Experts in an age of multi-narratives, multi-text and small ‘t’ truth: Dave Cormier asks a big question: "How, I ask you, does one get to be an expert… or, maybe more importantly REMAIN an expert, in such quickly changing times? In times where ‘authority’ is so hard to quantify?"
Dave notes that he and I have differing views on subject/objective reality, so I'll leave that concept alone...he raises an important point about how individuals become "experts" when knowledge changes rapidly. He arrives at a conclusion with which I don't agree (i.e. that we only have "best" options, not "correct" options...we have options that are correct today, and some would posit that principles (i.e. gravity) are correct regardess of era or viewpoint. In a sense, I feel like Heisenberg trying to say yes, both objective and subjective are right - it just depends on context and nature of the element being considered - or that the more precisely something can be conceived as subjective, the more it becomes objective).
This is where we come together in our thinking "At the moment of choice, someone is marginalized, a path of discovery is closed off, a possibility for exploration is nipped in the bud". I agree. Learning is a process of exploration. It is more like a river than a lake...more like a process than an event. He ends by stating: "An expert, then, would be someone who can present the possibilities that exist, and explain how different choices can lead to different kinds of results. As the quantity of information increases, and the diversity of opinions multiply, I don’t see how any one single person can be an expert in the old sense of the world." Absolutely. While he then moves to community as the vehicle for meeting te multi-faceted needs of learners, I move toward networks.
Your thoughts on subjective "becoming" objective sound so much like Bernard Lonergan, George, and his work is built on what you and Dave call "exploration." What he calls "intentionality analysis" is, in terms I can understand, curiosity, the desire to know.
Posted by: Randy Nolan at April 10, 2006 4:17 PM