Defining Terms: Learning

Learning is change in action.  

Learning is the act of being open to novel observations, skills, perspectives and attitudes. Importantly, learning is being willing to synthesize the aforementioned and produce a new understanding and even dissent, if needed.

Learning is active – it requires motivation, engagement, and action from the learner. (Sirney, 2019). Therefore, the act of learning inherently incites change.  It demands a change in the learner. The act of learning goes from non-knowledge to knowledge; from ignorance to understanding; from problem to solution (Harel & Koichu, 2010).  While the processes and products of learning is varied, the active state of learning remains constant across the variety of disciplines, approaches and motivations: no matter what you are learning, you will have changed in that process.

 the Antennae -NASA

References

Barron, A. B., Hebets, E. A., Cleland, T. A., Fitzpatrick, C. L., Hauber, M. E., & Stevens, J. R. (2015). Embracing multiple definitions of learning. Trends in Neurosciences, 38(7), 405-407. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2015.04.008

Harel, G., & Koichu, B. (2010). An operational definition of learning. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 29(3), 115-124. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2010.06.002

Sirney, C. (2019). What is Learning? Berkeley Extension. https://voices.berkeley.edu/instructors/what-learning