Great Minds on Learning

This episode focuses on happiness. Utilitarianism is a strand in philosophy that says the greatest happiness of the greatest number should guide our judgment in all things – including education. But does its modern descendant, positive psychology, place too much trust in looking on the bright side?

• 0:00 - Intro
• 1:20 - Introducing Utilitarians/Happiness
• 5:37 - Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)
• 17:06 - John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
• 28:51 - Martin Seligman (1942–)
• 37:35 - Summing Up

The Blog that started it all:

• https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2021/09/these-were-written-as-quick-readable.html Bentham bit.ly/3okvNi2 Mill bit.ly/3CYxBRG Seligman bit.ly/2DVc3fw

Contact Donald

• Twitter: @DonaldClark
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-clark-04553022/
• Blog: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/
• Read Donald's latest book, Learning Technology https://www.koganpage.com/product/learning-technology-9781398608740

Contact John Helmer

• Twitter: @johnhelmer
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/
• Website: http://learninghackpodcast.com
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learninghack

This episode covers a sizeable sweep of history, from the perhaps misnamed Dark Ages and the Islamic Golden Age, on through the Renaissance, Reformation and Enlightenment. As the Christian and Islamic faiths spread, learning became a powerful tool of religion – and Religious Educators, in their turn, changed the shape of learning.

• Introducing Religious Educators – 1:18
• Augustine of Hippo (354-430) – 4:58
• Al-Ghazali (1058-1111) – 10:23
• Ibn Tufayl (1106-1185) – 13:18
• Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) – 17:22
• Martin Luther (1483-1546) – 25:06
• John Calvin (1509-1564) – 32:32
• Desiderius Erasmus (1466 – 1536) – 39:23
• John Amos Comenius (1592-1670) – 46:25
• Summing Up – 52:49

The Blog that started it all: https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2021/09/these-were-written-as-quick-readable.html

• St Augustine bit.ly/2Gm22q1
• Al-Ghazzali bit.ly/3kN3yGI
• Ibn Tufayl bit.ly/3m5UtYU
• Ignatius bit.ly/2v7D76V
• Luther bit.ly/2GcJvMH
• Calvin bit.ly/2Ro2MRJ
• Erasmus bit.ly/3HmSc5e
• Comenius https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2022/07/comenius-1592-1670.html

Contact Donald

• Twitter: @DonaldClark
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-clark-04553022/
• Blog: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/
• Read Donald's latest book, Learning Technology https://www.koganpage.com/product/learning-technology-9781398608740

Contact John Helmer

• Twitter: @johnhelmer
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/
• Website: http://learninghackpodcast.com
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learninghack

Once the stuff of science fiction, Artificial Intelligence is now a part of everyday life. But the story of how it came into being is not often told. This episode reveals its roots in neuropsychology and observations of the physical processes in the brain that lead to learning. The theorists who Donald and John discuss began their work at a time when behaviorism, which by and large disouraged attempts to look within the mind, dominated academic psychology. But despite a few 'winters', AI has developed to the point where it is now all-pervasive, and a driving force of change in learning.

• 1:20 Introducing AI Learning
• 8:06 Eric Kandel (1929 - )
• 13:29 Donald Olding Hebb (1904 – 1985)
• 23:29 Warren Sturgis McCulloch (1898 – 1969) & Walter Pitts (1923 – 1969)
• 37:37 Frank Rosenblatt (1928 – 1971)
• 44:16 David Everett Rumelhart (1942-2011) & Geoffrey Everest Hinton (1947–)
• 57:06 Demis Hassabis (1976–)
• 1:07:23 Summing Up

Read Donald's book, Artificial Intelligence for Learning: https://www.koganpage.com/product/artificial-intelligence-for-learning-9781789660814

• Kandel bit.ly/3oiiYDo
• Hebb bit.ly/3kq3z2A
• McCulloch & Pitts bit.ly/3kn6Fo8
• Rosenblatt bit.ly/31PZmih
• Rumelhart & Hinton bit.ly/3bXU3zd
• Hassabis bit.ly/3qrYgmT

The Blog that started it all: https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2021/09/these-were-written-as-quick-readable.html

Contact Donald

• Twitter: @DonaldClark
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-clark-04553022/
• Blog: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/

Contact John Helmer

• Twitter: @johnhelmer
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/
• Website: https://learninghackpodcast.com
• Support the podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LearningHack

This episode was recorded live at the Online Educa Conference in Berlin and explores ideas of The Extended Mind. Where do our thoughts live? And if, as some theorists contend, they do not observe physical limitations, but extends to our technology tools and physical surroundings, what are the implications for learning?

• 1:22 - Introducing The Extended Mind
• 5:43 - Robert Stickgold (1945–) & Matthew Walker (1972/73)
• 12:41 - Roger Barker (1903-1990) & James J Gibson (1904-1979)
• 19:19 - Andy Clark (1957–) & David Chalmers (1966–)
• 25:48 - Douglas Carl Engelbart (1925-2013)
• 31:03 - Elon Musk (1971)
• 39:22 - Summing Up

The Blog that started it all: https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2021/09/these-were-written-as-quick-readable.html

• Stickgold & Walker bit.ly/3HHB1LN
• Clark & Chalmers bit.ly/3CcuvbW
• Musk bit.ly/3cfE2o5

Contact Donald

• Twitter: @DonaldClark
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-clark-04553022/
• Blog: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/
• Read Donald's latest book, Learning Experience Design https://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-Experience-Design-Create-Effective/dp/1398602620/ref=asc_df_1398602620/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=500792593882&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8463523561401709872&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006565&hvtargid=pla-1245069293197&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

Contact John Helmer

• Twitter: @johnhelmer
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/
• Website: http://johnhelmerconsulting.com/

This episode features a group of people who were not writers, philosophers, psychologists or learning theorists in any usual sense of the term. Nevertheless, their influence on learning has been profound and long-lasting. They were the religious leaders who founded four of the world's greatest faith traditions.

• 00:00 - Intro
• 01:20 - Introducing Religious Leaders
• 05:06 - Confucius (551 – 479 BCE)
• 16:55 - Buddha (6th and 5th C BCE)
• 28:36 - Jesus (7-2 BC to 30-36 AD)
• 41:56 - Muhammad (570 AD – 632 AD)
• 52:03 - Summing Up

The Blog that started it all: https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2021/09/these-were-written-as-quick-readable.html

• Confucious bit.ly/2R4NMI3
• Buddha bit.ly/2Pen4vz
• Jesus bit.ly/2NGPOMv
• Mohammed bit.ly/2RrIEN6

Contact Donald

• Twitter: @DonaldClark
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-clark-04553022/
• Blog: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/
• Read Donald's latest book, Learning Experience Design https://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-Experience-Design-Create-Effective/dp/1398602620/ref=asc_df_1398602620/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=500792593882&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8463523561401709872&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006565&hvtargid=pla-1245069293197&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

Contact John Helmer

• Twitter: @johnhelmer
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/
• Website: http://johnhelmerconsulting.com/

All humans play games of one type and another. Philosophers and psychologists have seen play as an integral to our nature as human animals. Harnessing the power of this instinctual drive for the purposes of learning has been a perennial theme over the last three decades, givven greater impetus by the dramatic rise of computer games as a new and dynamic form of media. But can game-based experiences, and gamified interfaces, risk destroying learning as much as they support it? This episode looks at the work of theorists who have tangled with this question, illuminating the complex interaction of play, motivation and learning, and the future possibilities opened up by the metaverse.

• 0:00 - Intro
• 1:20 - Introducing Gamification
• 9:36 - Johan Huizinga (1872 – 1945)
• 17:45 - James Paul Gee (1948 –)
• 25:46 - Marc Prensky (1946 – )
• 34:05 - Richard M. Ryan and Scott Rigby
• 48:52 - Summing Up

The Blog that started it all: https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2021/09/these-were-written-as-quick-readable.html

• Huizinga bit.ly/3wqrZh5
• Gee bit.ly/3ENDO3W
• Prensky bit.ly/2RoMyHr
• Ryan & Rigby shorturl.at/emsAB

Contact Donald

• Twitter: @DonaldClark
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-clark-04553022/
• Blog: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/
• Read Donald's latest book, Learning Experience Design https://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-Experience-Design-Create-Effective/dp/1398602620/ref=asc_df_1398602620/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=500792593882&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8463523561401709872&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006565&hvtargid=pla-1245069293197&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

Contact John Helmer

• Twitter: @johnhelmer
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/
• Website: http://johnhelmerconsulting.com/

GMoL is on a mid-season break, but in this bonus episode without Donald Clark, John discusses the series so far with Carl Chrisostomo. Under his social media alias of Carllearns, Carl has been 'learning out loud' on his journey of discovery in learning science. He reflects on the part GMoL has played as guide and wayfinder in that journey. In a sense, it's a learner takeover: both Carl and John talk about how the series has changed their understanding of learning: two minds perhaps less touched by greatness, but both animated by a deepening and widening appreciation of the ways in which we learn, and the rich literature that engages and rewards curiosity about this fascinating subject.

• 00:00 Intro
• 00:15 Carl's learning journey
• 08:18 Carl's first GMoL episode
• 13:48 Which episodes resonated with Carl?
• 18:42 How GMOL has changed Carl's view on learning
• 21:04 What should GMoL cover in the future?
• 23:17 Where to follow Carl

The Blog that started it all: https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2021/09/these-were-written-as-quick-readable.html Follow Carl

• Twitter: @carlcrisostomo
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlcrisostomo
• Website: http://www.carllearns.com/
• YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/carlcrisostomo

Contact John Helmer

• Twitter: @johnhelmer
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/
• Website: http://johnhelmerconsulting.com/

This episode explores the impact of what has been called the most important idea in human history, Darwin's Theory of Evolution. A powerful idea, still to this day controversial in some quarters, its impact was felt far beyond the natural sciences where it was first formulated. But what does it mean for learning?

• 0:00 - Intro
• 1:19 - Introducing the Evolutionists
• 9:41 - Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882)
• 19:32 - James Mark Baldwin (1861 – 1934)
• 29:43 - David C. Geary (1957 – )
• 40:58 - Steven Pinker (1954 – )
• 56:25 - Summing Up

The Blog that started it all: https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2021/09/these-were-written-as-quick-readable.html

• Darwin bit.ly/3F7lL9W
• Baldwin bit.ly/3FchSAs
• Geary bit.ly/330821Z

Contact Donald

• Twitter: @DonaldClark
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-clark-04553022/
• Blog: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/
• Read Donald's latest book, Learning Experience Design https://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-Experience-Design-Create-Effective/dp/1398602620/ref=asc_df_1398602620/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=500792593882&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8463523561401709872&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006565&hvtargid=pla-1245069293197&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

Contact John Helmer

• Twitter: @johnhelmer
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/
• Website: http://johnhelmerconsulting.com/

When Mark Zuckerberg announced the renaming of his company from Facebook to Meta in 2021, he provoked a surge of interest in this new thing, the Metaverse. But virtual worlds are nothing new, and people have been learning in virtual worlds for over a decade. This episode explores the thought of those who have tackled the practical and philosophical questions that learning in virtual worlds raises. And to be true to the spirit of the subject, Donald and John conducted their discussion INSIDE a virtual world.

• 0:00 - Intro
• 1:32 - Introducing VR and the Metaverse
• 10:08 - Jaron Zepel Lanier (1960- )
• 14:30 - Guido Makransky
• 23:04 - David J. Chalmers (1966- )
• 32:23 - Jean Baudrillard (1929 – 2007)
• 40:50 - Mark Zuckerberg (1984- )
• 46:13 - Robert Nozick (1938-2002)
• 55:47 - Summing up

The Blog that started it all: https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2021/09/these-were-written-as-quick-readable.html

• Lanier bit.ly/3qU94KV

Contact Donald

• Twitter: @DonaldClark
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-clark-04553022/
• Blog: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/
• Read Donald's latest book, Learning Experience Design https://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-Experience-Design-Create-Effective/dp/1398602620/ref=asc_df_1398602620/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=500792593882&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8463523561401709872&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006565&hvtargid=pla-1245069293197&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

Contact John Helmer

• Twitter: @johnhelmer
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/
• Website: http://johnhelmerconsulting.com/

This group of theorists focused on the easily observable fact that all learners are not the same, and attempted to systematise those differences according to learner preferences. With the best of intentions (in most cases) they divided learners into discrete groups (e.g Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic) and made recommendations for how educators should treat each group. This approach has since been widely attacked in multiple studies that show there is almost no scientific basis to these theories. Nevertheless they remain popular and in common use. Donald and John explore the origins of learning styles, and the reasons for its enduring popularity as an idea. Far from being just a mass delusion, was it perhaps in some of its formulations the signs of a burgeoning - and welcome - recognition of difference among learners?

• 0:00 – Intro
• 1:20 - Introducing Learning Styles
• 6:12 - Richard Bandler (1950 – )
• 18:25 - Neil D. Fleming (1939-2022)
• 25:22 - Dr. Rita Dunn and Dr. Kenneth Dunn
• 34:32 - David Allen Kolb (1939 - )
• 41:28 - Peter Honey and Professor Alan Mumford
• 48:06 - Summing Up

The Blog that started it all: https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2021/09/these-were-written-as-quick-readable.html

• Bandler bit.ly/3bsMQpf
• Fleming bit.ly/2vv6Uau
• Dunn & Dunn [Link TBD]
• Honey & Mumford bit.ly/39pKEgB
• Kolb bit.ly/2uWWi3R

Contact Donald

• Twitter: @DonaldClark
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-clark-04553022/
• Blog: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/
• Read Donald's latest book, Learning Experience Design https://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-Experience-Design-Create-Effective/dp/1398602620/ref=asc_df_1398602620/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=500792593882&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8463523561401709872&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006565&hvtargid=pla-1245069293197&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

Contact John Helmer

• Twitter: @johnhelmer
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/
• Website: http://johnhelmerconsulting.com/