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On the way to learning.

Article Excerpt
What is learning? Is learning just the acquisition or derivation of knowledge and the ability to demonstrate it? What is teaching. Is teaching just the process of transmitting some item of knowledge from one person to another? What are the roles and responsibilities of teachers and learners in teaching-learning occasions? How are these roles and responsibilities instantiated? Teachers ask these questions because they seek to fulfill their responsibility to offer all students learning opportunities that will enrich their participation in and service to the communities in which they practice.

Background and Limitations

A review of the scholarly literature offers thousands of articles, papers, and books that provide commentary on the subjects of teaching and learning. I considered the cited articles to be relevant because they exemplify pedagogical strategies as alternatives to the classical classroom-lecture, note-taking, rote-memorization format.

Lave (1996) argued it is crucial to frame the study of education within explicit accounts of its different theoretical perspectives. He emphasized that learning is the identity-making life project of individuals and evolves from participation in socially situated engagements in communities of practice.

Hultgren (1995) operated within a theoretical framework of existentialism and ontology. She followed Heidegger's lesson in arguing that teaching is to "let-learn" and that the teacher engages in the process as a learner. With regard to the blurring of teacher and learner, Hultgren stated, "To let learn means: To prepare a space for listening that intertwines identities (self/other and self/society) in retrieval of being, a leading in itself that withdraws from teacher to being-in-teaching-together" (p. 377).

Gibbs and Angelides (2004) used Heidegger's concept of let-learn to present some important ideas related to phronesis or practical wisdom and being-in-the-world. Although limited, their work may stimulate interest in Heidegger's writings on the topic. They argued that experiential learning leading to phronesis or practical wisdom is preferable to models of learning currently in use. Accordingly, acquiring practical wisdom should be a goal of the education process, and students would be better served under a Heideggerian model of let-learn rather than present models that rely on assessment practices. An interesting nuance on the conception of active learning is found in Jamieson (2005). Jamieson discussed the learning techniques used by the painter Goya, who was educated as a boy by the Escolapian Fathers in a monastic school. Goya was taught to rely on his own faculties, observe, make deductions from his personal experience, discover the flexibility of his own mind, and assume responsibility for assimilating as much knowledge as possible.

I have adopted the teachings of Heidegger, who spent most of his career as a teacher. Heidegger's life work totals some 80 volumes, each presenting a challenge to proper translation and interpretation. In addition, innumerable papers and books offer differing opinions and interpretations about Heidegger's intentions. Heidegger (1993) and Richardson (2003) were selected for this article as relevant for teaching and learning and for their insight into Heidegger's philosophy of learning. In the preface to Through Phenomenology to Thought, Heidegger himself indicated that Richardson gives the most lucid commentary on his (Heidegger's) work (Richardson, 2003).

This article is not intended as an exposition of Heidegger's work. Rather it is an attempt to inquire into some of Heidegger's thoughts on teaching, learning, and thinking, and offer them as possibilities for formulating a philosophy of learning appropriate to nursing. It also is offered as an augmentative pedagogical strategy for educators and students in institutions of higher learning.

What Calls for Thinking?

In his...

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