Transferring Enthusiasm

This week I embraced my good fortune in spending a thoughtful two hours in the company of a wise elder, someone I exchange emails with and occasionally meet up with.

Much of our conversation centred around the changing face of university education. Out of this came a powerful insight, not only for education but also for leaders communicating their message.

It takes more than transferring knowledge

You are likely familiar with this concept of layers of learning. Our modern world bombards us with data at a level inconceivable before the age of smartphones and the internet. For years, then, a challenge of educators has been to move beyond downloading data and information to students, to giving them the tools to actually learn, to transfer that data and information into knowledge, then perhaps into wisdom.

My conversation with my learned friend was about the rapid change in how students get information. The days of textbooks and attending lecture after lecture and taking notes of what the lecturer says are (or should) be far, far behind us. All information needed to give to students can be given electronically (whether words, audio, video) and absorbed, much like TV is these days, as and when the student wishes to.

The purpose of lecturing is to transfer enthusiasm