notes...
• 如果你能像留意自己思路的建立过程那样留意并遵循自己的思路发展历程的话，你在本课程内所有活动中的工作价值都将得到加强。着能帮助你记录……
  
• 1.7 Building on strengths
• 1.7 以优势为基础
• A self-review exercise for your learning file
• 一份用于你学习文档的自我复查练习
  
• 1.8 Conclusions
• 1.8 结论
• Could both of these students have got more from their involvement with the course if they had taken time to reflect on their goals and their strengths and weaknesses, especially at the beginning of study?...
• 如果这些学生花些时间——特别是在学习开始的时候，反思他们的目标和自己的长处和弱点，他们是否可以更深入的参与到课程当中去？……
  

Reading 2 What is learning?

阅读 2 什么是学习？

• 2.1 Different conceptions of learning
• 2.1 不同的学习观念
• Although we spend large amounts of our lives learning, intentionally and otherwise, it is quite unusual to spend any time thinking about what learning actually is. This reading gives you an opportunity...
• 虽然我们在学习上花费了大把的时间，但不管出于有意还是无意，花费一点时间思考学习的本质是什么仍然相当不寻常。
  
• 2.2 Memorising, understanding and doing
• 2.2 记住、理解和实践
• You are now likely to be aware of various ways in which learning is diverse – as a process and in terms of its outcomes. In this final section is a very simple scheme for discriminating between the demands...
• 你现在可能意识到着眼不同——过程或者结果，学习途径也会各不相同。在最后一节有一个非常简单的计划，用来区分……
  
• 2.3 The learner's repertoire
• 2.3 学习者的技能
• Much of the learning required in this unit is a mix of understanding and skill development. Very little rote memorisation is involved. In learning generally, the different kinds of activity required for...
• 本课程需要大量理解和高级技能。不需要死记硬背。一般在学习中，不同的活动需要……
  
• 2.4 Using a variety of methods for effective study
• 2.4 使用各种方法进行有效学习
• You may find it difficult at this stage to recognise what kind of activity would be most helpful for which parts of course study. In any case, people differ in what works best for them. The important point...
• 你可能很难在现阶段确认哪种活动对应哪部分课程学习最有帮助。在任何情况下，每个人都有最适合自己的工作方式。最重要的是……
  
• 2.5 Back to your definition
• 2.5 回到你的定义
• Now you have worked through this reading, reflect on your own version of what learning is, as you drafted it for your learning file at the start of this reading. Did you give more emphasis to the outcomes...
• 就像在你阅读之前为你学习文档草拟的一样，现在你已经通过阅读上面文章，得出了你自己的对学习的认识。你是否为这些结论给出更多重点……
  

Reading 3 Models of the learning process

阅读 3 学习过程的模型

• 3.1 The acquisitive model of learning
• 3.1 学习的理想模型
• What happens when we learn? I shall explore three explanations, or models, of learning which attempt to answer this question. These three models have particular strengths and weaknesses. The point is not...
• 当我们学习的时候发生了什么事情？我将探讨学习的三种试图回答这个问题的不同解释或模型。这三种模式有其特定的长处和短处。重点在于……
  
• 3.2 The constructivist model of learning
• 3.2 建构学习模型
• This model of learning concentrates on what happens during the process of learning. It identifies the central role of concepts and understandings that learners bring to new learning and the way in which...
• 这种学习模型关于学习过程中所发生的事情。它确定了这些概念和理解的核心作用：学习者用于新学习和新旧概念以何种方式相互作用的概念和理解。
  
• 3.3 The experiential model of learning
• 3.3 体验学习模型
• The main proponent of this approach to learning, David Kolb, put forward a theory which he intended to be sufficiently general to account for all forms of learning (Kolb, 1984). He argued that there are...
• 这种学习方式的主要倡议者，戴维·库尔博，提出一项理论，他为各种学习形式规定足够一般的利益（库尔博，1984）。他坚信……
  
• 3.4 Conclusion
• 3.4 结论
• The headings alongside each of the activities in this article were there to remind you of the three different types of learning to which you were introduced in Reading 2: memorising, understanding and...
• 本文的每一项活动边上的标题都在提醒你《阅读2》中介绍的三种不同类型的学习……
  

Reading 4 Learning to act: managing and systems practice

阅读 4 学习实践：管理与系统化练习

• 4.1 Introduction
• 4.1 简介
• This unit teaches some aspects of systems thinking and practice. But what does it mean to be a systems practitioner, and is it different to being a manager? This reading attempts to answer those questions....
• 本课程教授系统化思考与练习的一些方面。但这对于一个系统受训者意味着什么？这与管理者有什么区别？本文试图回答这些问题……
  
• 4.2 What it means to be good at managing
• 4.2 擅长管理意味着什么
• What does it mean to be ‘good at managing’ and what part does systems thinking and practice play? One way to explore the first question is to ask what you know about your work that a school leaver, or...
• “擅长管理”意味着什么？系统化思考和具体实践由哪一部分起作用？探讨第一个问题的一种办法是问你知道有关你工作的哪些……
  
• 4.3 New ways of thinking and acting: systems practice
• 4.3 思考与行动的新方法：系统化练习
• There are a wide variety of concepts and theories relating to management and managing. This unit is centred on the ideas and techniques that we believe define systems thinking, but it also draws upon concepts...
• 有很多与管理和经营有关的概念和理论。本课程关注我们认为能界定系统化思考的思路和技术，但也借鉴……
  

• References
• 参考资料
  
• Acknowledgements
• 致谢

Introduction

简介

This unit has been written because it is all too easy not to take an active approach to learning, thinking and doing, merely reading information but not actively engaging with it. The unit itself is a mixture of the theoretical and the practical, the academic and the vocational, and the readings that follow are designed to stimulate an active approach to learning, thinking and doing. There is no right way of engaging with the material covered in this unit – you have your own reasons for studying it and your own favoured styles of working.

编写本单元是因为大家觉得太容易而没有积极主动的去学习、思考和实践，仅仅阅读信息而不投入其中。在本单元中，理论结合实践，学术联系职业，接下来的阅读旨在激励一种积极的阅读、思考和实践态度。没有什么好办法来处理单元相关资源——你有你自己的学习理由，你有你自己的工作方式。

This unit deals with the strategies for coping with the demands of learning, but does not cover the tactics required for successful learning. It does not cover specific study skills such as note taking, effective writing or preparing for assignments. If you believe that you need to learn, or brush up on, these types of skills then you are strongly advised to get a copy of The Sciences Good Study Guide by Northedge, Thomas, Lane and Peasgood, 1997, Open University, ISBN 9780749234119.

本单元研究应对学习需求的策略，但不包括学习成功所必需的办法。不包括特殊的学习技能，比如做笔记、高效写作或准备准备功课。如果你认为你需要学习或温习这些技能，强烈建议你阅读 Northedge, Thomas, Lane and Peasgood 写的《科学的良好学习指南》，1997年开放大学出版， ISBN 9780749234119。

Learning Outcomes学习目标

After completing this unit you should be able to:

完成本单元之后你应该能做到：

• assess your learning styles and capabilities, using a learning file in which to record your progress;
• 评估你的学习风格和能力，使用一个学习文档记录你的学习过程；
  
• describe the main definitions of learning as a process, and the role played by memorising, understanding and doing;
• 从过程的角度来描述学习的主要定义，以及识记、理解和实践在学习中的作用。
  
• explain the three main categories of theories about learning, namely the acquisitive, constructivist and experiential models of learning;
• 解释三种主要的学习理论，即习得、建构和体验学习模型；
  
• discuss the main conceptions of managing as an activity, and how systems thinking and practice benefit from learning by experience.
• 讨论管理活动的主要概念，以及系统化思考和实践如何从学习体验中获利。
  

Reading 1 Learning and reflection

阅读 1 学习与反思

1.1 Learning to learn

1.1 学会学习

This unit is about developing your effectiveness as a learner. For example, there are activities which invite you to apply theories to practice and also to criticise theories in the light of practical experience. In these and other ways you will be encouraged to bring your own experience into the study of the unit. The idea of asking you to use ideas, not just to remember them, and to bring your own experience into studying, is that they are all ways of developing your ability to learn – as well as being good ways of learning.

本单元用以开发你的学习效力。比如，这儿有一个活动邀请你将理论付诸实践，并结合实际经验批判理论。这些办法都鼓励你将自己的经验运用到本单元的学习当中来。运用概念，而不仅仅是记住他们，并把学习和自己的经验结合起来，这就是开发你学习能力的全部方法——也是好的办法。

There are two main reasons for this emphasis on learning in this unit. First, paying attention to how we are learning is an essential basis for learning more effectively. And second, being able to learn independently – setting our own goals, resolving difficulties and monitoring progress – is of growing importance for learning in the workplace as well as in course study. In other words, it is an essential part of putting the thinking into practice.

学习本单元强调两个理由。第一，注意如何学习是学习更有效力不可或缺的基础。第二，能够自主学习——确定目标，解决困难以及监控进度——这无论是在课堂学习还是在工作中的学习，都日益受到重视。换而言之，这是把思想运用到实践的重要组成部分。

1.2 Effective course study

1.2 有效的课程学习

Research into how people study effectively suggests that it is important to pay attention not only to the content of what we are trying to learn but also to the process of our learning. Time spent on the process of how you are learning need not be a distraction from achieving your learning goals. It should support your efforts to achieve them.

对人们如何高效学习的研究表明，不管关注我们所要学习的内容，关注我们的学习过程也很重要。因为学习需要而在过程上消耗的时间并不会影响你实现学习目标。它有助于你实现目标。

However, thinking about the process of your own learning is not something which typically forms part of most formal courses of study. Most people probably learn most things without giving a thought to how they manage to learn in the first place. Even failure to learn may not prompt much exploration because so often people conclude that the fault lies with themselves, or the subject, or personal dislike of the teacher. Exploration is avoided by quickly moving to the conclusion that ‘I'm no good at maths’, or ‘history is just boring facts’. I'm sure you can supply your own version of this closing down of the issue.

然而，思考你的学习过程并不是正规课程学习的典型部分。大多数人学习大多数知识可能都没有思考如何把管理他们的学习放在首位。即使失败也不会促使他更多的探讨，因为这样，人们常常把过错归咎到自己身上，或者课题，或者自己不喜欢这个老师。探讨原因能避免快速得出“我不擅长数学”、“历史只是一些枯燥的事实”之类的结论。我敢肯定，经过探讨，你会给出结束这个问题的新的理由。

When we avoid trying to find out why we have failed to learn something there are implications for the long term as well as the short term. In the short term, we abandon a goal to succeed in learning some subject or skill which might have been important to us. In the long term, we learn to live with the idea of accepting failure by judging ourselves or others negatively – we aren't clever enough or the teacher wasn't interesting enough and so on. We do not learn how to sort out what is stopping us from learning and how we might tackle the difficulty with more success. We do not therefore improve our capacity to learn in the future.

当我们试图逃避找出为什么我们未能开展长期或短期的学习。就短期而言，我们放弃了学习目标，丢失了一些对我们相当重要的课题或技能。就长期来看，我们学习承认自己或别人的负面判断形成的失败理由——我们不够聪明，老师不够风趣，等等。我们没有学会如何整理出是什么让我们放弃学习、我们如何处理困难以增加成功的机会。这样，我们不能在未来提高我们的学习能力。

1.3 Learning beyond course study

1.3 超越课程的学习

Learning how to learn has become an important goal in higher education. There is a national context in which an emphasis on ability to learn has come to prominence. It is now widely asserted that an ability to learn is as important an outcome of university study as knowledge of a discipline. This is a view put forward strongly by employers, for example, who have an interest in the employability of graduates and the skills they bring into the work place. It is a view which has been reiterated in government reports and in studies of what constitutes ‘quality’ or ‘standards’ in higher education.

学会学习已经成为高等教育的一项重要目标。注重凸显学习能力有其国家背景。现在人们普遍认为学习的能力是大学学科知识学习的重要结果。用人单位——比如对毕业生的就业能力及其工作技能感兴趣的人——强烈提出这种观点。这个观点在政府报告和高等教育中“质量”、“标准”构成的研究中被反复提及。

Furthermore, the speed of change in occupational and social practices requires continual relearning and new learning for most adults, including those with higher education. Detailed knowledge in many disciplines has a very limited ‘shelf life’ and thus it is much more important to leave initial and higher education equipped with the ability to learn new knowledge and skills when required. A recent survey of several thousand UK companies asked about attitudes to training staff and found that there was often an expectation that employees themselves should take responsibility for keeping up to date and being able to cope with change. Employees were expected often to use their own time and resources to learn new skills and to ‘learn how to learn’.

此外，职业生涯和社会实践中的变化速度需要大多数成年人持续不断的复习和学习新知识，哪怕他们接受过高等教育。许多学科的具体知识的生命周期都非常短，因此离开初等和高等教育后在需要的时候具备学习新知识的能力和技能。最近一项针对数千英国公司的调查，询问训练人员的态度，发现人们往往期望雇员自己承担起追赶潮流和应对变化的责任。经常期望雇员能利用他们自己的时间和资源来学习新技能和“学会学习”。

Learning is often referred to as a ‘transferable skill’ of paramount importance because it is the means through which all other knowledge and abilities are acquired. The arguments in favour of developing an ability to learn thus go deeper than the passing phases of national policy. Analysis, application of general principles, problem solving and so on are all capabilities required for learning effectively both in higher education and in the workplace. It is these various abilities to learn which are now seen as priority outcomes for graduates. Ability to pass examinations does not guarantee that a graduate has a critical grasp of knowledge or can learn ‘on the job’. In line with higher education generally, therefore, the learning outcomes of this unit emphasise that low-level rote learning is not enough. In-depth grasp of course concepts, ability to apply principles and understanding in diverse circumstances, ability to learn outside the formal course environment – all these goals form part of the aims of this unit.

学习常常被形容成极为重要的“可转移技能”，因为其他所有知识和能力都是通过他获得的。该主张赞成开发一种学习的能力，从而远远强于国家政策规定的通过阶段。对一般原则的分析和应用，解决问题等等都是无论高等教育还是工作场所都需要的有效学习的能力。各方面的学习能力现在被看作毕业生的优先结果。考试能力并不保证毕业生真正掌握知识或者可以学会“学以致用”。和一般的高等教育一样，本单元的学习成果强调，低级别的死记硬背式的学习是不够的。深入把握课程概念，运用原则的能力，在不同的环境下做出理解，在正式课程以外的环境中学习的能力——所有这些共同组成了本单元的目标。

1.4 Reflection and course study

1.4 反思与课程学习

Many of the units on the openlearn website include self-assessment questions and activities designed to require you to stop and think, sometimes to take action. This is also true of many Open University courses because Open University course teams typically want students to question what they read and to try out ideas for themselves. Every time you pause to do your own thinking in this way, you are reflecting on what you have learnt.

开放学习上的许多课程都带的有自我评估题目和活动，用来要求你停下来思考，间或采取行动。对于多数开放大学课程也是一样，因为开放大学课程小组通常希望学生质疑他们所读的，并自己动手尝试自己的想法。你每次这样停下来思考，你就是在反思你所学到的东西。

This unit includes several activities that are specifically designed to be reflective. The reasons are as follows.

本单元包含了若干专门为反思而设计的活动。原因如下。

First, reflection is essential for the development of understanding and of the ability to make use of complex ideas and concepts. Second, it is also essential for raising awareness about how we learn and might improve our learning.

首先，反思对于开发理解能力和运用复杂概念的能力非常重要。其次，对于提高对如何学习的认识和增进学习能力也很有必要。

These reasons are the foundation for all the hints and tips about study skills and improved personal communication that you will find in this unit – indeed they are not likely to have much effect if you do not combine them with self-reflection and review. Reflection on your own learning is part of this unit because it can improve both the quality and the quantity of what you learn, especially if you give yourself time to reflect adequately as a regular part of studying.

有关学习技能和改善个人通信的所有提示和线索都以这些原因为基础，你在本单元中就能找到这些提示和线索——事实上，如果你不把它们和自我反省与审查结合起来，也不会有太大的效果。对你自己的学习进行反思是本单元的一部分，因为这能从质量和数量两方面改善你的所学，特别是如果你定期在学习中给自己安排充足的时间进行反思的话。

Reflection is also something we do spontaneously in everyday contexts, and we may not often notice when and for how long we are reflecting. It may seem unfamiliar, even strange, to reflect as a specific and planned activity. The reason for doing so is because a more strategic use of reflection – giving yourself time to do it regularly and building it into your study methods – enables you to monitor progress, learn from good and bad experiences and plan for better ways of doing things.

我们随时随地都可以自发的反思，我们也不需要时刻提醒自己什么时候反省以及反省多久时间。把反思当作专门计划的活动来执行，看上去很陌生、很奇怪。这样做的原因是因为更有意义的使用反思——定期抽时间反思并使之成为学习方法的一部分——可以让你监控过程、从经验教训中获得学习，以及制定出更好的行事计划。

More universities are including study skills and ‘learning-to-learn’ materials in their programmes to encourage students to develop their general learning abilities. Students at the University of Humberside, for example, are provided with a structured programme of learning-to-learn activities which include reflection on outcomes. Reflection is said to be used more often and to better effect by experienced learners. One example of what this might mean in practice is outlined in the scenario in Box 1 ‘Reflecting on research’, taken from the Humberside Learning to Learn Student Workbook.

许多大学都在其课程中安排有学习技能和学习方法相关资源，以鼓励学生开发常规学习能力。举例来说，亨伯赛德大学，为学生提供了一套学会学习活动的结构化方案，其中就有对成果的反思。对于有经验的学习者而言，反思用得越多效果越好。这个例子可能意味着在实践中被精简成一份说明书《方框1对研究的反思》，文章摘自亨伯赛德大学《学会学习》学生练习册。

Box 1 Reflecting on research

方框1 对研究的反思

Let's imagine that you are involved in a project which involves you undertaking some research with a small group of other students. Your initial view is that trying to do this work as a group is likely to be frustrating and time consuming, so you go off on your own and do the research yourself. However, another member of the group persuades you to come to a group meeting to discuss what you've all found. To your surprise, the others have come across some really useful material that you missed. Furthermore they are quite happy to share it with you, even though you've got very little to give back to them. You end up re-writing your report and getting a very good mark.

我们来假设，你受邀参加一个项目，与一个学生小组进行某项研究。你的初步看法是，要以小组的形式完成这项工作，可能会费力不讨好，因此你决定自己单干。然而，小组的其他成员劝说你参加小组会议，讨论你的发现。让你感到吃惊的是，别人找到一些你没找到的真正有用的素材。此外，他们也十分乐意与你分享这些素材，尽管你很少和他们分享你的素材。最终你重写了你的报告，并取得了非常好的成绩。

How might you reflect upon this experience? Here are three possible scenarios:

你打算如何回顾这些经验？这里有三种可能情况：

1. You decide that you were really lucky, and go out to celebrate your high mark by buying the other group members a drink.
2. 你认定自己非常幸运，为庆祝取得高分，和其他小组成员出去买醉。
   
3. You decide that working in groups has its advantages and that next time you will participate in the group right from the start.
4. 你认定团队工作有其优点，并决定下次从一开始就参加团队。
   
5. In addition to revising your views on group activities, you think through how working in this way could be even more beneficial. You decide that although the other members of the group had found some material you had missed, this occurred by chance. What the group should have done is to arrange for each member to have responsibility for researching a different aspect of the topic, and then to collate all the material at the end. You discuss this idea with the rest of the group. Though some of them disagree, you decide to try the idea out in your next group project.
6. 除了改变你对团队活动的看法，你还彻底考虑如何通过这个办法获得更多好处。你相信，虽然其他小组成员发现了一些你没有的素材，但这只是个运气问题。团队应该做的是替每个成员安排负责课题的不同方面进行研究，同时最后整理所有素材。你和小组其他人讨论这个观点。虽然有些人不同意，但是你决定在下一个团队项目中尝试这个观点。
   

(Cook, 1995)

（库克，1995）

The point of this example is to demonstrate the kind of ‘added value’ that comes from reflecting more deliberately and with the purpose of finding out what can be learned for the future. There are many different ways of building on the ability we already have for reflection, and the next section describes in more detail the kinds of thinking that reflection for more effective learning requires.

这个例子是为了刻意演示来自反思的“增值”效果，并带有找出哪些东西在未来值得学习的目的。有很多不同的方法，都建立在我们已经拥有的反思能力之上，而接下来的一段，更详细地描述了多种思考能力——更高效学习所需要的反思。

1.5 Defining reflection

1.5 反思的定义

Reflection is both an academic concept and also a word in common use, combining ideas of thinking, musing, pondering and so on. This everyday meaning is a good basis from which to start: reflection is very much to do with thinking. However, one of the most important things about reflection is that it enables us to think about our own thinking – about what it is that we know or have experienced. Such reflection might be summed up in the phrase, ‘the mind's conversation with itself’.

反思，既是一个学术概念，也是一个常用词汇，结合了思考、沉思、考虑等等。我们首先来研究其日常含义：反思是一种非常混乱的思考。然而，关于反思最重要的事情是它允许我们思考我们自己的思维——思考我们知道的或我们体验的到底是什么。这种反思可以总结成一句话：“心灵自我对话”。

When we use reflection intentionally, as part of course study, it requires two distinctive kinds of thinking. First it requires the kind of reflectiveness just mentioned. It requires that we direct our attention onto our own thinking and abilities. The aim in turning the spotlight onto ourselves is to become more aware of what we already know and can do, more aware of the inter-relationships between our existing ideas and actions and their values for us. This kind of reflection is essential in reviewing for ourselves the significance of the learning we are engaged in, its outcomes for us and the impact it makes on what we want to learn in future. We need to think reflectively, for example, if we want to clarify our motives for learning, what we want from course study and the extent to which our goals are being achieved.

当我们刻意反思的时候，作为课程学习的一部分，它需要两种独特的思考技能。首先是刚才提及的能静下心来反思的能力。这要求我们把自己的注意力集中到自己的思维和能力上。把焦点放在我们自己身上的目的是为了更加注意到我们已经知道些什么、我们能做些什么，更加注意到我们已有思路和行动与其价值之间的关系。这类反思对我们是必要的检查，对于我们进行的学习，其结果对于我们，以及他对我们将来要学的东西所造成的影响，都具有非常重要的意义。我们必须考虑到反思，比如，是否我们想要明确学习动机，我们想要从课程中学到什么以及我们要实现的目标有多远。

The second kind of thinking that reflection requires is critical analysis of ideas and experiences, so that meanings are questioned and theories tested out. Such thinking may require a framework of questions or some problem-solving activities to help you compare and contrast arguments and frameworks. Indeed, both reflectiveness and critical analysis require the learner to be active, not only paying attention to the content of course materials but also working independently with the concepts introduced. This requires willingness to regularly turn away from the course materials in order to formulate a personal response, and to use your own words and constructions.

第二类反思需要的是对思路和经验的严谨分析，这么说的意思是要质疑并彻底检查理论。这种思维可能需要一套解决问题的框架或者一些问题解决活动来帮助你比较和对比论点与框架。的确，无论是反思能力还是彻底分析，都需要学习者积极主动，不仅要注意课程资源的内容，也要有利用课程所介绍概念独立工作的能力。这就需要主动的定期的脱开书本，以期能用自己的话和方式表述清楚。

Reflection is an important component in all kinds of learning, but particularly in the kinds of study required for academic understanding and for the development of skills such as effective communication, problem solving and so on. Understanding requires the integration of new knowledge into what we already know. Our existing knowledge is stored in memory in ways particular to the person and to their experience. My understanding of ‘learning’, ‘unemployment’ or ‘technology’, for example, will not be exactly the same as yours, or that of my colleagues. There will be meanings, images and details associated with these concepts which are particular to me, and a product of my personal history and educational experience. Even so, there will also be ideas and feelings which are generally associated with these terms, and a core of meaning in common which enables me to communicate with others about them. In other words, the knowledge that we have has both unique features in the way we understand and remember it, and yet enough common currency that we can usefully share at least some of what we know with others.

反思，在各种学习技能中是很重要的组成部分，尤其是学术理解和用于有效沟通、解决问题等技能开发所需要的各类学习能力。理解需要将新知识与我们已经掌握的知识整合在一起。我们已有知识都是储存在记忆当中，且因人因经验而异。我所理解的“学习”、“失业”或“技术”，和你的或者我同事的就不会完全一样。这些概念对我来说有着特定的意义、图像和细节，都是我个人历史和教育体验的产物。即便如此，也有一些和这些概念、核心含义共同的想法与感受，可以让我与其他人交流。换句话说，我们所拥有的知识，因为我们各自理解和记忆的不同而各具特色，但也足够通用，我们至少可以和其他人分享一部分我们所知道的。

When we are learning a new topic, we need to spend time putting new material into our own words, trying out new ideas, using what we already know, and seeing where the new material ‘fits in’. This process may also lead us to question our existing knowledge and values, of course, and to create new frameworks of understanding which reconcile both old and new. We need to reflect more often on new material than when we are learning or reading about something with which we are already familiar. This is because we need to build ‘bridges’, in ideas, diagrams or images, between what we know already and what we are trying to understand and remember.

当我们学习一个新课题的时候，我们需要把时间花在消化新素材、尝试新思路、使用已有知识以及看看这些新知识能用在哪里等方面。这个过程也可能引导我们对已有知识及其价值产生疑问，当然，也能创造解决新旧问题的新的问题框架。我们需要更频繁的反思新知识，而不是只在我们学习或阅读我们已经熟悉的东西才反思。这是因为我们需要用思路、图标和图像在我们已经知道和正要尝试去理解和记忆的东西之间架设“桥梁”。

Understanding is an active process of constructing meaning. Reflection has a vital role to play because it is the process whereby we become aware of what we are thinking and able to change and adapt our ideas and understandings to take into account new learning.

理解是一个意义建构的动态过程。反思具有极其重要的作用，因为它是让我们意识到我们思考和能够改变并改变我们的思想和认识以适应新学习的过程。

1.6 Making the most of your reflections

The value of the work you do on all the activities in this unit will be strengthened if you can keep track of it and follow the development of your own ideas as they build up. It helps to keep your notes in one place, together with other material which catches your interest for its relevance to the subject, such as newspaper cuttings, journal articles and reports, and so on. The place where you keep them may be a box file, ring binder or anything else that suits your preference. Whatever you use, it provides a tangible reminder of the learning process you are engaged in. I shall refer to this collection as a ‘learning file’, and suggest that you use it to work on activities of all kinds throughout the unit.

如果你能关心本单元这些活动，如果你能在逐步建立自己的想法的同时关心它的话，你的工作价值将会得到加强。这会有助于你集中整理笔记以及其他你感兴趣的与课题相关的素材，比如剪报、杂志上的文章和报告等等。你可以把他们集中在一个箱子里，或者活页簿，或者任何其他你喜欢的方式。不管你怎么保存，它们都为你的学习过程提供了很直观的提示。我喜欢把这些统称为“学习档案”，也建议你在本单元所有活动中坚持使用它。

The completion and return of each of your assignments could also be used as an opportunity for self-review and planning, recorded in your learning file. The questions you ask yourself about the grade and the reasons for it are a necessary basis for self-review and action planning. You should also use the opportunity to follow up with further research if you are left with uncertainties about your work or the areas in which you need to improve.

每一项作业的完成及批复也都可以作为一次自我检讨及规划的机会，并记录在你的学习档案中。关心功课的评级和原因对于自我检讨和行动规划是一项必要的基础。如果你对自己的工作或领域在哪些方面需要改进还不确定的话，你也应该利用这个机会跟踪后记研究。

On the openlearn website you can use the Learning Journal feature to make notes on any units that you study.

在开放学习网站上你可以在你学习的任何单元使用学习日记的功能来撰写笔记。

While studying this unit you may also decide to build up a ‘virtual’ learning file on your computer, by setting up a special file on your hard disk where you record activities and reactions to what you have studied. The openlearn forums can also provide a very valuable opportunity to find out about other learners' reactions and to stimulate your own thinking (but too much of it can also be time consuming and confusing – a proper balance is needed). You might find it convenient to build up both a computer-based learning file and a hard-copy learning file, each complementing the other.

在学习本单元的时候你也可以决定在你的计算机上建立一个“虚拟”学习档案，在你的硬盘上建立一个专门的文件来记录你的活动和你对课程的反应。开放学习论坛也可以为发现其他学习者的反应、启发自己的想法（太多了的话也很费时很让人迷惑——需要做出恰当的平衡）提供一个非常宝贵的机会。你也许会觉得基于计算机的学习档案和实体学习档案两样都很方便，两者相互弥补。

You will find more suggestions for building up a learning file of this kind in Box 2 ‘Setting up a learning file’. If this is an idea you are already familiar with, and keeping a log of your own learning appeals to you, then you can now see how your approach is a strength you can build on. If you are not used to organising your work in this way, remember that the idea of a learning file is to create a ‘thinking space’ for active reflection on your learning. It can take whatever form you prefer and which is most likely to stimulate you to take an active approach to study. You might like to use the self-review activities below, entitled ‘Building on strengths’ as a first entry in your learning file.

你将在框架2“建立学习档案”中找到有关建立学习档案的更多建议。如果你已经熟悉了这种概念，并保持得有一份你自己的学习需求记录，那么你现在可以看看你的做法的基础是个什么样的强度。你如果不使用这个办法来组织你的工作，请记住学习档案的概念是为积极反思你的学习而创建“思考空间”。它可以以任何你喜欢的形式出现，它也最能刺激你采用有效学习手段。你可能喜欢使用下面题为“建立于强度之上”自我审查活动，这是学习档案的第一项。

Box 2 Setting up a learning file

框架 2 建立学习档案

A learning file is a way of making the time and space to think about what you are learning and how you are learning. It should help you to reflect critically during the study of your course and to get the most out of the efforts you put in. It's something you are in charge of, to use for yourself. It need not be something you discuss with your tutor, or indeed anyone else, though it may help you structure your work more productively, building up to the assignments.

学习档案可以帮助你利用时间和空间去思考学的是什么以及如何学习。它应该在课程学习期间帮助你批判的反思，并相对于你的投入获取最大产出。它是你自己负责、你自己使用。不需要你和导师或其他任何人就此讨论，但是他能帮助你结构化你的工作，使之更有成效、与功课关系更紧密。

Tips for keeping your own learning file:

保持你自己的学习档案的提示：

• Your learning file may be a ring binder, a box file or a folder of some kind – the important thing is that you have a place where you build up your own ideas and abilities and which is organised so that you can use it for your own self-review and development. Your learning file may include your work on the activities, reactions which relate to unit issues, drawings/diagrams, newspaper cuttings, notes on the subject that you are studying and so on.
• 你的学习档案可能是一个活页簿、一盒子文件或者某种类型的文件夹——重要的是你有一个地方建立起并组织好自己的思路和能力，以便用于你自己的自我检查和发展。你的学习档案可以包括你在活动中的工作、你对单元问题的反应、图画/图表、剪报、所学主题相关笔记等等。
  
• If you are not used to this way of working, try to make a start at the beginning of the unit and find a way of building up your reflections and other material which fits with your approach to study. You can use the activities in this and other related units as the starting point. This should create the stimulus for you to work on questions and activities which you set yourself.
• 如果你在工作中不使用这个办法，可以试着在单元开始的时候找出一个办法，可以建立起适应你的学习方法的反思和其他素材。你可以利用这些活动和其他与单元相关的活动作为起点。这将在你的工作上对你为自己设置的问题和活动起到促进作用。
  
• Your learning file is for you. Its value is for capturing thoughts and ideas while you are still working things out, or coming to terms with new ideas and reactions. Don't try to write the kind of organised text which you might use in an assignment or essay. You might make more discoveries about your learning if you are spontaneous and don't inhibit the flow of your thinking by concerns with grammar or structure.
• 你的学习档案就是针对你的。它的价值在于在你解决问题或者向某种思路和反应妥协的时候捕捉想法和思路。不要试着在功课或作文里写这类组织化的文字。如果你自发的、而且不用语法和结构去限制思维的流动的话，你会在学习方面找到更多发现。
  
• Try to set aside a few minutes at the end of your study time, for looking back through your entries and reflecting on the development of your own ideas and interests. You might do this once or twice a week. Your learning file is a place for you to review your own progress and whether you are getting what you want out of course study.
• 试着在学习时间的末尾抽出几分钟来，通过你的作品和反思来回顾思路和兴趣的发展。你可以每周这样做一两次。你的学习档案可以帮助你复查学习进度，以及你是否得到了你想要学到的东西。
  
• Whether or not you are naturally an organised person, it does help to date your entries and to keep careful page references or cues to audio and video material which prompted your thinking. This will enable you to go back to course materials if you need to at a later stage. A learning file is obviously a useful activity from the point of view of revision prior to the exam. It encourages you to digest the course as you go, and to build up a framework of personal understanding. If you have been able to do this during the course, you are less likely to feel overwhelmed by how much there is to revise at the end.
• 不管你是否天生就是一个有条理的人，条理化确实有助于注明作业日期，并小心记录启发你思考的声音和视频素材的引用和线索。这将允许你返回课程素材，如果你在下一阶段需要的话。从考试前的复习角度而言，学习档案显然是一种有用的活动。它鼓励你消化所学课程，并建立起个人理解框架。如果你已经在课程期间建立学习档案，在最后返工的时候你不会感受到多少压力的。
  

1.7 Building on strengths

1.7 以优势为基础

Activity 1

活动1

A self-review exercise for your learning file

用于学习档案的自我复查练习

The aim of this activity is to encourage you to take a problem-solving approach to your own learning, and to be proactive. The first part asks you to reflect on your reasons for studying this unit and the second part to reflect on prior learning experiences and issues.

本活动的目的是鼓励你在学习当中积极主动采用解决问题的方法。第一部分要求你反思你学习本单元的理由，第二部分反思以前的学习经验和问题。

Part 1

第一部分

Think back over the aims of this unit that you read in the learning outcomes section. If you need to, go back to the start of this unit and refresh your memory of what these are. Now, put these to one side and think about what you personally want out of studying this unit. Try completing the unfinished sentence below in your learning file, adding your own reasons for studying the unit:

回顾你在学习成果一节读到的本单元目标。如果需要，你回到本单元开始部分，重新看看他们是什么。现在，现把它们放到一边，考虑你想从本单元的学习中得到什么。尝试在你的学习档案中完成下面未完句子，为你学习本单元添加你的理由：

I am studying this unit because:

我学习本单元是因为：

1.

2.

3.

4.

Part 2

第二部分

Using the tabular format set out below in your learning file, list some relevant prior experiences and issues in the first column and then note your strengths and weaknesses in that area in the next two columns.

在你的学习档案中画出下面表格，在第一列中列出以前的相关经验和问题，然后在第二列中写下你在此领域的优劣之处。

Table 1 Self review of relevant prior learning experiences and issues

Prior experiences or issues	Strengths	Weaknesses
Personal qualities, e.g. determination, being organised, etc.
Study skills, e.g. essay writing, effective reading, etc.
Motivation, e.g. interest in subject, strong, weak, etc.
Circumstances, e.g. lack of space to study, access to a computer, etc., and how you handled them

表1 前期学习经验和问题自我审查表

前期经验及问题	优点	缺点
个人素质，比如，决心、组织能力等。
学习技能，比如，论文写作、高效阅读等。
动机，比如，对课题的兴趣、强弱程度等。
环境，比如，缺少学习空间、缺少对计算机的使用等，以及你如何处理。

Having recorded your reasons for studying, you need to reflect on what factors might help or hinder your achieving your goals. First there is the subject itself. There may be some areas of study, or some of the unit aims, which you know you will find difficult or challenging. You are more likely to meet the challenge by thinking ahead and looking for ways and means of helping yourself through that aspect of the unit. Then there is the range of teaching resources available, some print-based, some audio-visual and some computer-based. Which do you prefer to use? Which are most difficult to use?

记录你的学习理由之后，你需要反思，有哪些因素会帮助或妨碍你实现目标。首先是课题本身。有一些学习领域或者单元目标，会对你造成困难或挑战。因为超前思维和寻找帮助你通过本单元某一方面的方法和手段，你会遭遇更多挑战。接下来是各种可用的教学资源，打印的、视听的和基于计算机的。你喜欢使用哪一类？哪一类最难使用？

Second there is the experience you bring to the unit. Reflection on prior learning experiences is important not only to review past achievements, but in order to plan new learning goals and to think ahead about how to avoid familiar or predictable problems. Having read this far, you should have some idea of what this unit is about and what it will require of you. Think of your existing experience of study and note where you think your strengths and weaknesses lie in Table 1. It might help to think about a concrete example, such as a course you studied recently, rather than study in general. If you find the tabular format a constraint, list your strengths and weaknesses in any way that suits you.

其二是你带到单元里的经验。反思以前的学习经验很重要，不仅仅是回顾过去的成绩，也是为了计划新的学习目标和超前思考如何避免已知的或可预知的问题。读到这里，你会对本单元是讲什么的、它需要你做什么等问题有了一个大概的认识。考虑你的已有学习经验并在表1写下你认为的优缺点。这也许有助于思考一个具体的例子，比如你最近学习的一门课，而非一般化的学习。如果你找到格式化约束条件的表格，以任何适合你的形式列出你的优缺点。

My guess is that a few minutes spent reviewing your prior experience of study will bring to mind learning strengths and weaknesses which will be relevant for this unit. In Tables 2 and 3 are two examples from other Open University students who have tried this exercise. In spite of their strengths – being organised, well motivated, determined and so on – they also found weaknesses that would be likely to affect them during this unit. The first student (Table 2) noted her concentration span was short, and that her interest levels varied from block to block. But even factors such as concentration can be affected by action we take ourselves.

我想，花上几分钟时间回顾你以前的学习经验将让你想起可能与本单元有关的学习优缺点。表2和表3来自开放大学尝试过这个练习的学生。他们有很多优点——有组织性、有干劲、有决心等等——他们也找到可能在本单元期间影响他们的缺点。第一个学生（表2）注明她的注意力保持时间很短，但是她的兴趣很广泛。但诸如注意力这些因素仍可被我们自己采取的行为所影响。

Table 2

Column one	Column two strengths	Column three weaknesses
Personal qualities, e.g. determination, being organised, etc.	Well organised.	Easily distracted Concentration span short.
Study skills, e.g. essay writing, effective reading, etc.	Writing OK.	Reading patchy.
Motivation, e.g. interest in subject, strong, weak, etc.	Interest varied from block to subject matter. block.	Fairly strong interest in most
Circumstances, e.g. positive or negative and how you handled them	Support from partner.	Time a problem.

表2

第一列	第二列：优点	第三列：缺点
个人素质，如决心、纪律性等。	纪律性良好。	容易分心，注意力保持时间短。
学习技能，如论文写作、高效阅读等。	写作能力好。	阅读不完整。
动机，如对课题的兴趣、强弱程度等。	兴趣广泛	内心深处的兴趣相当强。
环境，如正面或负面影响以及你如何处理他们。	有同伴的支持。	时间是一个问题。

Table 3

Column one	Column two strengths	Column three weaknesses
Personal qualities, e.g. determination, being organised, etc.	Determination – commitment and self-discipline to give up things I like doing to get the job done.	Inability to rise early to allow more time for study.
Study skills, e.g. essay writing, effective reading, etc.	Will work harder early in course to be ahead in case unforeseen circumstances cause distraction.	Cannot LEARN under pressure or against the clock. Take too many unnecessary notes.
Motivation, e.g. interest in subject, strong, weak, etc.	Enjoy tackling a subject and overcoming difficulties in learning.	Unsure that I have overcome the difficulties despite good marks.
Circumstances, e.g. positive or negative and how you handled them	Can prioritise when my job/family/friends require more of my time.	Sometimes forget to enjoy myself.

表3

第一列	第二列：优点	第三列：缺点
个人素质，如决心、纪律性等。	决心——承诺和自律放弃一些我喜欢的事情，以保证顺利完成工作。	一开始不能赶上，为学习赢得更多时间。
学习技能，如论文写作、高效阅读等。	在课程中尽早努力学习，以免被后来不可预料的情况分心。	不能在压力或紧迫的情况下学习。做了太多不必要的笔记。
动机，如对课题的兴趣、强弱程度等。	享受在学习中解决问题、挑战困难。	尽管自己做好了标记，但仍无法确定自己解决了困难。
环境，如正面或负面影响以及你如何处理他们。	当我的工作、家人、朋友需要我的时候我能分清轻重缓急。	有时候忘记关心自己。

People lose concentration often when their interest in what they are studying wanes, or when they are not really clear about why they are studying something. Reading without wanting to find out is very likely to slip into a passive routine from which you learn nothing. Both concentration and interest levels are high if you have some questions in your mind which the text should answer. One way round the concentration problem, therefore, could be to set yourself a question or two to answer – perhaps even skimming the text to find answers before you read it from beginning to end.

当人们对学习的兴趣减少以后，或者他们没有清楚自己为什么要学某样东西的时候，常常会丧失注意力。无目的的阅读非常可能演变成消极的例行公事，从而什么都学不到。如果你脑子里有许多问题并且希望从文字中找到答案的话，你的注意力和兴趣水平会很高。关于注意力问题只有一个办法，因此，你可以为自己准备一到两个需要回答的问题——甚至也许会在开始正式阅读之前浏览文章的时候就找到答案。

It is also helpful to set specific goals for yourself – with time limits – so that study tasks do not stretch endlessly into the future. You might decide, for example, to study only the conclusions and summaries of something you know is of little direct interest to you, thus cutting down on study time for that part of the unit. This is not a strategy to use frequently, of course. Often it is not possible to achieve what is required within set time limits, but it can be a useful strategy to help you focus on achievable targets. It should at least enable you to learn the key ideas and thus avoid the kind of study where you feel the ideas are just washing over you.

这也有助于为你设定一个有限时间内的具体目标，这样，学习任务就不会无限往后拖延。比如，你如果知道这东西能为你带来什么利益的时候，你可以决定仅仅学习结论和总结部分，这样就可以为这部分单元减少学习时间。当然，这个策略不能频繁使用。在规定时间内常常不可能完成任务，但它可以成为有用的策略，帮助你聚焦待完成的目标上。这至少可以让你学到关键思路，从而避免那种只能学到皮毛的学习。

In the other student's comments (in Table 3) there are also potential weaknesses that could be tackled in advance of their becoming a problem. Taking too many unnecessary notes for example. Why does that happen? It could be because the student does not find it easy to sort out what are the key ideas in a chapter or block of learning material. One difficulty students find, for instance, is separating the arguments in a text from the examples and from illustrative material which is less important for note taking. It might help to try out an exercise doing just this with one section, choosing one which is obviously essential for the course's aims. There are many guides on note taking, such as those in The Sciences Good Study Guide, and these could be looked at before studying the section and taking minimal notes. These notes could be reduced to no more than, say, one side of A4.

在其他学生的意见中（见表3）也有一些潜在的缺点，可以抢在它们发展成错误之前处理掉。为举例做了太多不必要的笔记。为什么会这样？可能是因为学生不容易找到一章或者一组学习素材的关键思路。比如，学生寻找的困难是在文章里从例子和说明性材料——这些在做笔记的时候就不那么重要——中分离论据。这可有助于在一节当中尝试练习这个，选择一节对于课程目标明显是必不可少的。这里有许多关于记笔记的指南，比如《优秀学习科学指南》里面，在学习这一节之前看看并做点笔记。这些笔记可以减少到不超过一面A4纸。

Study strategies such as these will not transform difficulties overnight, but they do offer the chance of improvement and a gradual accumulation of more confident and effective approaches to learning. They can help make good practice (such as reading with some questions in mind) a matter of routine. They can help build confidence, for example in your ability to make judgements about what is important and needs noting, versus what is not. Learning is a skill, and, like all skills, practice with feedback is key to improving on performance.

这些学习策略不会在一夜之间解决你的困难，但它们可以为改善并积累更多信心和更有效的学习方法而提供机会。它们有助于在做一些常规任务的时候养成好的习惯（比如带着问题阅读）。它们有助于建立信心，比如你有能力做出判断什么是重要的，什么需要记笔记，反之亦然。学习是一种技能，和其他所有技能一样，带有反馈的实践是提高成绩的关键。

On a course with computer conferencing, there are even more possibilities for finding ways round study problems. Many students enjoy finding out what causes problems for other students and are happy to explain how they tackle things. Messages posted to a relevant course conference could ask for ideas about familiar study problems, or for comments on notes (which could also be posted). These are likely to generate a raft of ideas, one or two of which may be really useful for you. You could take responsibility perhaps for initiating topics which keep the issue of study ‘hints and tips’ alive, even summarising some of the themes if that seems useful.

在一门带有计算机讨论的课程中，对于寻找研究问题的方法存在更多可能性。许多学生喜欢找出是什么导致了其他学生的问题，也很乐于阐述他们是如何解决问题的。张贴到课程相关论坛的消息可以询问有关类似学习问题的思路，或者询问对笔记的说明（笔记也可以张贴出来）。这可能产生许多思路，其中一两个可能对你真的有用。你也许要为发起话题承担责任，以保持学习“提示与技巧”的讨论能持续下去，如果有用的话，甚至可以总结一些题目。

It is appropriate that the last words on ‘learning and reflection’ should go to you. I've reproduced in Boxes 3 and 4 below two very different reactions to a course – not in this case an Open University undergraduate course but one taught completely online. One student found the experience very positive and rewarding, the other did not. Would it have helped both these students if they had spent a little time in advance to reflect on:

“学习与反思”一节最后的文字归之于你是应当的。我将在框架3和框架4中再现下面两种对非常不同的对课程的反思——都不属于开放大学本科课程但其中一个完全在线教授。一个学生发现经验非常积极而有益，其他东西则没有。如果学生在反思之前花一些时间在下面两方面，是否对学生都有用呢？

1. their learning goals,
2. 他们的学习目的，
   
3. how to use their strengths and weaknesses as a learner?
4. 如何在学习中利用他们的优缺点？
   

Consider both these questions as you read through their comments, and take a minute or two to reflect on your answer. My own thoughts conclude this reading.

如果你都过他们的说明就请思考上面这两个问题，并花上一两分钟反思你的答案。用自己的思想来结束这次阅读。

Box 3 Alan – A positive experience

框架3艾伦——积极的经验

I have learned an enormous amount over the past three months and am extremely grateful to the team for setting up such an excellent learning environment. Thanks also to my peers on the course. Without them I don't think I would have come this far.

我在过去三个月学到大量知识，非常感激建立起这么好的学习环境的工作组。也感谢一同学习的伙伴。如果没有他们，我无法想象能坚持下来。

I began the course sceptical about the ability to provide genuine interaction using computers. I was proved wrong. I have developed some excellent online friendships over the past three months and have felt very close to all my colleagues on this course.

一开始，我怀疑计算机是否真能提供交互能力。后来证明我错了。在过去的三个月我已经发展了一些真正的网上友谊，并且和这些同学在课程中走得很近。

I began this course wondering if true collaborative learning could take place online. I have been shown it can with the right mix of people. This particular group appears to have worked very well together. We have supported each other and this has greatly aided the learning process. Is this typical of all courses? Have you ever moderated a course where the mix of people was wrong and therefore the interaction not successful? This must have a huge effect on the learning and enjoyment of the course.

刚开始我很惊讶协作学习可以真的在网络上发生。我看到各种各样的人聚在一起工作。这个特殊的小组看上去一起工作的很好。我们相互支持，这也极大的促进了学习过程。这就是所有课程的典型范例？你是否曾经放慢课程，就因为人们发生错误，并因此导致互动失败？这肯定对学习和对课程的喜爱造成巨大的影响。

I began this course wondering if I had anything to contribute, and finish happy in the knowledge that no matter what your background or expertise everybody has something to contribute in conference. At times I had no idea what was being discussed but by expressing my ignorance I hope I helped others who may have felt the same and I also hope I helped those who were in the know to express themselves in layman's terms. This certainly happened to me when I got too involved in my own specialist area. I was asked to explain again, a most useful exercise !!

一开始我很怀疑自己能做出什么贡献，而最后乐于分享知识而不在意你的背景或专长，每个人都能为论坛共享一些东西。有时候我不知道正在讨论的是什么，但通过展示自己的无知，我希望我能帮助其他和我同样感受的人，同时我也希望帮助那些刚刚入门希望表达自己的人。这在我自己的专业领域当然遇到过很多。我被一再要求解释，这是最有用的练习！

I began this course wondering how I would fit it in with my other work and family commitments but found the medium provided great motivation and interest. I was always keen to log in and interested to read the messages. I had to put a lot of time in the early stages but this was to my own advantage and as I have said to you earlier, the more I put in the more I got out. To my great regret I have not been able to contribute as much over the past few weeks and this has been to my distinct disadvantage. I have been logging in regularly and reading the messages posted but I just have not had the time to reflect and to post my own comments. I realise I am not alone in this but I do get frustrated when I cannot put my all into something !!

在课程一开始，我很怀疑我如何能安排好学习和我的其他工作和对家庭的承诺，但是发现媒体提供了强大的动力和兴趣。我一直都喜欢登录，喜欢阅读消息。在早期阶段我花费了大量时间，但这是我自己的优势，就像我之前告诉你的那样，投入越多收获越多。我非常后悔在过去的几周里没有多少贡献，这成了我一个明显的劣势。我一直定期登录阅读张贴的文章，但我没有时间思考并张贴我自己的见解。我知道在这里我并不孤单，但我依然感到失败，因为我不能全身心投入一件事情当中。

I began this course disliking writing and I finish this course a better communicator by text. I have always preferred communicating orally and face to face. This course has shown me it is possible to communicate via text, and that writing can be enjoyable.

我在课程开始的时候不喜欢写作，在课程结束的时候已经成为一个不错的文字交流者了。我一直都喜欢面对面的口头交流。这门课程表明我也能通过文字进行交流，写作也蛮不错的。

Box 4 Janet – not so happy

框架4珍妮特——不那么快乐

The medium is not as asynchronous as it seems. If a bit of time is missed it is hard to catch up. You feel an observer of someone else's conversation. Before making a point you wonder if it has already been made and so have to read back – by the time you are ready the debate has moved on. It is therefore necessary to log on regularly – perhaps every day. This is especially true of collaborative work where your time and the other participants' time have to mesh together.

媒体并不像想象中那样不同步。如果错过一点就很难追上。你觉得自己在别人讨论的时候插不上话。在你想举例说明之前你担心它是否已经被用，并因此往回翻阅——当你一切准备就绪的时候讨论已经过去了。因此，定期登录很有必要——最好每天一次。当你的时间和其他伙伴的时间能配套的话，对于协同工作来说是特别好的事情。

It is a cold medium. Unlike face to face communication you get no instant feedback. You don't know how people responded to your comments; they just go out into silence. This feels isolating and unnerving. It is not warm and supportive. Perhaps smaller groups would have helped.

这是一个很冷静的媒体。不像面对面交流，你不能得到实时的反馈。你不知道有多少人响应你的发言；他们都只是在潜水。这种感觉很孤独很烦躁。没有温暖没有帮助。也许更小一些的团队会更有帮助。

Writing does not come easily to me. I don't enjoy it. I find it easier to speak. And reading on screen is difficult; it is harder to get the real point than for printed text.

写作对我来说并不容易。我不喜欢写作。我发现谈话更容易一些。在屏幕上阅读也很困难；这比阅读打印文字更难以抓住真正的问题。

This course requires self-discipline. It is too easy to drop out. If you don't log on you lose contact and get no reminders. Perhaps another form of communication is needed as well.

课程需要自律。这太容易让人放弃。如果你不登录你就会失去联系，也没人会通知你。也许还需要另外一种交流形式。

We could have benefited from a longer familiarisation period. Perhaps the first exercise could have been something not too serious. Perhaps a conference discussing how to conference, when to do it, how to deal with the amount of data etc.

我们可以从一个较长的熟悉周期获得好处。也许第一次练习本就不必太严肃。也许在举行讨论如何开展论坛话题的时候还要讨论如何处理大量数据等等。

Special learning skills are needed for conferencing. For example: how to filter the vast amount of contributions. Perhaps these special conferencing skills should be taught.

论坛需要特殊的学习技能。比如：如何筛选大量话题。也许应该教授这些专门的论坛技能。

Reading 1 Learning and reflection

阅读1 学习与反思

1.8 Conclusions

1.8 结论

Could both of these students have got more from their involvement with the course if they had taken time to reflect on their goals and their strengths and weaknesses, especially at the beginning of study? Alan, whose reaction to the course was positive, for example, could have learned more about how the course succeeded if he had reflected rather more in the beginning about his initial scepticism and his preference for communicating verbally rather than in writing. What was the reason for his attitudes and what was it about writing that he found difficult? Although the course has changed his views and his abilities to some extent, he seems to put some of the outcomes down to chance. Could it have been only the chance of a friendly group with good natural dynamics that made the course worthwhile – and if so what has he learned that will transfer to other comparable situations? He might have been able to identify more reasons for the success of the group and the course in stimulating his interest in writing if he had recognised that the development of writing skills was one of his reasons for doing the course in the first place – and if he had set himself a plan for pursuing this goal explicitly through study of the course.

如果这些学生花时间反思他们的目标、他们的优劣之处，特别是在学习一开始的时候反思，他们是否能够从课程中获得更多呢？艾伦，他对课程的反应是积极的，比如，如果他一开始就显示出相当多的初步怀疑和对口头交流而非写作的偏好的话，那么他可以学到更多关于课程如何成功的。他如此态度的原因是什么？为什么写作令他感觉很困难？虽然课程在目中程度上改变了他的看法和能力，但他似乎把一些成果当成了原因。难道只有具有良好自然动态的友好团队才有使得课程具有价值的机会？并且如果是这样，那么他所学知识将转移到其他类似情况？他可能已经能够为小组的成功找出更多理由，以及课程对他写作兴趣的刺激，如果他能意识到开发写作技能是他最初学习这门课程的原因之一并且如果他为了明确实现这个目标而制定了一个学习计划的话。

For Janet the course has been a failure and she dropped out. She might have avoided that if she had given herself more time at the beginning to recognise the mismatch between what she felt her strengths and interests were, and what challenges she would probably face on a course taught through conferencing (as this was). Disappointment and drop out were not the only possible outcome. She could have decided to contact her tutor at the earliest sign of problems to ask for help. Her tutor could have advised her on strategies for coping with the backlog of messages, and might have given her confidence to contribute, if only irregularly.

对珍妮特而言，这门课已经失败，她中途辍学了。他本可避免的，如果他在一开始花更多时间去承认分析优缺点时候的错误，以及他在面对一门通过讨论进行教学的课程（这门课就是）可能遇到的挑战。失望和辍学并非唯一的结果。她应该在一出现问题迹象就立即与导师联系寻求帮助。他的导师可能会劝他改变处理积压消息的策略，给予他发言的信心，只要不定期就行。

If feeling in touch was a strong need, she could have found a fellow student to work with as a pair, so each might have agreed always to reply to the other. This might have made up for the uncertainty about whether anyone would reply to a message – a way of combating the feeling of a ‘cold medium’. If she found communicating through speech much easier than writing, she might have built on this by speaking aloud what she would say in a reply first, and only then put it in writing.

如果非常需要接触的感觉，他可以寻找一个同学结对工作，这样彼此总是可以答复对方。这可以弥补因为没有人答复而带来的不确定感——被“冷媒体”打击的感觉。如果他发现通过语言沟通比文字更容易，他可以这样做：在回复之前把要说的大声念出来，然后再提出文字答复。

Perhaps you thought of other strategies that either or both students could have adopted. Undoubtedly the strategies that we can think of are unlikely to be as successful as those the students decide for themselves. This is because we cannot know the reasons behind what a student says, or their circumstances of study. You yourself are in the best position to decide what will make a positive difference for you, and what actions or strategies might enable you to make the most out of time spent studying. Whatever the answers, the starting point is to make time for reflection: to explore what you want to study and why, and how you will help yourself meet the challenges that you will find as you work towards your goals, whatever they are.

也许你还能想到其他被学生采用的策略。毫无疑问，我们能想到的策略不像学生为自己决定的策略那样成功。这是因为我们不能知道所说的背后原因以及学习的环境到底如何。你自己处在最有利的状态，决定什么能为你做出积极的区别，以及什么样的行动或策略可以让你做出最妥善的学习时间。不管答案是什么，出发点都是腾出时间来反思：弄清楚你要学的是什么以及为什么学，以及你如何帮助自己面对那些在你努力实现自己目标时遇到的挑战，而不管他们是什么。

References for Reading 1

阅读1的参考资料

Cook, M. (1995) Student Workbook: Learning to learn University of Humberside.

Wegerif, R. (1995) Collaborative Learning on TLO'94, IET, Open University, Milton Keynes.

学生工作手册：学会学习 汉堡赛德大学
技术许可组织94标准中的协作学习，IET，开放大学，Milton Keynes

Reading 2 What is learning?

阅读材料2什么是阅读？

2.1 Different conceptions of learning

2.1 不同概念的学习

Although we spend large amounts of our lives learning, intentionally and otherwise, it is quite unusual to spend any time thinking about what learning actually is. This reading gives you an opportunity to do so, and to consider whether how we choose to learn is always appropriate for what we are trying to learn.

虽然我们花费了大量的生命用以学习，有意无意的，花点时间考虑学习到底是什么则非常不寻常。本阅读材料给你这样一个机会，考虑对于我们打算要学的东西，我们选择如何学习是否始终恰当。

Spending time thinking about what learning is, how we define it and what it involves, is important for two reasons. First it reminds us of the diversity there is in what and how people learn, and this can help to enlarge the repertoire of approaches we use ourselves. Second, through appreciating the diverse requirements of different kinds of learning, we can review the effectiveness of the strategies we use ourselves to achieve specific outcomes.

花时间考虑学习是什么，我们如何界定它，以及它涉及到什么，这很重要，有两个原因。首先他提醒我们学习的内容和方式具有多样性，以及它有助于增加我们开发自我的手段的方式。其次，通过欣赏不同类型学习的不同需求，我们可以检讨我们让自己实现特定成果的策略的效果。

The diversity of learning depends on what is being learned as well as by whom and in what circumstances. Theories of learning have developed from studies of particular kinds of learning, and they have strengths and weaknesses which follow from this. For example, learning how to recognise and to recall road signs requires a different method from one we would use to learn how to ride a bicycle, or to chair a committee effectively. These are all examples of learning which make different demands on the learner. Similarly, study of this unit involves a range of activities, from studying rather factual, explanatory text to interacting with fellow students and judging your own work. You are unlikely to find any one approach to learning equally helpful in meeting the challenges of these different kinds of learning.

学习的差别决定于学的是什么、是谁在学习以及学习的环境。学习理论来自于对特定学习类型的研究，也带有这些学习类型的优缺点。比如，学习如何识别和回忆路标需要一个与我们用来学习如何骑单车或者有效的主持一个委员会所不同的办法。这些都是因为学习者需求不同而不同的例子。同样，学习本单元涉及一系列活动，从学习相当基础的、解释性质的文字到与同学互动、衡量自己的工作。你不可能找到一种能够迎接各种类型学习挑战的学习方法。

Activity 2

活动2

Before reading further, spend a few minutes putting a definition of learning into your own words by completing this sentence in your learning file:

Learning is …

在阅读之前，花点时间在你的学习档案中完成下面的句子，用你自己的话给出学习的定义：

学习是……

At the end of the reading you can look back to your definition, and reflect on whether you would then wish to re-state it or to make any changes as a result of the thought you have given to what learning means and to what it might require. You can also compare it to the kinds of answer other students have given when asked the question: ‘What does learning mean for you?’ as given in Box 5.

在本次阅读结束的时候，你可以重新看看你的定义，然后考虑是否接下来重新定义，或者经过思考後对其含义或需求做出修改。你在其他同学回答框架五中的如下问题“学习对你意味着什么？”的时候可以拿你的定义和其他同学的答案进行比较。

Researchers of student learning have asked students this question because of the differences between students in how they go about study. It appears that students have very different ideas about what learning is and what is required for effective studying. Students have been interviewed at different stages in their studies, and a variety of conceptions about what learning means have been identified. By grouping related conceptions, five distinct categories can be identified, and these are numbered from 1 to 5 in Box 5 ‘Students say that learning is …’.

研究学生学习的研究者问学生们这个问题是因为学生们对于如何进行学习是各有不同。这显示出学生们关于学习是什么以及有效的学习需要什么两个问题在认识上有着非常大的差别。学生们谈及自己学习的不同阶段，很多有关学习含义的观念都已经确定下来。通过组合相关概念，可以划分出五种不同的类别，在框架五“学生们说学习是……”中用数字从一到五标注出来。

Box 5 Students say that learning is …

框架五学生们说学习是……

1. a quantitative increase of knowledge
2. memorising
3. the acquisition of facts and procedures for later use
4. the abstraction of meaning
5. an interpretative process for understanding reality
6. changing as a person
7. 逐渐增加知识
8. 不断的记忆东西
9. 为以后的使用不断收集知识和程序
10. 抽取含义
11. 为理解现实而作出解释的过程
12. 改变一个人
    

(Adapted from Laurillard, 1993, p. 46)

（改编自 Laurillard, 1993, p. 46）

Subsequent research among Open University students (Beaty and Morgan, 1992) found a range of conceptions similar to those of items 1 to 5 in the box among a sample of students at different stages in their study of the Social Science Foundation course. However, the frequency with which OU students also commented on the personal impact of their studies led the researchers to add a sixth conception to the list of five, which was: ‘changing as a person’.

随后在开放大学学生中进行的研究（Beaty and Morgan, 1992）发现在一些学生学习社会科学基础课程的不同阶段拥有一系列类似于框架五中的五种观念。然而，开放大学学生就其学习对个人造成的影响所发表的评论促使研究者在五项列表下面增加了第六项观点，即“改变一个人”。

Many OU students report that they feel differently about themselves as a result of OU study. They often comment on feeling more confident, or on changes in what they do or how they choose to spend their time. It is changes of this kind that are summarised in the conception that learning can mean ‘changing as a person’.

许多开放大学学生报告说他们经过开放大学的学习感到自己已有变化。他们经常谈及感觉更自信，或者感觉到他们在为打发时间所做选择和所作所为的变化。这些改变概括成学习上的概念就是“改变一个人”。

If we now look at all six conceptions of learning, we can see some of the different ideas about learning that people bring with them when they think about studying. These differences are about two key dimensions in learning: the process through which it happens, and the outcomes to which it leads. The first three categories in the list tend to emphasise the outcomes of learning and define these as additions, whether of knowledge, facts or procedures. The process is referred to as memorising or acquiring. The fourth and fifth tend to emphasise process, and describe this variously as ‘abstraction’ or ‘interpretation’. Whereas conception number 3 refers to practical application as the purpose, number 5 refers to ‘understanding reality’. The sixth conception, ‘changing as a person’, again emphasises process but with the emphasis on the person being different, rather than having more knowledge or being able to do more things.

如果我们现在来看这六种学习理念，我们可以发现人们在对学习进行思考的时候带来的一些思想上的区别。这些区别集中在学习的两个主要方面：学习的过程，和由此导致的结果。列表中的前三类倾向于强调学习成果，并把学习定义为加法的结果，而非知识、事实或者流程的结果。这个过程被称做识记或者获得。第四、五类倾向于强调过程，并将此过程描述为“抽象”或“解释”等等。然而第三项概念以实际应用为目的，第五项指向“理解现实”。第六项概念，“改变一个人”，强调过程的同时也强调个体之间的差异性，而非强调拥有更多知识或者能多更多事情。

The different ideas about learning that we bring into our approach to study are often not something we discuss directly. We are much more likely to chat about what we find difficult or easy, our preferences for different subjects or for different components in the course materials. We can see fairly immediately that people differ in how they respond to the same teaching material, and we can relate that to the differences we know of between people's personalities and experience. What we may not be aware of is that learning itself is diverse, both in its outcomes and in the kind of activities that result in those outcomes. If we become aware of this diversity, we are more likely to be able to decide on the kinds of learning activities that best support the outcomes we aim for. Activity 3 ‘In what ways is learning diverse?’ invites you to explore your own experience of different kinds of learning by applying the ideas of process and outcome to three contrasting examples.

我们应用到学习实践当中的关于学习的不同思路，并不是我们经常直接讨论的东西。我们更愿意讨论哪些容易发现哪些难于发现、我们对不同课题的喜好，以及对课程素材不同部分的喜好。我们可以从人们对待相同学习素材的不同反应立即看出人们之间的差别，我们也可以找出人们个性和经验之间差异上的关联。我们可能没有意识到学习本身就是多样性的，无论是结果还是导致这些结果的活动。如果我们开始察觉到这种多样性，我们就更可能决定出最支持我们所期望的结果的学习活动。活动3“学习的多样性体现在哪些方面？”邀请你通过在下面三个范例中运用过程和结果的思想，来探索你自己不同类型的学习经验。

Activity 3

活动3

In what ways is learning diverse?

学习的多样性体现在哪些方面？

Using a version of Table 4 in your learning file, note down a description of something you have learned in each cell of the first row – three examples in all. Try to choose three examples which differ from each other in important ways.

在你的学习档案中使用表4的版本，在每一列的第一格写下你对学过的某事物的描述——总共需要描述三个事物。试着从三个不同的方面选择三个不同例子。

Table 4 Learning diversity

	First learning example	Second learning example	Third learning example
Description of each example
What kind of process?
What outcome/results?

表 4 xu恶习的多样性

	第一个学习例子	第二个学习例子	第三个学习例子
对例子的描述
哪一类学习过程？
什么成果/结果？

Now, in each case ask yourself:

现在，对于每个例子你问自己：

• What kind of process did the learning involve?
• 这项学习使用了哪一类学习过程？
  
• What was the outcome for you personally?
• 对你自己而言有什么收获？
  

Make a note for yourself in the relevant row in each column. To help you complete the table, some suggestions are set out below about what you might consider under the heading of ‘process’ and ‘outcome’.

在每个相关的行列中为你自己写下说明。为了帮助你思考有关标题“过程”和“结果”，帮助你自己完成这份表格，下面有一些建议。

Process

过程

When thinking about process, you need to remind yourself of the circumstances in which the learning came about and what the experience was like. For example, were you on a course of any kind or was the learning a byproduct of carrying out your job or some other role? Did you take the initiative or was someone else in control? Did the pattern of control change over time? Did you learn by a process of practice with feedback, by experiencing something and thinking through its meaning or implications, by trial and error, talking to people, self-instruction via books, software, audio and so on? Did the learning make life easier or harder at the time and why?

在你思考学习过程的时候，你需要提醒你自己学习时的环境和有哪些经验。举个例子，你的课程或者学习是否为工作或者其他角色的副产品？你是主动学习还是被别人控制？控制的模式是否随着时间改变？你的学习是否带有反馈的实践过程，通过常识和错误、与人交谈、利用书本、软件、音频等等自学，来体验事物并思考其含义或影响？当时学习让生活变得更轻松还是更艰难，为什么？

These are just some of the issues you could consider in thinking through what the learning process was like.

这些问题都是需要你在思考学习过程是什么的时候要考虑的。

Outcomes

成果

Outcomes can take the form of:

成果可能会：

• changes to what you know,
• changes to what you can do,
• changes to how you value ideas and experiences.
• 改变你所知道的，
• 改变你能做到的，
• 改变你对思路和经验的评价方式。
  

Ask yourself whether your learning led to knowing more about something. Or did it lead to a new ability to do something or an improvement in something you were doing already? Did you feel different as a person? Did it change your attitudes or your future choices in any way? You might like to post a message to the unit forum containing some of your thoughts.

问问你自己你的学习是否宁你更近一步的了解某事物了？或者产生了某种新的能力，或者对你已经做的某件事有所改善？你是否觉得自己变了一个人？你是否在某些方面改变了自己的看法或者选择？你可能会在本单元的论坛张贴一份包含有你的想法的帖子。

Now you have completed your own review of three contrasting examples, you can compare notes with the entries shown in Table 5, compiled from students' responses to a similar activity. Taken together with your own, what do these entries tell you about the differences between outcomes and processes of learning?

现在你已经完成了你对三个对照例子的自我审查，你可以对比自己的注解和表5所列条目，这些条目编撰自学生类似活动的反应。连同你自己的注解，这些条目告诉你学习成果与过程之间有什么样的区别？

Table 5

	First student	Second student	Third student
Description	Losing control of a car and going off the road	Becoming a dance teacher/amateur actress	Identifying marine invertebrates
What kind of process?	Learned from experience. I had to analyse why I lost concentration, what I should have done.	Took up to meet people. Learned by example, watching more experienced. Gradual ability to perform grew over several years.	Needed for job. Trial and error process, a mix of asking colleagues and consulting the literature.
What outcome/results?	Fear of driving. Now much more cautious, permanently aware of dangers.	Increased confidence; better posture, voice control. Enjoy team work and entertaining others.	I am now the ‘expert’ for less experienced colleagues. Better concentration.

表 5

	第一个学生	第二个学生	第三个学生
描述	失控的汽车，偏离道路	成为舞蹈老师/业余演员	鉴定海洋无脊椎动物
什么样的过程？	吸取经验教训。我必须分析为什么我没有集中注意力，我应当做什么。	开始接触人们。通过案例学习，观察更多经验。经过许多年逐步拥有实际能力。	工作需要。充满尝试和错误的过程，交替询问同事和查询文献。
什么成果/结果？	害怕驾驶。现在更加小心，一直注意危险。	增强信心；更好的体态、声音控制。享受团队工作，善待他人。	对于经验不足的同事，我现在是一名专家。更好的注意力。

These examples illustrate one aspect of the diversity of learning, which is that unintentional learning, where we learn from direct experience, can have some of the most powerful and long-standing effects on us. The learning we do is a reaction to the quality of the experience that we have, whether pleasant or otherwise. But it is also influenced by how much we reflect on that experience or try to influence what might happen in future. A minor car accident could lead one person never to drive again, whereas another decides to take the advanced driving test and build up better skills for handling cars in difficult conditions.

这些例子说明了学习多样性的一个方面，就是无意识的学习，通过这个我们直接从经验中得到学习，这对我们有着非常强大和长期的影响。我们所进行的学习是对我们所拥有的经验的反应，无论喜欢与否。但只要我们对经验或者对将来的影响的进行思考，它也受到影响。一次轻微的车祸会导致一个人永不驾车，而另一个人决定采用更高级的驾驶测试，为在困难情况下控制汽车建立更好的技能。

Some of the most important things we learn as adults are also the result of pursuing goals which require that we learn to do something new or to do something differently. The learning is not undertaken for its own sake, nor is it the primary goal; but it's undertaken for what it enables us to achieve. This is the kind of learning we do when carrying out a role at work or in our personal lives. In these circumstances, what and how much we learn can depend very much on how prepared we are to go into issues more deeply, or to take on jobs which require that we find out about new things or stretch our abilities in some way. Thus, some people are prepared to study and to set themselves intentional learning goals – because they want to do a particular job or to do it differently.

作为成年人我们要学的一些重要的东西，也是追求目标的结果，这些目标要求我们学习做某些新的或者不同的事情。学习不是为了它自身的利益，也不是其主要目标；而是为了那些能让我们实现的东西。这是我们在扮演工作或者自己生活角色时候的一类学习。在这种情况下，我们学习什么、学习多少，很大程度上取决于我们打算准备进入问题深到什么程度，或者我们承担的工作需要我们找到新的事物或者把自己的能力伸展到某些方面去。因此，有些人准备学习并专门为自己设置一个目标——因为他们想要一份特别的工作，或者想让工作与众不同。

Where learning is intentional, the process can still be very varied. Such learning may or may not take place in association with formal education or training, and it can involve any combination of activities from a range that includes direct teaching, self-instruction, practical experience with feedback, trial and error, self-evaluation, consultation with experts, drill and practice, rehearsal, team working, role play, simulation, and so on. These differences in learning process result from:

对于那些有意识的学习，这一过程可以非常多样化。这种学习可能或可能不与正规教育或训练发生关系，它涉及一些列活动的组合，有直接教学、自学、带有反馈的实际经验、尝试与错误、自我评价、与专家交流、训练与实践、彩排、团队活动、角色扮演、模拟等等。这些学习过程中的差别起因于：

1. choices or preferences of the learner,
2. the context in which learning takes place,
3. the nature of what it is that we are trying to learn.
4. 学习者的选择或偏爱；
5. 学习发生时所处环境；
6. 我们打算学习的东西的本质。
   

The remainder of this reading is about the last of these three things, and introduces a scheme for distinguishing between the differences in what we are trying to learn which have a direct bearing on how we should attempt to go about learning them.

余下阅读部分是关于最后三样事物，并介绍一个区分我们将要学习的东西之间不同的方案，这些将要学习的东西与我们打算如何学习它们之间有着直接联系。

2.2 Memorising, understanding and doing

2.2 识记、理解与实践

You are now likely to be aware of various ways in which learning is diverse – as a process and in terms of its outcomes. In this final section is a very simple scheme for discriminating between the demands made on you, the learner, by different kinds of learning goals and the processes entailed in achieving those goals.

你现在可能已经意识到，学习，依照过程及其结果可以有很多种形式。在最后一节有一个非常简单的计划，用来通过不同类型的学习目标和为了必须实现这些目标而采取的过程，辨别你这个学习者的需求。

Theorists of learning have different ways of categorising the diversity of both outcome and process in learning. The scheme we are going to work with here uses three distinct kinds of learning: memorising, understanding and doing (Downs, 1993, 1995). This creates the memorable acronym ‘MUD’, and all three kinds of learning are required in this unit. You can use MUD as a reminder to ask yourself whether you are studying in the most effective way for the achievement of the task in hand. The next three subsections provide brief discussions of each kind of learning.

通过过程和结果来划分的话，学习理论有很多分类。我们打算在工作中使用这三种完全不同的学习模式：识记、理解和实践（道恩斯，1993，1995）。他们共同产生了一个宁人难忘的缩写“MUD”，并且这三类学习在本单元都是必需的。你为了实现当前任务，无论是否使用了最有效的手段进行学习，你都可以利用MUD来提醒自己。

2.2.1 Memorising

2.2.1 识记

We sometimes have to remember words, names, symbols and other signs, simply because there is a convention that they will stand for some accepted meaning. This is the kind of learning we use, for example, when we memorise road signs, or the conversion of metric to imperial measures, or lists of words in a foreign language. However, very little of what you study in this unit will require this kind of rote learning. You may need it if you try to remember certain definitions, for example. You will certainly need it at the beginning of learning how to use a software package if you have no prior experience of the package, because you will need to remember what to do in what order, and what certain symbols or actions mean. Unfortunately, we are not likely to understand complex ideas and experiences by applying the methods of rote learning, which typically involve repetition, silently or aloud, association with visual or auditory cues, and strategies such as mnemonics and rhyming.

有时候我们需要记住单词、姓名、符号和其他标识，只是因为一般而言他们代表了一些我们需要的含义。这是一类我们在使用的学习，比如，当我们记住路标，或者单位换算规则，或者一些外文单词。然而，你在本单元几乎用不到这种死记硬背的学习方法，比如你只有在打算记住一些定义的时候可能需要用到他。当然，如果你在开始学习如何使用一个软件包而以前又没有关于这个软件包的经验，你肯定需要用到他，因为你将需要记住按照什么顺序去操作什么，以及符号和动作的具体含义。不幸的是，我们并不能通过运用死记硬背学习方法来理解复杂的概念和经验，死记硬背一般涉及重复识记、默记或诵读，还伴随得有视觉或听觉提示，以及诸如助记符和押韵等策略。

Being able to remember things is important in all kinds of learning, however, even though the memorisation is not always the kind used in rote memorisation. We may be able to remember something, for example, because we can draw on our general understanding or knowledge to help us to recall that piece of information. I might be able to remember the name of a component or process, for example, because I understand something about the system of which it is a part. This is the kind of remembering, rather than rote learning, which is typical of the learning that is required in this unit. Such remembering comes after the effort to understand something, or to construct some representation of principles or frameworks which make sense of detailed information. It is not that remembering is unimportant in academic study, but that it needs to follow from the effort to understand rather than from rote memorisation.

在所有学习当中能记住东西都是很重要的，然而，记住不应当是死记硬背。我们可能会记住一些东西，比如，因为我们能利用我们的一般理解或知识来帮助自己回忆起部分知识。我也能记住一个部件或者过程的名称，比如，因为我通过一样东西所属系统来理解它。这是一类识记，而不是死记硬背，这是学习本单元所需要的。这类识记在努力理解一样东西，或者构建所理解的原理或框架的表达之后自然发生。在学术研究中识记不可谓不重要，但它需要建立在努力理解而非死记硬背的基础之上。

2.2.2 Understanding

2.2.2 理解

Much more important than memorising, where academic study is concerned, is understanding. This is the kind of learning which requires a willingness by the learner to work with ideas and concepts, and a willingness to explore whether an idea has really been mastered or only partially grasped. Making mistakes can be a helpful stage in this kind of learning because the mistakes can reveal what it is that is not understood. It is when we put right, or sort out, such mistakes in understanding that we clarify our thinking and build a firm basis for later study.

学术研究更关心的，不是识记，而是理解。这种学习应该是这样的：需要学习者主动在工作中运用思想和概念，主动探索对于一个思想是真的领会了还只是掌握了一部分。肚子和雷学习而言，犯错误是一个有益的阶段，因为错误可以透露出哪些还没被理解。在我们改正、整理我们理解上的错误时，我们能够理清思维并未将来的学习构建一个坚实的基础。

The methods appropriate for this kind of learning typically require the learner to work actively with new information and ideas. This can be achieved by inviting learners to apply, or to elaborate, or to evaluate what they have been given. They can also be asked to create their own ideas and frameworks. The learner is active because he or she is applying ideas to different contexts, or checking out relationships in a variety of scenarios, or testing out generalisations against many different cases. Drawing graphical representations of how different ideas relate to each other is also a very productive way of checking out whether we understand, and exploring how firmly we have grasped something. Perhaps the most telling activity of all is to try to teach another what we have just learned.

该方法通常适合于需要学习者积极利用新知识和新思路进行工作的学习。这可以通过邀请学习者或运用、或阐述、或评价所学知识来实现。他们也被要求创建自己的思路和框架。学习者积极是因为他能在不同环境下运用思路，或者在各种情况下检验关系，或者针对许多不同案例来彻底检验结论。画出图形来描述思路之间有多大的差别，对于检验出我们是否理解、探索我们对已经掌握的东西有多牢固，也是非常有价值的办法。也许所有活动当中最有效果的就是拿我们刚学的东西去去教别人。

‘Teachback’, where one learner spends a few minutes trying to teach another a theory or concept they both need to understand, can be an extremely effective way of sorting out the known from the unknown or the confused. All these activities ‘give birth to learning’ because they foster independent thought, self-checking and construction of links and relationships between the different areas of our own knowledge and thinking (Laurillard, 1993).

“转述”，学习者试着花一点时间教别人一个他们都需要理解的理论或概念，可以是从未知或者困惑中整理出已知非常有效的办法。所有这些活动能够产生学习，是因为它们培养独立思考、自我审查以及在我们已有知识和思维的不同区域之间建造链接和关系。

2.2.3 Doing

2.2.3 实践

Finally, learning how to act or perform in particular ways is essential for the development of all kinds of intellectual and physical skills. For example, we need to be able to learn how to create a variety of kinds of written communication, or how to present complex information in a clear diagram, or to decide how a team will structure its work, and so on. No amount of explanation of how to compose a clear technical report, for example, would provide convincing proof that we could actually produce such a report ourselves. For that we would be expected to offer a practical example or demonstration. In some cases the skill really does need to be demonstrated, for it consists in how something is achieved as well as in the end result. Most of us have probably decorated a room to reasonable effect, but the expert decorator not only produces a good end result, but does so more quickly and with minimal waste. We can fully appreciate the expertise only if we watch the skill in action. Similarly, our skill as a team player could be best appreciated through observation of at least some elements of our interaction with the team in achieving its goal.

最后，为了开发所有种类的智力和身体机能，学习如何按照特定方式行动或执行是必要的。比如，我们需要能够学习如何创造各种文字交流，或者如何在一个清晰的图表中呈现复杂信息，或者决定一个团队如何安排其工作，诸如此类。再多的解释也不能构成一份清晰的技术报告，比如，将提供令人信服的证据证明实际上我们自己能够产生这样一份报告。预计为此我们将提供一份实际的例子或示范。在某些情况下，技能的确需要加以演示，演示如何存在于如何实现事物的过程和最终结果当中。我们大多数人装修房间只要结果满意就行，但是装修专家不仅仅提供一个最好的最终方案，也做到更快速和尽量不浪费。我们要欣赏到专业风范就只有在实际行动中看到这些技能。类似的，最为一个团队成员，我们的技能可以在实现团队目标的过程中，通过至少一部分成员与我们的互动中对我们的观察，得到别人的欣赏。

The learning we need in order to become proficient in a skill or a performance of some kind may well draw on both memorisation and understanding (as outlined above), but it will also require other activities. The learner needs experience of practising the skill under controlled conditions and with effective feedback which enables the development of improved performance and strengthened capability.

我们所需要的学习可以让我们在某项技能上，或者某类能够良好利用识记和理解（如上所述）的表演方面成为专家，但它也需要其他活动。学习者需要这项技能在受控条件下的练习经验，需要有效的反馈，以期允许改善性能、增强能力。

Take the skill of playing a musical instrument as an example. Most beginning learners are given mnemonics or chanting rhymes by which to remember the names of all the lines and spaces in the written conventions of the music they are to play, because they simply must know these (and other conventions) by heart. Their reaction to the printed page must be automatic recognition of the notes and symbols used, together with the appropriate physical response. A general understanding about musical conventions and how to look up the names of musical notation will not help to develop such performance skills. However, the fluency of physical response essential for a competent performance will require much more than memorisation. It requires extensive practice and rehearsal of graded examples of music, with detailed feedback from an expert and continual self-evaluation. As musicianship develops, understanding of style and musical genres will become important in helping the player to interpret what the composer intended and in creating the appropriate sounds and effects.

以演奏乐器的技能为例。绝大多数初学者都利用助记符或者反复诵读韵律来记住他们要演奏的音乐所有惯例符号的名称，因为他们必须牢记这些（以及其他惯例）。他们对印刷曲谱的反应是能自动识别所用注释和符号，再加上适当的身体反应。对音乐惯例的一半了解，以及在乐谱中如何查找名称，无助与提高表演技能。然而，流畅的身体反应对于胜任表演是必不可少的，并且比识记需要的更多。它需要广泛的实践和对分级音乐范例的彩排，以及来自专家的详细反馈和不断的自我评价。作为音乐才能的培养，对音乐风格和流派的理解，对于演奏者诠释作者家的意图和采用合适的声音和效果来实现有着很重要的帮助。

It may be that people underestimate the degree to which practice (rather than innate ability) is required for skill to develop in a whole range of abilities. Studies of musicians have certainly demonstrated that inherited ability plays a much smaller part in exceptional achievement in performance than many people suppose (Sloboda, 1993). Much more important than innate ability is the length of time spent in daily practice over many years, plus exposure to music. On the basis of studies of this kind, the value of practice with developmental feedback has been emphasised as the crucial activity for skill formation and improvement. This applies to the skills of both communication and learning which are included in the course learning outcomes for this unit.

人们可能是低估了实践（而非先天能力）是开发技能的一系列能力中必需的程度。对音乐家的研究的确表明，天生能力在特定的表演成就方面所起到的作用远比大多数人想像的要小得多（Sloboda, 1993）。比天赋能力更重要的是多年坚持每天花上一段时间练习，加上多接触音乐。以这类研究为基础，带有反馈的实践的价值被强调为形成和完善技能的关键活动。本单元的课程学习结果所包含的沟通和学习两种技能均可运用实践。

2.3 The learner's repertoire

2.3 学习者的技能

Much of the learning required in this unit is a mix of understanding and skill development. Very little rote memorisation is involved. In learning generally, the different kinds of activity required for memorising, understanding or doing, are more likely to be required in different combinations than singly, in isolation. In addition, activities can be useful for more than one kind of learning so it is important to see MUD as a working tool for developing practice, rather than as a rigid system that you must stick to.

本单元多数必需的学习混合了理解与技能开发。很少用到死记硬背。一般学习中，在不同类型的活动中使用识记、理解和实践，很有可能是以不同的组合形式出现而非单个独自出现。另外，活动也可用于一种以上的学习，因此把MUD看作一种用于开发实践的工具而非一种你必须坚持的硬性制度，就很重要。

In Box 6 ‘Learning activities’ there is a summary list of activities organised according to the headings of memorising, understanding and doing. The lists are not a comprehensive record of everything that could possibly promote memorising, understanding or doing, but they are a starting point. Check down each of the lists in turn and note down your response to the questions below:

框架六“学习活动”中有一个活动一览表，按照识记、理解和实践的标题组织。列表没有全面记录可能促进识记、理解和实践的任何事物，但却是一个开端。检查列表中的每一项并记录下你对下列问题的反应：

• Which (if any) of these activities do I use much more often than others?
• 如果有的话，这些活动当中哪一个我用的比其他活动要多？
  
• Are there activities listed which I should try to use more often?
• 所列活动当中，我更应该多尝试哪一个？
  
• Do I try out different activities if I find myself getting stuck or bogged down in some parts of the course?
• 如果我发现自己在课程的某些部分当中陷入僵局或者困境的时候，我是否尝试不同的活动？
  

Select one of the activities listed and try to use it more often during the next week or two of study. Return to the list every few weeks and check down the activities for those that you could use to good effect more often than you tend to do.

选择一项所列活动，在下一两周的学习当中频繁使用它。每个几个星期就回到列表上来，检查那些你用起来比往常效果更好的活动。

Box 6 Learning activities

框架六学习活动

Memorising

识记

• Using mnemonics.
• 使用助记符、
  
• Using cues involving visual and auditory memory – e.g. using written notes or a tape recording to help remember something in a lecture, using colour codes for notes, hearing yourself or someone else read something aloud.
• 利用视觉和听觉记忆中的线索——比如，利用记笔记或磁带记录来帮助记住演讲中的东西，在笔记中使用彩色记号，倾听自己或者别人大声的朗读文章。
  
• Repetition of lists or other information in the same order – silently or aloud.
• 以相同的顺序复读列表或其他信息，默读或朗读。
  
• Self-testing at regular intervals.
• 定期自我测试。
  
• Getting someone else to test you.
• 让别人来测试你。
  
• Setting things down in a succinct way that you can visualise, e.g. tables, drawings, mind maps such as spray diagrams, tree or root structures, etc.
• 以一种你能看到的简洁方式把事情确定下来，比如，图表、图画、思维图如喷图、树状结构或根状结构等。
  
• Associating new information with something you already know well.
• 利用你已经充分了解的东西来联想新的信息。
  
• Chanting using a rhythm or rhyming pattern.
• 有节奏有韵律的朗诵。
  

Understanding

理解

• Knowing why you want to learn something.
• 知道你为什么要学。
  
• Setting yourself questions before, during and after study, for example.
• 在你学习之前、之中和之后，问自己这样的问题，如：
  

What if …? questions

如果……将会怎么样？问句

• Checking questions, for which you should be able to find the answers in the text.
• 检查问题，你可能在文章中找到答案。
  
• Comparison questions: Why is this topic important? How does it relate to other parts of the topic I am studying? What is it similar to, what is it different from?
• 比较问题：为什么这个主题很重要？如何将它与我学习的主题其他部分挂上钩？它像什么，又有什么不同？
  
• Causation questions: What can go wrong? What causes what? What prevents or what leads to particular effects? And so on.
• 因果问题：什么会出错？什么原因导致的？什么能够阻止或导致具体的影响？诸如此类。
  
• Imagination questions: How might it be different from a different perspective?
• 想象力问题：一个不同的看法会导致多大的不同？
  
• What might be the reactions of someone with views different from your own?
• 与你持不同观点的人可能会有什么反应？
  

Review questions: What have I learned? What do I need to learn next?

复习问题：我学到了什么？接下来还需要学什么？

• Brainstorming, i.e. generating ideas (alone or with others) without criticising or rejecting items first. The checking and criticising of ideas happens after the stage of generating ideas.
• 头脑风暴，即，（自己或与别人）在没有批评或拒绝的前提下产生主意。在产生注意这一阶段之后进行检查和批评。
  
• Asking questions which check out what you know and what you don't know, and which don't just request information.
• 问自己问题，弄清楚自己知道什么、不知道什么，而不仅仅是要得到答案。
  
• Putting the expert's explanation into your own words before you ask a question.
• 在你问问题之前把专家的解释转换成自己的话语。
  
• Talking about what something means with other people; bouncing ideas off other people.
• 与其他人谈论某事物的含义；了解其他人的想法。
  
• Visualising something in the form of a diagram.
• 以图解的形式让事物变的直观。
  
• Teachback – trying to explain to someone else what you have just learned.
• 转述——试着想别人解释你刚刚学到的东西。
  
• Listening to other opinions or explanations; repeating the other person's explanation/opinion before giving your own.
• 听取其他人的意见或解释；在给出你自己的意见/解释之前先重复其他人的。
  
• Distinguishing between general principles and specific examples, and reflecting on how an example illustrates a principle.
• 区分一般情况和特殊例子，并考虑如何用一个例子来说明一个原理。
  
• Learning from mistakes.
• 用错误中吸取教训。
  
• Setting aside time for reflection on experience and progress.
• 在反思经验和进步的时候不要考虑时间。
  
• Being prepared to tolerate partial understanding or ambiguities/uncertainties for a while.
• 做好暂时容忍局部理解或含糊、不确定。
  
• Working on a problem with a group rather than on your own.
• 处理问题的时候，集体好过个人。
  
• Recording reactions and progress in a learning journal or file.
• 在学习日记或档案中记录反思和进步。
  

Doing

实践

• Asking an expert to demonstrate a skill or part of a skill and to answer your questions about it.
• 请求专家演示一项技能或者部分技能，以回答你相关的问题。
  
• Trying out the skill or performance before getting instruction.
• 在取得指令之前尝试技能或表现。
  
• Trying out procedures in a ‘dry run’ where mistakes don't matter.
• 在排练中尝试步骤的时候不要在意错误。
  
• Getting feedback from an expert before ‘bad habits’ set in.
• 在养成坏习惯之前从专家处得到反馈。
  
• Getting regular feedback on performance so you can review progress.
• 定期收集行为反馈，这样你就可以检讨进展。
  

2.4 Using a variety of methods for effective study

2.4 采用多种方法进行有效学习

You may find it difficult at this stage to recognise what kind of activity would be most helpful for which parts of course study. In any case, people differ in what works best for them. The important point is to review the activities you are using for studying, particularly where you are setting yourself ambitious goals, or where you are finding things difficult. It might prove helpful to try out activities that you often avoid, or to ask other students how they study parts of the course that you find difficult. We often tend to persist in the same approach to study, assuming that the only way of overcoming difficulties is to spend more time studying. It may be that we can also make progress by a better match between how we are studying and the type of material and study goals which are our target. Our goal should surely be to find more effective ways of studying and not just to try to find more time for study.

你可能会发现在这一阶段要确定哪类活动对哪部分课程的学习对有帮助是很困难的。在任何情况下，每个人都有最适合自己的工作。重点在于检讨你用于学习当中的活动，特别是在你为自己设定了雄心勃勃的目标的时候，或者在你遇到困难的时候。尝试你平时避免使用的活动，或者问问其他学生他们是如何学习你遇到困难的那部分课程的，这些都被证明很有效果。我们经常倾向于坚持使用同一种方法进行学习，即便这条道路充满困难，令学习花费更多时间。在我们如何学习，与学习素材的类型以及我们视之为目标的学习目标之间做出合适的平衡，可能也会让我们取得进步。我们的目标应该是安全的找出更多有效的学习方法，而不仅仅是找出更多学习的时间。

In the next reading, the theme of matching the process with the outcome of study will be continued through exploring different theories about how learning happens.

在接下来的阅读中，与学习成果相匹配的的过程的主题将会是继续通过探索有关学习如何发生的不同理论。

2.5 Back to your definition

2.5 回到你自己的定义

Now you have worked through this reading, reflect on your own version of what learning is, as you drafted it for your learning file at the start of this reading. Did you give more emphasis to the outcomes of learning, or to the process? Or did you find a way of balancing the two? Try to revise your own wording to your own satisfaction.

现在你已经通过这种阅读，反思你在阅读一开始，在你的学习档案中写下的自己对学习是什么的理解。你是否更加关注学习的结果，或者过程？或者你在二者之间找到了平衡？试着修改你的措辞直到自己满意。

Learning is …

学习是……

Do remember that definitions of learning often reflect the kinds of learning that were most important to us at the time, or were in the forefront of our minds when we drew up our definition. A realistic goal is to give yourself a definition which works for a particular purpose, such as the tasks you will be working on for this unit. My own version of a definition, for the limited purpose of providing a working definition for this course, is as follows:

记住学习的定义常常可以让我们思考在这一时刻哪类学习才是最重要的，或者在我们起草我们自己的定义时，能浮现在我们的脑海里。一个现实的目标是给出一个用于特定目的的定义，比如你在本单元的任务。我自己的、为本课程给出的有限目的的工作定义如下：

Learning is an interactive process between people and their social and physical environment which results in changes to people's knowledge, attitudes and practices.

学习是一个人们与其社会和物质环境之间的互动过程，导致人们的知识、态度与习惯发生改变。

References for Reading 2

阅读2 参考资料

Beaty, E., and Morgan, A. (1992) ‘Developing Skill in Learning’, Open Learning, vol. 7 no. 3.

Downs, S. (1993) ‘Developing learning skills in vocational learning’ in Thorpe, M., Edwards, R., and Hanson, A. (eds) Culture and Processes of Adult Learning, London, Routledge.

Downs, S. (1995) Learning at Work: Effective Strategies for Making Learning Happen, London, Kogan Page.

Laurillard, D. (1993) Rethinking University Teaching: a Framework for the Effective Use of Educational Technology, London, Routledge.

Sloboda, J. (1993) ‘What is Skill and How is it Acquired?’ in Thorpe, M., Edwards, R., and Hanson, A. (eds) Culture and Processes of Adult Learning, London, Routledge.

Reading 3 Models of the learning process

阅读材料3 学习过程的模型

3.1 The acquisitive model of learning

3.1 贪婪

学习模型

What happens when we learn? I shall explore three explanations, or models, of learning which attempt to answer this question. These three models have particular strengths and weaknesses. The point is not to choose between them, but to consider which one has the ‘best fit’ for different kinds of learning.

在我们学习的时候发生了一些什么？我将探索三种有关学习的解释或模型，它们都试图回答这个问题。这三种模型有其特定的有缺点。重点不在于从中作出选择，而是要考虑对于不同类型的学习，哪一个才是最适合的。

The three models are introduced in turn, and each is followed by an activity that invites you to apply the model to what you have already or are currently studying.

依次介绍这三种模型，并且每次都有一个活动，邀请你将其应用到你正在或已经实施的学习当中。

This model of learning starts from a focus on the observable behaviour of the learner and on the idea that this can be changed by feedback from the learning environment. It is associated with the idea that learning has to do with reproducing some desirable behaviours or measurable outcomes.

这个学习模型从关注学习者可观测的行为开始，并基于其行为可以因为学习环境的反馈而改变的理念。它同时与这样一个理念一起出现：学习与重新产生令人期望的行为或者可衡量的结果有关。

The learning process is seen as a process of accretion. Learners add to their store of knowledge those items that are required for them to achieve their current goal. Teaching, therefore, starts with the analysis of what is to be learned, so that it can be broken down into component parts which can be taught stage by stage. Each part is taught in a predetermined order and tested before the next part is learned so that the desired behaviour builds up incrementally.

学习过程被看作是一个积累的过程。学习者将那些为实现其当前目标所必需的知识添加到自己的知识库当中。因此，教学，开始于对所学进行的分析，这样，教学可以被细分成许多组成部分，以便于分阶段教学。每一部分都按照既定顺序进行教学，并在进入下一阶段学习之前进行测试，以便于逐步递增的建立起预期行为。

It is essential to this process that learners have feedback regularly on how effectively they are achieving the desired learning outcome at each stage. If the learning is part of an education or training programme, the feedback is likely to result from some form of assessed performance and to include the response of a tutor. Feedback gives the learner information about how close they are to achieving the required outcomes so that they can modify and develop what they do in the required direction.

在每一阶段，学习者就实现预定学习成果的有效程度定期获得反馈，这一过程非常有必要。如果学习是教育或者训练方案的一部分，反馈很可能起因于某种形式的能力评估，并包含导师的回应。反馈给予学习者有关如何接近其实现必需成果的信息，使他们能够在必要的指导下修改并发展他们所要做的。

This approach to how learning happens has some similarities to an input/output model, with a feedback loop for correction of what has been recalled (see Figure 1). It also has some similarities with everyday thinking about learning, in that people commonly think of learning as knowing more: knowledge is a fixed object which one has more or less of, and learning is the process of acquiring more of it. The test of having learned is evidence that one can reproduce a near-exact replica of the knowledge or skill that was the objective of the exercise.

学习如何发生的方式有些类似于一个输入输出模型，一个带有通过回忆进行矫正的反馈回路的输入输出模型（见图一）。它也有些类似于日常关于学习的认识——人们一般认为学习就是知道更多：知识是可以增多减少的死东西，学习就是获取更多知识的过程。对所学进行测试可以表明一个人能复制所学知识或技能近乎精确的复制品，而这，也是练习的目的。

This approach to learning emphasises the desired outputs of the process but says little or nothing about what the learner should be doing or thinking while learning. The person doing the learning is simply a ‘black box’, taking in the information and generating the output, whatever that is.

这种学习方法强调过程的预期输出，而对于学习者在学习过程中应该做些什么或想些什么，则谈得很少甚至没有。学习中的个人只是一个简单的黑盒子，接受信息并产生输出，而不管这些东西具体是什么。

The limitations of this model have frequently been recognised. Learning is not a passive process of absorption of an input, unmodified. It is an active process where the same input does not reliably produce the desired output. The same input and feedback will not produce good results with all earners, or even with the same learner all of the time. What goes on when we learn, and the influences that affect that process, have been left out in this model.

人们也都看到该模型的局限。学习并不是个被动的、不加改变的吸收输入的过程。它是一个动态的过程，相同的输入并不一定能产生预期的输出。对于所有学习者，相同的输入和反馈并不都会产生好的结果，甚至对于同一个学习者在不同的时刻也是如此。这个模型漏掉的是，在我们学习的时候发生了什么，以及学习过程的影响力。

Figure 1: Model of acquisitive learning process

图一：贪婪学习过程模型

Also, for many things that we have to learn, successful learning cannot be adequately demonstrated in some form of behaviour. Much of what we must learn, for example, comprises not of details to be remembered, but ideas to be understood, and techniques for analysing and evaluating information. We also have to learn about attitudes, which may require us to change our perceptions, or to understand feelings different from our own. A simple input/output model will not take us very far with this kind of learning.

同样，对于我们所学的很多东西，某种形式的行为并不能很好的证明学习成功。我们必须学的很多东西，比如，不是要记住细节，而是要理解理念，以及分析和评估信息的技术。我们也要学习态度，这可能需要我们改变自己的观念，或者去理解与我们自己不同的感受。一个简单的输入输出模型并不会带领我们在这类学习上走得多远。

Nonetheless, in spite of its flaws, the acquisitive model is often implicit in the way we teach and learn. It has been used to produce effective learning opportunities for some purposes, and it can be modified in a number of ways to take into account the active role of the learner during learning. It can be modified, for example, to help the learner make a more coherent whole of topics learned in small, isolated chunks. In addition, some of the core ideas about breaking down what is to be learned into a paced programme of study, and providing regular feedback, have proved important for effective learning in a wide range of areas.

然而，尽管存在缺陷，贪婪模型仍隐含有我们教学之道。出于某种目的，它被用来产生有效的学习机会，它可以若干方式进行修改，以考虑学习者在学习期间的积极作用。它可以被修改，帮助学习者在学习小型的、孤立的知识的时候在主题之间更加连贯。此外，其一部分核心理念有关打破就是要学到一种有节奏的学习程序，并定期提供反馈，有证据显示，在大量领域内有效学习非常重要。

Activity 4 suggests that information which we simply need to know or to apply in problem-solving exercises might be learned by applying a modified acquisitive approach. Try out the activity to see whether this might suit the way you wish to study some parts of this unit.

活动4建议，我们在解决问题的练习中只需简单知道或应用的信息可能通过应用一个修改后的贪婪学习方式来获得。尝试这个活动，看看它是否适合你希望学习的这部分单元知识。

Activity 4

活动4

Memorising

识记

There are units on openlearn that explain terms or concepts which may well be new to you and which you will need to know about for future study. Consider, for example, T551_1 Systems Thinking and Practice. The whole terminology used there of system, boundary and environment along with distinctions between systemic and systematic, reductionism and holism, interconnectedness and feedback is being used in a particular way, even if the words themselves are familiar. If this is new to you, you will need to find a way of familiarising yourself with some key terms and information. One way to do this is to select some key items from the text and to re-organise them in two different ways:

开放学习网站的课程对于那些在将来的学习中新遇到的、或者需要你知道的词语或概念都作出解释。比如，考虑课程T551_1《思考与实践》。所有术语及其系统、边界以及环境，和系统与体系、还原论与整体论、连通性与反馈之间的区别一道，都以一些特定方法使用，即使这些词本身并不陌生。如果这对你而言是个新概念，你可能需要通过一些关键词汇和信息来使自己熟悉它。这样做的一个办法就是从文本中选择一些关键词汇，并以两种不同的方式重组它们：

• in the form of a spray diagram
• 以喷图的形式
  
• in the form of a set of questions on which you can test yourself or get someone else to test you.
• 形成一套问题，你可以用来测试你自己，或者让别人测试你。
  

Most of the hard work of sorting out what a system is and how it can be used as an aid to thinking has been done by the author, but reading through the text is not usually enough to enable us to remember the key points. One way of helping yourself to do this is to create a situation which gives you feedback on gaps in your knowledge.

整理出具体系统，并弄清楚如何使用它来帮助思考，这些绝大部分繁重工作都由作者完成，但是，通常，通读文章并不足以让我们记住重点。帮助你做到这个的一个办法就是创造一种局面，能对你知识的缺陷产生反馈。

Take the second suggestion listed above, which is to make up a set of questions from the text. This could be a list something like this:

采用上面第二项建议，即从文章中整理出一套题目。结果可能是这样的一份单子：

• Name the three ways of thinking described.
• 描述思维的三种途径的名称。
  
• How does positive feedback differ from negative feedback?
• 正反馈渔夫反馈有什么区别？
  
• What is the full definition of a system of interest?
• 兴趣系统的完整定义是什么？
  
• How can you distinguish between hard and soft complexity?
• 你如何区分硬复杂和软复杂？
  
• In what ways are levels and boundaries related?
• 各层级和边界之间是如何关联的？
  

Try testing yourself now to check out your memory of what could be considered basic information on systems thinking for the course. Better still, ask someone else to do so after a day or two, so that your immediate memory of the questions has faded.

现在你自己进行测试，测试你对课程的系统化思维的记忆，检查哪些基本信息值得思考。最好是让别人过一两天再这样做，那时候你对这个问题的短期记忆已经淡化了。

If you do need to check up the answers, as you do so you could draw a diagram or make further notes in your learning file to help you remember the key points.

如果你需要检查答案，你可以在你的学习档案中画出图示或者做出进一步的说明，以帮助你记住关键部分。

You can use a similar approach to help you remember key points from the study of very large amounts of text. This is what we do when we reduce our notes to headings and try to memorise these in preparation for an exam. The headings are there to provide a reminder of all the details which we can then unpack in order to make arguments appropriate to the questions we have to answer.

你在学习非常大量的文章时，可以采用类似方法帮助自己记住关键部分。这就是我们在为考试做准备而做的：将笔记缩减成标题并尝试记住他们。标题可以对细节起到提醒作用，然后我们在回答问题的时候可以将细节按顺序恢复出来，形成答案论点。

Re-organising information, or reducing detail to summary lists and diagrams which we can reconstruct and check out through self testing with feedback, is useful for building up recognition and memory. It helps to create mental structures which support our need to review what we know and to use it flexibly, according to the immediate requirement. This kind of activity has been devalued because of its link with pre-examination cramming. But it can have a useful role for remembering both detailed information and summaries of key points. That is, it is a study skill to use at regular intervals.

对于信息，我们可以重新组织、减少细节汇总列表、以及图示，我们可以重建，并通过带有反馈的自我测试来检查，对于逐步建立起认识和记忆非常有用。这有助于建立这样一种心理结构，以支持我们检讨我们知道些什么以及如何根据具体情况灵活运用它。这类活动已经打了折扣，因为它与考前恶补有关联。但是它对于记住细节信息和关键部分具有良好的作用。也就是说，这个学习技能可以定期使用。

3.2 The constructivist model of learning

3.2 建构学习模型

This model of learning concentrates on what happens during the process of learning. It identifies the central role of concepts and understandings that learners bring to new learning and the way in which new and old ideas interact. Its starting point is that learners use their existing frameworks of understanding to interpret what is being taught, and that these existing ideas influence the speed and effectiveness with which new ideas are learned. Learners are actively involved in processing what is taught, and as a result, the same ‘input’ is perceived differently by different learners and may well have quite different outcomes.

这种学习模型关注于学习过程中所发生的事情。它认可学习者进行新的学习和进行新旧思路相互作用时，观念与理解的核心作用。其出发点在于学习者使用他们已有的理解框架去解释所学知识，而这些已有的思路影响着学习新思路的速度和效力。学习者积极参与到教学过程中，最终，对于不同的学习者，相同的“输入”都有不同的认知，并可能产生不同的结果。

This model of learning has been developed from studies of the kinds of learning required in higher education, and dissatisfaction with the acquisitive approach in this context. Its primary focus is on learning as a way of changing one's understanding, in particular coming to understand some aspect of an academic field of study (Ramsden, 1988). The learning process is seen as a product of the relationship between three interconnecting factors:

这种学习模型形成于对高等教育中用到的学习方法的研究，并在实际环境中对贪婪法表示出不满。其主要焦点是，学习是改变一个人理解问题的途径，尤其是逐渐理解学术研究领域的某些方面（Ramsden, 1988）。学习过程被看作是三个相互关联的因素相互作用的产品：

• What students already know or can do.
• 哪些是学生已经知道或能够做到的。
  
• What students think the subject they are studying is about and what it takes to learn it.
• 学生对他们正在学习的课题的理解：这是有关什么的、哪些是需要学习的。
  
• What teachers do, the tasks they set and the way these are interpreted by students.
• 教师做些什么，他们设置的问题以及学生解决问题的方法。
  

A system map can help clarify this approach to learning. Such maps are a way of showing the component parts which interact to create a system that is greater than the sum of its parts. Although the component parts may interact, it is not customary to indicate this by lines or arrows on this particular type of diagram. Thus although there are strong interactions between learners, teachers and the teaching content and media, these are not shown in the system map of a constructivist approach to learning in Figure 2.

系统图有助于阐明这一学习方法。这些图可以展示各个组件部分，它们相互作用构成整个系统，发挥出比各部分之和更大的作用。虽然各部分有相互作用，但不一定要用线条和箭头在这类特殊图示上标明它们。因此，尽管在学习者和教师之间、教学内容和媒体之间有着强烈的互动，但他们并不显示在图二的建构主义学习方法的系统图中。

Figure 2: A system map of key elements in a constructivist model of learning

图二：建构主义学习模型的关键元素系统图

Activity 5

活动5

Task 1

任务1

Before you read the explanatory text for Figure 2, try to identify what the components within the ‘learner’ and ‘teaching activity’ subsystems labelled with capital letters A, B, C and D stand for.

在你阅读图二的说明文字之前，试着弄清楚学习者和教学活动子系统中标有甲乙丙丁的组件分别代表什么。

Task 2

任务2

Note that the boundary round the three components or subsystems in the map separates them from the area outside, which is the environment. The environment contains items which influence the interactions within the boundary of the system. As you look at Figure 2, think about appropriate items that could be shown in the environment.

注意，图中围绕在这三个组件或者子系统的边界将它们与外界，也就是环境隔离开来。环境包含了通过系统边界相互影响的组件。如你在图二中所见，考虑可以显示在环境中的合适组件。

You might like to use the unit forum to share and discuss your response to this activity with other openlearn users.

你可能喜欢利用课程论坛来与其他开放大学学员分享和讨论你对此活动的反应。

My answers to Task 1 in Activity 5 are as follows.

我对活动5中的任务1的回答如下。

The components in the ‘learner’ subsystem (labelled A and B in Figure 2) represent:

学习者子系统中的组件（图二中标有甲乙者）表示：

(A) the learner's existing knowledge, skills and attitudes

(B) the learner's ideas about how to learn the subject matter of the teaching.

（甲）学习者已有的知识、技能和态度

（乙）学习者关于如何学习有关教学的主题的思路

The components in the ‘teaching activity’ subsystem (labelled C and D in Figure 2) represent:

教学活动子系统里的组件（图二中标有乙丙者）表示：

(C) the content of what is taught

(D) the methods and media used to teach it.

（丙）待教授的内容

（丁）用来教学的方法和媒体

Your components may have been different, while it would also have been possible to indicate components for the teacher subsystem, because teachers also differ according to their existing knowledge, ideas and practices, including their ideas about teaching and learning their subject.

你描述的组件有可能不同，同时也有可能为教师子系统标示出组件，因为教师根据其已有的知识、观念和习惯，也会有不同，包括关于如何教授和学习他们课程的观念。

Task 2 concerned whether you could identify influences from the environment. Two such components in the environment could be the institution in which the teaching/learning transaction takes place, and the Examination Board or Qualification Standards which govern the award of credit for learning. As both the Primer and Diagramming packs suggest, the purpose for which the map is created will determine whether components are placed inside or outside the boundary. For my purposes here, attention is focused on the interaction between who is learning, who is teaching and what the content and methods of the teaching are (including the media used). For this reason, I would place the institution and other elements in the environment outside the system, though they clearly do influence the interactions inside the system. You may want to have other elements in the environment of your system map.

任务2关心你是否能找出来自环境的影响。环境中的这两种组件可以在发生教/学活动的时候成为制度，考试委员会或者资格标准委员会决定授予学分。作为推荐的入门读物和图表包，其目的在于决定创作出来的系统图中组件是在边界之内还是之外。在这里我的目的是，将注意力集中在互动上面，学习者、教授者、教授的内容与方法（也包括所使用的媒体）。基于这个理由，我会将环境中的制度和其他元素放置在在系统界外，虽然他们很显然影响到系统内部的互动。你也可能希望在你的系统图中有其他环境元素。

For teaching which is based on a constructivist model of learning, the starting point is to help students integrate new learning with what they already know. This will very likely mean that existing ideas will have to change, sometimes extensively, especially if the new learning conflicts with existing assumptions and attitudes. The danger otherwise is that we do not realise the contradictions between old and new learning, and existing ways of thinking will tend to undermine new learning.

对于基于建构主义学习模型的教学，出发点是帮助学生利用他们已有知识来融入新的学习当中。这很可能意味着已有观念将会改变，有时候改变会非常广泛，特别是如果新的学习与已有的假设和习惯有冲突。另一个危险就是我们并没有认识到新旧学习之间的矛盾，以及已有的思维方式会倾向于逐渐破坏新的学习。

This also means that we need to be aware of how new learning affects what we already know and do. We need to engage in activities which really do foster the new understanding they are aiming for. Without this emphasis on understanding ideas for ourselves and in our own words, study can lead to patchy or superficial understanding. Overemphasis on memorising also tends to take attention away from the effort of understanding.

这也意味着我们需要意识到新的学习如何影响我们已有的知识和行为。我们需要参与那些确实以培养新的理解为目标的活动。如果不把重点放在用我们自己的话语理解观念，学习就会偏向支离破碎和不求甚解。过分强调记忆也容易导致将注意力从对理解的关注上移开。

One of the ways in which understanding develops is by trying to work out the structure of what is being communicated, so that we can see what the relationship is between the different parts and make sense of the whole. As Laurillard has commented, ‘The same information structured differently, has a different meaning’ (Laurillard, 1993). We all know for example, the ‘catch’ drawings where we can see the same pattern of dots and lines two ways, depending on the structure we give it. Figure 3 is an example. It can be seen either as a young girl or an old woman, depending on which structure we impose on the information.

发展理解的一个办法就是试着计算出用来通信的物体的结构，这样我们可以看到不同部分之间的关系，并理解整体的含义。就像劳瑞拉所解释的那样，“同样的信息不同的结构化，得到不同的意思”（劳瑞拉，1993）。比如，我们都知道，解读图画时，依靠我们给定的结构，我们能够看到两种相同类型的点和线。图三就是一个例子。它可以被看成一个年轻姑娘或者一位老妪取决于我们赋予信息一个什么样的结构。

Figure 3: Ambiguous picture, first drawn by cartoonist W.E. Hill in 1915 and reprinted in the psychological literature by Boring (1930). It can be viewed as a head-and-shoulders portrait of either an old woman or a young woman. (If you have difficulty seeing both, it might help to know that the old woman is in profile and looking to the left; the young woman, also looking left, is turned away from the viewer. The old woman's left eye the young woman's left ear. The old woman's mouth is the young woman's necklace. The old woman's nose and nostril are respectively the young woman's cheek and jaw.)

图三：两可图，最早由漫画家W.E.希尔在1915年绘制，泊灵重印在心理学文献上（1930年）。它可以被看作一幅老妪或少女的头肩肖像。（如果你很难看出这两者，这可能帮助你知道，老妪是左侧面；少女也是左侧面，但是离观众远一些。老妪的左眼是少女的左耳。老妪的嘴是少女的相连。老妪的鼻子和鼻孔分别是少女的面颊和下颚。）

Activity 6 is an opportunity to try out a learning activity designed to build your understanding of one of the readings in this unit by sorting out its structure and component parts. It also requires that you integrate what you already know with what may be new in what is being communicated.

Activity 6 Understanding

Choose one of the readings from this unit. As you work through it, set out its structure (the main themes/arguments and their relationship to sub-themes, examples, etc.) in diagrammatic form using the following steps as a guide.

1. First, spend a few minutes noting down what you already know about the topics covered in your chosen piece of text. Then write down one or two questions of your own that you would like to have answered or discussed? (this helps you clarify what you want to understand).
2. Next, draw a diagram to show the main topics and their relationship to each other. Do this first by scanning the text to get an overall idea of the main headings and the way they are organised. Set out this organisation as a first draft of your diagram of the structure of the text. What questions does the author seem to be interested in? Make a note of these.
3. Then return to the text and skim through it by reading the opening and closing paragraphs, and the first sentence of each paragraph in the main body of the text. This will give you more information about content, some of which may need to be added to your draft diagram. (These two steps will help you summarise the author's structure).
4. Now you are ready to read through the text, stopping to re-read wherever you feel you need to check up on meaning or details. What answers are you getting to the questions you posed at stages 1 and 2? Make a note. Continue to work on your diagram until you feel it is good enough.
5. Return now to your notes on your existing ideas or attitudes on this topic. What do you now know differently? What if anything has changed as a result of study of your chosen piece of text? (These two stages make you reflect on your understanding).

3.3 The experiential model of learning

The main proponent of this approach to learning, David Kolb, put forward a theory which he intended to be sufficiently general to account for all forms of learning (Kolb, 1984). He argued that there are four distinctive kinds of knowledge and that each is associated with a distinctive kind of learning. The four kinds of learning are:

• concrete experiencing
• reflective observation
• abstract analysis
• active experimentation.

Kolb suggested that the ideal form of learning was one that integrated all four of these, integration being achieved by a cyclical progression through them in the way shown in Figure 4. The result of the journey round the cycle is the transformation of experience into knowledge, and this forms the basis of Kolb's definition of learning: the production of knowledge through the transformation of experience.

Thus Kolb views learning as a process – one through which any experience (including the experience of being taught) is transformed. If, for example, information is reproduced by the learner in exactly the form taught, learning would not have occurred, according to his view, because nothing would have been changed or transformed. Memorisation might be judged to have occurred, but not learning, which has a kind of ‘value added’ quality in this model because it generates something more than or different from the original stimulus.

The cyclical process shown in Figure 4 can begin anywhere. Starting at the ‘top’, we have concrete experiencing, on which we can reflect and draw out observations. These in turn provide the raw material for the abstract analysis and conceptualization stage, out of which we can derive new ideas or theories, to try out in practice. Active experimentation combines therefore the fruits of both concrete experience and abstract analysis, and when we put our experimental ideas into practice, we generate another episode for concrete experiencing so that the cycle can begin over again.

Kolb argues that all four stages in the experiential learning cycle are essential for the full integration of direct, concrete experience and action with knowledge and theories about the world. The integration, as I mentioned earlier, comes by working through each of the four stages identified in the model, from concrete experiencing through reflective observation, abstract analysis and active experimentation. Each of the four stages has a distinctive activity and function which is essential for the achievement of learning. Kolb's theory requires that each stage be given its full value by the learner, with outcomes that feed forward into the next stage of the model – wherever we begin on the cycle.

Figure 4: The Kolb model of learning

Thus if our learning begins with some kind of formal teaching, we are starting the Kolb cycle at the bottom – abstract conceptualization. At the higher education level especially, teaching is about generalisations and abstractions, and our learning is mediated through texts and symbolic representations of the kind that you are now studying in this unit.

Kolb's argument is that much education and training stops there and leaves the learning process incomplete, with knowledge that has not been reflected on and digested, nor used in action and integrated into the person's way of seeing the world and accounting for its effects. What should happen is that we test out our grasp of new knowledge by using it in some purposeful and planned way (thus achieving the next stage – active experimentation) and this active experimentation will generate opportunities for direct concrete experiencing (top of the diagram). This experience provides the substance for the next stage of the cycle – reflective observation – where we can reflect by comparing our understanding of abstract concepts with experience of how they worked out in practice at the concrete experience stage.

If we then adjust our understanding by a second stage of abstract analysis, we re-start the cycle and re-visit each stage. But for the second tour of the cycle, the content at each stage will be different.

The process of completing an assignment, for example, may correspond quite closely to a movement round the Kolb cycle. Course material gives us new ideas or theories to check out in practice. We will apply these theories in drawing up a research plan which requires some local research or fact finding. The observations that we make as a result of this concrete experience will be the basis of a reflective stage, which in turn needs to feed into a re-visit of our starting ideas or theories. These may be confirmed and enlarged as a result of our research. Alternatively, our experiences may have suggested that they need to be changed or developed in a new direction. Having clarified the revisions to these abstract ideas or models, we are ready to move on, applying the new thinking to the final stage in the cycle, by deciding on their implications for practice.

The model in Figure 4 shows a single cycle of learning, for simplicity's sake. However, if learning does progress through each of these stages a second, third or more times, it is not a simple repetitive process but a spiral, progressive movement in which the content of our learning will be different at each successive working through of the cycle.

Although I have given you an example which begins the cycle at the abstract conceptualisation stage, experiential learning is most commonly associated with a process beginning at the top of the diagram with direct concrete experiencing. This partly reflects Kolb's aim in writing his book, which was to argue the view that western industrialised societies overvalue abstract analytical knowledge and that direct experience ought to be used more often to identify explicit learned outcomes. He argued that we should reflect much more on our direct experience as a way of integrating theory with practice and of taking into account the full effects of our ideas and theories in action. He argued that ‘head knowledge’ alone, which does not take into account the practical and emotional effects of theories and abstractions, was at best limiting of human potential and at worst dangerous.

Experiential learning has been used in a variety of ways in higher education and elsewhere, and it has played a strong role in the movement towards bringing work experience and ways of learning in the workplace into higher education studies. It has also been used as the basis for distinguishing between so-called ‘learning styles’, which differentiate one learner from another. Kolb argued that we tend to prefer some stages of the model to others – to find concrete experience, say, more congenial than active experimentation or reflection. As a result, we tend to skip these least preferred stages, and to do them little justice in our regular way of learning.

Kolb's four-stage model has been used as the basis for a typology of learning styles which is listed in Table 6. Each of the four styles has been identified with a particular type of learner behaviour that is characteristic of that approach to learning. Thus the learner who is happy with the concrete experience stage of learning might be recognisable as someone who in their approach to learning is happy to have a go, to get involved, to take risks – even when the outcome is not clear at the beginning. By contrast, there are weaknesses with this same preference, such as a lack of reflection on the purpose of activity (see the lists in Table 6).

Just as learning models have strengths and weaknesses, so each style can be separated out in the form of positive statements which are its strengths and negative statements which are its weaknesses. I have used the typology shown in Table 6 (derived from Honey and Mumford, 1992) for Activity 7, which also provides an opportunity for you to try out and reflect on some of the ideas put forward by Kolb in his model of experiential learning.

Do you have strong preferences for how you learn and the type of activity that is required of you? Perhaps you have taken your own reactions for granted and assume that everyone learns the same way. You may also assume that the way you learn is something that cannot be affected by what you do or by your attitudes to learning. But some people believe that they can and do change the way that they learn – in the sense of managing their own reactions and activities where they feel this is necessary for the learning goal in hand.

The required basis for change however is self awareness, and that is one of the aims of the next activity, which is optional. The activity is split into two parts, and part 1 builds on the work you have been doing on the experiential model of learning, but, if you decide to complete the work, you will need to access an external website.

Table 6 Learning styles: strengths and weaknesses (adapted from Honey and Mumford, 1992)

Learning style	Strengths	Weaknesses
Activist	Flexible and open-minded. Happy to have a go.	Tendency to take the immediately obvious action without thinking.
	Happy to be exposed to new situations.	Often take unnecessary risks.
	Optimistic about anything new and therefore unlikely to resist change.	Tendency to do too much themselves and hog the limelight.
		Rush into action without sufficient preparation.
		Get bored with implementation or consolidation.
Reflector	Careful.	Tendency to hold back from direct participation.
	Thorough and methodical.	Slow to make up their minds and reach a decision.
	Thoughtful.	Tendency to be too cautious and not take enough risks.
	Good at listening to others and assimilating information.	Not assertive – they aren't particularly forthcoming.
	Rarely jump to conclusions.
Theorist	Logical ‘vertical’ thinkers.	Restricted in lateral thinking.
	Rational and objective.	Low tolerance for uncertainty, disorder and ambiguity.
	Good at asking probing questions.	Intolerant of anything subjective or intuitive.
	Disciplined approach.	Full of ‘shoulds, oughts and musts’.
Pragmatist	Keen to test things out in practice.	Tendency to reject anything without an obvious application.
	Practical, down to earth, realistic.	Not very interested in theory or basic principles.
	Businesslike – get straight to the point.	Tendency to seize on the first expedient solution to a problem.
	Technique oriented.	Impatient with waffle.
		On balance, task oriented not people oriented.

The PDF file below gives a more detailed description of the four learning styles outlined in Table 6. You will need to refer to this PDF in order to complete Activity 7.

Click on 'View document' below to read 'The Four Learning Styles'.

View document

Activity 7 Doing (optional)

Part 1

The original source materials openlearn adapted to create this unit used an article by Honey & Mumford that contained a questionnaire designed to encourage you to think about how you typically go about learning things. The article appeared originally in the Guardian in 1989 (Honey & Mumford, 1989), but it is now available at Peter Honey’s website, http://www.peterhoney.com/eshop_product.aspx?pid=1129. This link takes you to the 40-item questionnaire that can be taken online, but there is another online version (containing 80 questions) and two print-based versions, all available for a fee.

The idea behind the questionnaire is to use your replies to create a score that indicates the strength of your preference for each of the four learning styles defined by Honey and Mumford. The descriptive statements about each style are not meant to have any scientific value but to stimulate your own ideas about whether you do have strong preferences and what they are. If you choose to do the questionnaire, do not spend too long on each item, many of which prompt the thought ‘well, it all depends on the circumstances…’. Remember, it is only a tool to give you ideas about your own learning.

If you decide not to take the complete questionnaire, you can get an idea of your learning styles preferences by looking at ‘The Four Learning Styles’ document by clicking on the link given above this activity. For each learning style, the document lists the types of activities that a learner may find easier or more difficult, and you might be able to get a feel for your preferences by identifying your favourite (and least favourite) ways of working.

Part 2

Honey & Mumford’s article is intended to raise questions in your own mind about how you prefer to learn. People quite often find that they have strong preferences for one or two styles and feel that it would be helpful to extend their range of learning practices. One place to begin is to use more of the range of activities outlined in Table 6 and described in more detail in ‘The Four Learning Styles’ document above. Work through the activities suggested below before you return to the course text, so that you are ready to try out aspects of the learning styles you find least congenial over the next few weeks. Even if you found yourself to be quite a balanced learner, you probably found some questions harder to answer than others and further reflection would help you to pinpoint why this might be so.

1. Look through the general descriptions of your most preferred style in Table 6. List some of the advantages and disadvantages to you of this style.
2. Look through the descriptions of your least preferred style in Table 6. What advantages might there be for you if you used this style more often?
3. Read through the strengths of your least preferred style shown in Table 6 and suggest some practical steps you could take to strengthen your use of this style in your work.

3.4 Conclusion

The headings alongside each of the activities in this article were there to remind you of the three different types of learning to which you were introduced in Reading 2: memorising, understanding and doing. The three models of the learning process that I have discussed in the present reading – acquisitive, constructivist and experiential – have strengths particularly for each of these three kinds of learning.

Some learning goals require that we know information accurately and can recall it when necessary. An acquisitive approach can be helpful as a way of achieving that, though in many circumstances it will still be easier to remember if we also understand the wider structure within which such information has a meaning and purpose.

The constructivist model is about encouraging activities by the learner which promote understanding. It stresses the kind of learning process required for coming to understand mediated knowledge about the world.

The experiential model is about the process required for the integration of abstract understanding and knowledge with personal experience and action. It suggests the idea of a cyclical relationship between four distinct types of learning activity, each of which has an essential role to play for full integration to be achieved.

References for Reading 3

Boring, E. G. (1930) ‘A new ambiguous figure’, American Journal of Psychology, vol. 42, p. 444.

Honey, P. and Mumford, A. (1989) ‘Trials and Tribulations’, The Guardian, 19 December.

Honey, P. and Mumford, A. (1992) The Manual of Learning Styles, 3rd edn, Peter Honey, Maidenhead.

Kolb, D. (1984) Experiential Learning, Prentice-Hall, New Jersey. Laurillard, D. (1993) Rethinking University Teaching, Routledge, London.

Ramsden, P. (1988) Learning to Teach in Higher Education, Routledge, London.

Stanton, N. (1996) Mastering Communication, 3rd edn, Macmillan, London.

Thorpe, M.S. (1996) What is learning? The Open University, Milton Keynes.

Reading 4 Learning to act: managing and systems practice

4.1 Introduction

This unit teaches some aspects of systems thinking and practice. But what does it mean to be a systems practitioner, and is it different to being a manager? This reading attempts to answer those questions.

First, I believe a good systems practitioner will be more competent at handling complex situations, more capable of managing their working and domestic lives, and more able to learn not only how to learn but also how to act more effectively by using systemic concepts and techniques. Two keywords in that description are learning and managing. The importance of learning and in particular the experiential learning model of Kolb has been discussed in the three previous readings in this unit. The importance of managing needs further explanation.

The trouble with the term managing is that it has come to be associated with the work of those whose job title includes the designation ‘Manager’ or ‘Director’ or ‘Executive’; somebody with identifiable seniority. As a result many people think that managing is something a bit different, special even – and certainly not what they do. This feeling occurs even when the person's work is very varied and involves a range of contacts with other people. For example, as an academic I spend a large proportion of my time trying to get things done with and through other people. But I certainly don't think of myself as a manager. Part of the misunderstanding comes from the idea that managing is all about controlling people and their activities through the application of financial and other resources. At one time, managers saw this as their primary task. As time has moved on, managers have seen that their role includes a much wider brief; getting things done through other people and enabling people to solve the problems confronting them and to seek better ways of working.

In this sense the work of managers has moved much closer to the role of anyone working effectively in an organisation of any description. But the confusion lingers on, that only managers do any managing. Curiously enough, this feeling even extends to many of those who do have the title ‘manager’; they believe their job lacks many of the important characteristics of ‘real’ management. For example, middle managers often think that those above them are the ones with genuinely managerial jobs. Yet I have been told that the controllers of one European multi-national talk with frustration of ‘the establishment’ who really manage the enterprise – the great swathe of corporate managers on whom they depend. So it seems that ‘managers’ and ‘management’ are commonly other people.

Another reason why managing is a troublesome term is that the term manager is applied to an astonishing diversity of different sorts of work.

Empirical studies have demonstrated that people called managers (and controllers, directors and so on) fulfil a very wide range of roles with correspondingly varied patterns of working relationships. As a result, any particular management role will not include many of the aspects that are commonly associated with the term. For example, those involved in the control of day-to-day operations may have little involvement in planning and strategy, while those who function as ‘contacts’ or liaison personnel may have few if any subordinates to ‘manage’.

Nevertheless, what is called management does have some common features. It is characterised by a harsh pace, by the variety, brevity, and fragmentation of the activities undertaken, and by the need to deal with other people, often in meetings of one sort or another. Clearly, this is not a description of assembly line work. On the other hand (and this is the key point) it's pretty obvious that to a greater or lesser extent these characteristics occur in the work of an enormous number of people in organisations of all descriptions – far, far more than have the title ‘manager’.

If one thinks in these terms then it follows that much, perhaps most, working activities within – and outside – organisations involves a significant managing component. This view is in line with the much broader everyday use of the term (by which we simply mean ‘coping’), for example, ‘How are you managing?’ On this basis, an engineer in a project team, a shop steward, a play-group organiser, a tax inspector, a teacher and a hotel receptionist, people who are definitely not Managers (with a capital M), all do a great deal of managing. It follows that although the amount of managing involved in people's work varies, it is seldom entirely absent, and is usually quite an important part of the job – even though most people don't usually think of their work in these terms. This is the meaning of managing in this unit.

4.2 What it means to be good at managing

What does it mean to be ‘good at managing’ and what part does systems thinking and practice play? One way to explore the first question is to ask what you know about your work that a school leaver, or someone fresh from university, would not know. Consider a senior secretary, for example, someone who clearly has a fair amount of managing to do, in our terms. Such a person must have certain basic skills and knowledge (in word-processing, filing, etc.) the foundation of which will have been laid in their training. But once they have become competent in demonstrating these skills they cease to be problematic. There may indeed be little difference between the word-processing-and-filing skills of the senior secretary and the college leaver.

But clearly, there is a difference between the effectiveness of the senior secretary and the college leaver even if they are competent at certain necessary skills. In fact, the issues and hassles that the senior secretary deals with, and which call for awareness and judgement, don't usually have much to do with these functional ‘secretarial’ skills. In order to reduce the disparity between the two it might be suggested that secretarial courses should teach some of these more general yet ‘higher level’ secretarial skills. Indeed, most secretarial courses do, and a bit on organisations and management is included in much professional training. Although useful in giving people some general appreciation of what they may expect, it is not difficult to see the limitations of such teaching. A student might be able to write elegant essays about various aspects of organisations and still be unable to cope at all creatively with one face-to-face (this was certainly true for me at the beginning of my professional career). Such teaching would inevitably be very general – any particular organisation is unique and all colleagues are different. But in practice it is the particularities that matter: knowing what makes particular people tick, which rules are important and which can be ignored, understanding the background to current issues and something of the overall context of one's work.

With this in mind it is tempting to say that these are all that matter, that managing well means having a good working knowledge of one's own activity, the people one works with, and how they all fit into the wider organisation. But this doesn't work either, because someone wise in the ways of organisations doesn't just cope well with their particular job. They can also handle changes in their work, or move to a different organisation, getting the hang of changed circumstances fairly quickly, working out how to make the best of them, how to get things done and knowing when and how to stand up for themselves. The difference is that rather than defining competence as being knowledgeable, fully informed and expertly qualified in particular functions, it is defined as being able to ask questions, keeping an open mind and how you relate to your colleagues so that both you and they can learn and develop.

Two other points also contribute to making competence an elusive quality. First, where two people doing the same sort of work are both competent, they often go about their work in very different ways. Senior secretaries, for example, can be competent in a great variety of ways. Secondly, if we were to ask senior secretaries what it is that makes them competent, we are unlikely to be at all satisfied with their answers. Competent people know far more than they can express. If you doubt this, ask a cyclist which way one should turn the handlebars when the bike has started to lean to the left. He or she will either give the wrong answer or think quite hard before replying. Even in very simple cases, things that people know perfectly well are not readily accessible to them when it comes to an explanation. Where the competence involves really complex judgements it is only with the greatest difficulty (if at all) that competent people can express what they know. So it is also necessary to have some concepts and theories which can help explain what people often know but cannot express.

4.3 New ways of thinking and acting: systems practice

There are a wide variety of concepts and theories relating to management and managing. This unit is centred on the ideas and techniques that we believe define systems thinking, but it also draws upon concepts and theories from other areas where these are deemed to be useful. On top of this we see systems practice as requiring a readiness to use the experiential model of learning set out by Kolb, bringing theory and practice together in a meaningful way.

It may be helpful to set out what we are not trying to do.

First we are not trying to provide a recipe book or a ‘how to do it’ manual when faced by this or that situation. The situations you face are varied and complicated. If they are not to be simplistic, any such principles are likely to be pretty vague and general, like ‘Look before you leap’ and ‘Procrastination is the thief of time’. The trouble isn't in understanding such principles – it's in knowing when and how to apply them, and in knowing what to do when they conflict. Indeed, this is precisely the sort of problem that some of the early writers on management ran into. Searching for universal principles they suggested that, in the interest of control, no one should supervise more than a limited number of staff; and further, that the number of levels in an organisation should not exceed another, quite limited, number (quite what the numbers were was a matter of controversy). Put these principles together and the implication is that organisations should be kept fairly modest in size. This suggestion is not without merit – but not much help if you happen to be managing in an organisation well over the limit!

Similar problems arise with techniques; learning the technique is usually easy compared with recognising when and how to apply it. The fact is that managing is not the sort of thing that can be reduced to the application of a limited set of principles and procedures. In some respects it's like the work of a skilled craftsman. The competence that, say, a cabinet-maker brings to his or her work is not, primarily, a set of techniques and principles. Rather it is an informal craft knowledge, a body of ‘know-how’ that enables him or her to recognise the easy or elegant way round a snag, to know when something isn't going to work, to anticipate problems, to work with an economy of effort, as the work progresses. A book on cabinet making may give some useful tips and rules of thumb. But reading it won't make you a cabinet-maker. Learning in our terms is not only learning what to do, but trying it out and reviewing how well you actually performed so that you can adjust what you do next time.

One aspect of learning that is touched upon in Reading 3 is that of learning new ‘ways of thinking’ about a subject area or issue. Situations can be viewed in many different ways, and some of those ways will be much more fruitful than others. But for various reasons, including our previous training and experience and our own anxiety about the situation, it is very easy to get ‘locked in’ to a particular way of thinking about a problem. On such occasions, or as a preventive measure when entering unfamiliar territory, it is important to know how to set about, quite deliberately, thinking around the problem, exploring different ‘angles’, trying out different boundaries. An important part of this is the ability to explore and take seriously the points of view of the other people involved, trying out their perspectives and incorporating their insights. All these features characterise ‘systems thinking’, although they are not exclusive to it. And it is systems thinking that is a major part of this unit. However, thinking differently is no help if you do not use that to act differently as well, so we expect you to practice what you learn in your own organisation as well as in your assignments.

I have repeatedly emphasised the importance of relating the material being studied to your own experience. You may still be thinking that the subject is primary and that your experience is merely an adjunct to it, providing some further illustrations from time to time. If anything, the reverse is true. For this unit considers reflection on practice as in the Kolb model of learning to be the basic ingredient in the development of thinking and managing skills. The unit therefore supports and enhances reflection on practice, in this case both study practice and systems practice. Only in this manner can the unit help you to develop your own way of being competent at managing and becoming a systems practitioner.

References

Honey, P. and Mumford, A. (1989) 'Trials and Tribulations', The Guardian, 19 December 1989.

Honey, P. and Mumford, A. (1992) The Manual of Learning Styles, 3rd Edition, Peter Honey Publications Limited, Ardingly House, 10 Linden Avenue, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 6HB.

Acknowledgements

Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this text:

Figures

Figure 3: From Gentle Bridges, by Jeremy Hayward and Francisco J. Varela, © 1992. Reprinted by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc., Boston, www.shambhala.com

Tables

Honey, P. and Mumford, A. (1992) The Manual of Learning Styles, 3rd Edition, Peter Honey Publications Limited, Ardingly House, 10 Linden Avenue, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 6HB. www.peterhoney.com

http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=2037