The Citizen Scholar

I am currently going through the process of evaluating my experiential learning and knowledge. I have been blessed to have a full life with opportunities to learn and grow through a wide variety of experiences. From gold mining and survival camps as a young teen to opportunities to teach seminars about liberty to thousands of Americans, including two state legislatures. I now have an opportunity to potentially turn those experiences into a college degree through Bellevue University.

Part of this process includes some assignments to help organize my experiential knowledge. This assignment is to reflect upon my Personal Learning Environment (PLE). What is the process, or environment, in which I learn. For me, this began through the years as what seemed to be a random, haphazard process. After years of this seemingly random process it has actually developed into a fairly consistent process that I can replicate over and over without loosing its spontaneity – a characteristic critical to a truly creative process. My PLE is roughly as follows:

The Assignment

I enter into my PLE usually by way of a task or assignment, a reason to learn about something. This usually happens as a result of an opportunity to teach others. Teaching is simply imparting what you have learned into the heart and mind of another. So to teach is to learn.

The Creative Idea

The creative idea my come quickly or it might come further into the process. Perhaps even late in the process. The challenge to teaching is to develop the angle to teach the concept. It might be a whole new approach or it might be the simplification of an existing approach. Sometimes the creative idea will not even come until I am actually teaching or “testing the audience.”

After Jerry Seinfeld ended his popular sitcom, he scrapped all of his material and began anew. He developed a new set with the audience. He began in small clubs in NYC with nothing but a few undeveloped ideas. He tested the audience. He often fell flat, but in that he learned what worked and what did not work. This process went on for a year. After that year he had all new material that was causing a roar of laughter as before.

Teaching is much the same way. Rather than looking for the laughter you look for the light bulbs. You look for the ideas that cause light bulbs to suddenly appear above the heads of your audience. It is an awesome experience. You see eyes light up, they squirm in the chairs, they are about to burst. When this happens you know you have just, grand or small, changed the course of their life, and YOU have learned.

Natural Law

Natural law is simply they way things are. It is the laws by which all things are governed. There are natural laws for science – what goes up must come down, equal and opposite reaction, etc. There are natural law for mathematics, communication, and even human happiness as found in the Ten Commandments. There are also natural laws for good government as discovered and published in the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. The key is to discover natural law and then remember what you have discovered.

I have observed that when you discover natural law it feels so natural and is based on such common sense that when you discover a natural law principle it feels like you have always known it. It almost feels as though you are being reminded of a principle rather than learning it for the first time.

A scientific experiment is often carried out with a “control.” That is, an example or specimen that follows existing natural laws so far as it can be control. The same is true when learning or developing a new idea. Look to the “control” to gauge where you are. In this case, your control is natural law.

Past Experiences

Don’t reinvent the wheel. This exercise is achieved by combining natural law principles with past experiences. Common sense is nothing more than the ability to learn from past experiences and to remember what you have learned, then take that knowledge and apply it to what is being learned today.

Research

One of the greatest abilities of humans, aside from opposing thumbs, is our ability to learn and to document in detail what we have learned so others may carry on where we left off. One of my mentors is the late Dr. W. Cleon Skousen. He taught me much, in person and through his books, about the principles of liberty, American history, and the Constitution. About six months before his death in 2006 I was visiting him in his home in Sal Lake City. We spent a few hours discussing some theories I had been working on about life, liberty, and property. Toward the end of the conversation I asked if he thought I was on the right track. I will never forget his reply. “One of the greatest gifts as a teacher is to see a student take what you have taught them and move it to the next level.” This was a great compliment. I do not think I am more capable than, or event equal to Cleon. I had his shoulders to stand on to reach the concept higher.

Books- Thomas Jefferson said “I cannot live without books.” I surround myself with books. I have over 4000 books in my personal library. I have not read them cover to cover, but there is not a book in my library that I have not cracked the spine to research a subject.

Internet- The internet has become an amazing resource. It is difficult to get as in-depth as a book, but I use it to see what others have done on the subject. What are others saying about the subject? What conversations are developing? What is the expression of the mind of the people or how is it shaping our culture? If my goal is to teach a subject, my research and learning must also include how to best impart what I have learned to others. Therefore, I must understand how to best communicate the subject by understanding the current state of society in relation to the subject. I must learn how they perceive the subject to truly communicate to where they are, not where I want us to be.

A picture is worth a thousand words. I have found that Google image search can sometimes be more insightful than a simple web search. Image searches will result in how people are living a concept, not just what they think about it. Often what we do is different than what we say. An image search shows you what people are doing, not just saying.

Friends and Family

I have been blessed with a wonderfully insightful family – my wife, children, and siblings. I often test what I am learning on them. My wife is in education and has great insight about how something is presented. My children provide the purity of a child’s mind. My brothers and close friends provide a sounding board and further insight to help me develop my ideas and thoughts. The last 25 years I have tried to surround myself with people of high caliber. It has proven to be very valuable and rewarding as these relationships a genuinely cultivated.

Test the Audience

As stated above, testing the audience is critical if the end goal is to teach what you have learned. It does not matter how much a person has learned, if they are not able to impart it to another in some way their work has been in vain and will die with them. Testing the audience helps to move the idea along.

As I have reflected upon my PLE it has become clear to me that my environment is based on teaching. A desire to enlighten others. This desire creates the environment that, for me, is perfect for learning.