5 Oct 2009: Thoughts on Learning & Teaching from Gen Conf

PLE for this week:
Insights and connections between what I've learned in a spiritual realm to my personal lives. Plan of Salvation as a Plan of Learning (tied to thoughts of last time.) Cultural camouflage - tweaking all learning within context.

Elder Uchtdorf
Education is not so much the filling of a bucket, but, instead, the lighting of a fire.
Fire needs oxygen, kindling, space - we need health to learn, content to learn, freedom to learn.
The fire of education is connected to a fire for life - radiance, illumination, activity, passion.
Each student has a fire and is in control of feeding the fire, keeping it alive.

Elder Scott
Contrast of the Mexican teacher with the highly educated teacher in SLC.
Teacher taught, but the spirit gave insight that transcended the teaching environment.
Teacher's focus in Mexico was on learning; teacher in SLC seemed focused on self-aggrandizing.
Amazing learning is what takes place with the spirit facilitating learning and teaching both.

Russell Osguthorpe
Faith impacts learning because we need to suspend our own beliefs, ideas in order to let new ideas and truths penetrate. (If we're too hard, we're the hard ground that doesn't let the seed to take root.) If student doesn't think he can learn, he won't be able to (e.g. math) Faith in God's love is so powerful that it can motivate us to learn all that he wants us to know (and to be endorsed and endowed with power to learn what we need to learn).

Choi
See potential of students. Get a broader vision. Give love and support to allow those we love to choose the good things. What are they thinking? where have they come from?

What about the human connection in blended learning? What features empower the human connection? LOVE. If not the central feature, then at learst one of the most key features.
Students learn what they care about from who they care about.

Operational principle of the ship's bottom could be applied in the context of building the roof in Manti temple (water-tight, sound). What is true will continue to be true.

Ballard
How do we love those who have hurt us or chosen differently than we'd hoped? We need to love them. There's not a one-size-fits all fix. (Technological principle: there are many ways, different strenghts, opportunities and limitations depending on the context.)

Monson
We can keep learning from our conference notes as we continue reading inspired words.

Uchtdorf
Learning by study and also by faith. Apply faith to your learning endeavors and your learning will be amplified.

The Lord will create opportunities for you to share knowledge in spontaneous ways. The broader your experience, the more you will be able to share, lift, impact others. This will be bolstered by our knowledge, experience - cultural camouflage. The right people will be put in my path because of ability, context, personality. Connect academic life with our spiritual life.

Bednar
We are not merely striving to know more, but we need to do more. (Knowing-Doing-Becoming)

Osguthorpe
Learning and teaching are not optional in the kingdom of God.
Teaching saves lives.
Knowlege leads to ordinances (action) and participation in making and keeping covenants consistenty. (An EMT who knows how to save lives must apply knowledge at the scene of the accident or else his his knowledge alone can't save lives unless the doing is there too.)
This is true progress.

Covenant is an instructional strategy - a contract for learning - an academic internship.