"The Art of Smart", FAST Company, July/August 1999

FAST Company July/August 1999

"The Art of Smart"

Peter Jablow is a senior vice-president and CEO for National Public Radio in Washington, D.C. He was quoted in the article with the statement "The process of unlearning traditional ways of approaching and solving problems takes time-and it's hard". This struck me and made me reflect again on the material and discussion about Transformative Learning from Due Damme's class last summer.

It appears many different segments of the population are adapting bits and pieces of Transformative Learning. When I listened to Clark discuss the Transformative Learning Conference in San Francisco during the retreat at Shetek, I thought this concept was somewhat isolated and left wing. However, as I read these Fast Company articles, consider where some of these transformative techniques fit into Extension programming and read about other institutions who have successfully adapted these methods, I have gained a much wider perspective of Transformative Learning.

In the Fast Company article, Peter Jablow talks about how bogged down and bureaucratic National Public Radio was. He compared it to a government agency. What made things change was when the personnel and leaders started to question what they did and how they did it. They asked, "Why are we still distributing a certain program?" "Who's our audience?" "Why do we produce this program that way?" As simple as these questions were, it still was something they had never really done. It appears they where challenging their assumptions. What they found, by asking tons of questions, has led them to an evolving set of answers.

The issue Jablow talks about was-should they change the start time of a particular show. In order to reach a decision for change, a major and slow decision process had to take place. The traditional structure in decision-making basically was stifling opportunities for change and better more effective programming. The whole mindset was waiting for someone else from top down or some sponsor to write a check and tell them what to do. Eventually an evolution of change came by asking questions, challenging assumptions, expectations and values. Obviously, this questioning would constitute different behavior and actions, but possibly, some more effective results or consequences would develop.

When I evaluate my own assumptions in delivering programs and those of my colleagues, I believe we usually don't question our assumptions. I believe we assume our audience knows less than we do or even might know more. Often we either don't want to take the time to become more engaged with them or are too closed minded to look at different teaching methods. I do believe the University of Minnesota Extension has utilized some Transformative Learning components through focus groups and collaboratives. Depending on the program, Extension Educator's have developed programs from the bottom up and shared ownership of these programs with our audiences. This has been very successful.

The area, which I see as more challenging using transformative methods, is technology transfer. Releasing research data and results needs extra effort in incorporating these transformative techniques with programming delivery. Bottom line-Jablow is right. Traditional ways and methods are hard to unlearn and approaching new teaching methods and problem solving will take time. However, it is a step in the right direction.

--James B. Nesseth (jnesseth@extension.umn.edu), October 14, 1999

-- Anonymous, October 19, 1999