‘Philosophizing with’: – a role for philosophy as dialogue partner, exemplified within the learning field

In this essay, I shall present key points from my dr.phil thesis (Higher Doctorate/Habilitation), Epistemological concerns – querying the learning field from a philosophical point of view (Dohn, 2017).1 The aim is to provide an overview of the thesis and to present its main argument for a form of applied philosophy where philosophy takes on the role of dialogue partner with a voice of its own. By way of illustration, I shall highlight some of the issues I have engaged with in this role as well as the answers which dialogue with other disciplines has led me to as regards these issues. First, I present the field, aim, and structure of the thesis. Second, I explicate what I mean by ‘philosophizing with’ and point out four different ways in which one can undertake this venture. Philosophy may dialogue with many disciplines in many areas; the ones I have engaged with fall within the learning field. To further the comprehensibility of my more specific concerns within this field, in the third section I articulate the philosophical outset from which I speak: With inspiration from Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Wittgenstein and Dreyfus, I hold a view of human existence as being-in-the-world and an approach to knowledge as fundamentally involving tacit aspects. This outset is developed throughout the thesis, in dialogue with other disciplines. In section four, I briefly present the resulting philosophical view of knowledge. In section five, I articulate more specifically a number of the issues within the learning field which have helped me develop this view. Section six conversely summarizes some key points which my philosophizing with on these issues have led me to contribute to the disciplines. I end with a few concluding remarks on concerns to engage with in continuation from the results of my thesis

Conceptualizing knowledge transfer as transformation and attunement

This article articulates a new theory on the ontology of knowledge transfer. This involves the work of 1) showing that the question “what happens to knowledge in transfer across divergent contexts?” can be made sense of within a situative approach, 2) providing a new conceptualization of situated knowledge, 3) articulating transfer in terms of knowledge transformation and attunement, and 4) putting the issue of learning to transfer knowledge across divergent contexts (back) on the research agenda. The article builds on a view of knowledge as a unity of know-that, know-how, and know-of; which unity forms a practical embodied perspective with which the agent meets the world in interaction. It is argued that knowledge is situatedly realized in attunement to the requirements, possibilities, and restrictions of the concrete situation, as they dynamically unfold. A framework of context levels for analyzing requirements, possibilities, and restrictions (termed “situational characteristics”) is presented. The levels reflect that an activity will always engage with a domain, in a life-setting, taking place within a societal structure, making use of encompassing cultural practices. It is shown how differences in unities of situational characteristics necessitate the transformation of the knowledge perspective in attunement to the situational characteristics of the new context. Towards the end, it is pointed out how this conceptualization of knowledge transfer opens for research into designing and teaching for learning to transfer. Three recent projects are referenced as an illustration of the approach

Models, Modelling, Metaphors and Metaphorical Thinking - From an Educational Philosophical View

In this contribution, I present my view of models and metaphors within educational research, very broadly speaking. I start out by articulating my educational philosophical perspective as a form of applied philosophy. Inspired by Ricœur, I then define models as “instruments for configuration and reconfiguration”. I argue that metaphors and metaphorical thinking are more basic than models and modelling. The former can guide reasoning in a holistic, heuristic manner. The latter can be used analytically to develop the initial metaphorical similarity into articulated analogies. Models and metaphors may be deployed explicitly and consciously but may also (mis)lead cognition through implicit structuring of thinking. I proceed to give examples of the roles which models and metaphors have within different areas of (research in) education, teaching, and learning. One example is the explicit development of design patterns; another is implicit adherence to either an acquisition metaphor or a participation metaphor of learning. Towards the end, I provide tentative answers to three questions posed by my discussion pair, Willard McCarty, concerning 1) computer modelling, 2) open-endedness of models and metaphors, and 3) situated knowledge and relativism

Wikis og blogs i undervisningen – Teoretiske perspektiver og praktiske erfaringer

I denne artikel diskuteres muligheder og problemstillinger forbundet med at inddrage wikis og blogs i undervisning inden for det humanistiske og samfundsvidenskabelige fagfelt på universitetsniveau. Fokus er på de former for brug, hvor de studerende er aktive i produktionen af indhold, og hvor der lægges vægt på stadig brug og genbrug af indholdet på tværs af kontekster. Der redegøres først for, hvad 'web 2.0' er, og hvad der forstås ved 'web 2.0-medieret læring'. På den baggrund opstilles en række læringsteoretisk og didaktisk begrundede potentialer ved at inddrage wiki- og blog-aktiviteter i undervisningen. Herefter præsenteres to eksempler fra egen undervisning, og det diskuteres, i hvilken grad de teoretiske potentialer blev realiseret, og hvilke problemstillinger der viste sig i de to cases. Dette danner afsæt for en mere generel påpegning af spændinger involveret i at bruge web 2.0 i undervisningen. For det første er der teoretiske spændinger mellem 'uddannelses-logik' og 'web 2.0-logik'. For det andet er der en spænding mellem på den ene side den mangfoldighed af kontekster, som web 2.0-medieret læring lægger op til at inddrage, og på den anden side behovet for mere faste forankringspunkter for læringsaktiviteter

IT-baserede læreprocesser – nogle muligheder og nogle begrænsninger

Artiklen giver et fænomenologisk inspireret bud på, hvad der ligger til grund for nogle ofte oplevede muligheder og begrænsninger ved IT-baserede læringsrum i sammenligning med læringsrum baseret på ansigt-til-ansigt-undervisning. Der argumenteres for, at ord i sidstnævnte har en langt større meningsmæssig fylde grundet deltagernes fysiske tilstedeværelse, og at der derfor i sådanne sammenhænge kan etableres en faglig-social-personlig baggrundsforståelse, som har afgørende betydning for hver enkelts faglige forståelse såvel som for de lærendes forståelse af hinanden. Givet en sådan baggrundsforståelse, kan virtuelle rum (specielt det asynkront skriftlige) imidlertid byde på en større refleksionsmulighed og mulighed for mindre fastlåsning i bestemte sociale roller, grundet den større grad af direkte fokusering på ordene

Language Is not Enough - Knowledge Perspectives on Work-Based Learning in Global Organisations

In many larger organisations, increased globalisation has made more acute the need for a continuing competence development of employees, collaborators and customers. For logistic and financial reasons, companies such as Danfoss A/S and Danske Bank have chosen to deliver many of their competence development courses in a purely virtual setting, utilizing various synchronous and asynchronous ICT-tools. The aim of this article is to present a view of competence as ‘knowledge in practice’ and explore the pedagogical implications of this view for such ICT-based competence development. The ‘knowledge in practice’ of the competent employee, it is argued, is a unity of linguistically expressible and tacit (experiential and practical) aspects. The article discusses how competence development courses can be designed as work-based blended learning in order to at once support practitioners in invoking the tacit dimensions of their knowledge and in innovating the practices from which these tacit dimensions stem. A concrete example of a course design which meets these requirements is presented. The example concerns a case study conducted by C. Kjær at Danfoss in its global educational unit Danfoss Refrigeration & Air Condition Academy (Danfoss RA Web Academy)

Why language is not Enough

For many larger organisations, increased globalization means that employees, collaborators and customers are distributed throughout the world. This requires a focus within the organisation on the continuing competence development of people from all three groups, in order to make it possible for them to perform  competently in their daily work

Karaktergivning – intuitiv ekspertise eller ‘viden i praksis’?

Artiklen anskuer bedømmelse og karaktergivning som en praksis, der udføres af konkrete mennesker i konkrete situationer, og diskuterer på den baggrund, hvori evalueringskompetencebestår. Tesen er, at det er etisk og kompetencemæssigt problematisk at være en ‘dreyfusiansk’ intuitiv ekspert i karaktergivning, og at evalueringskompetence i stedet bør være en ‘viden i praksis’, forstået som en enhed af sprogligt artikulerbare mål, praktisk kunnen og personlige erfaringer med studenterpræstationer. En udskiftning af 13-skalaen hævdes at kunne være et incitament til igangsætning af refleksion over kriterier for bedømmelse

Wikis og blogs i undervisningen – Teoretiske perspektiver og praktiske erfaringer

I denne artikel diskuteres muligheder og problemstillinger forbundet med at inddrage wikis og blogs i undervisning inden for det humanistiske og samfundsvidenskabelige fagfelt på universitetsniveau. Fokus er på de former for brug, hvor de studerende er aktive i produktionen af indhold, og hvor der lægges vægt på stadig brug og genbrug af indholdet på tværs af kontekster. Der redegøres først for, hvad 'web 2.0' er, og hvad der forstås ved 'web 2.0-medieret læring'. På den baggrund opstilles en række læringsteoretisk og didaktisk begrundede potentialer ved at inddrage wiki- og blog-aktiviteter i undervisningen. Herefter præsenteres to eksempler fra egen undervisning, og det diskuteres, i hvilken grad de teoretiske potentialer blev realiseret, og hvilke problemstillinger der viste sig i de to cases. Dette danner afsæt for en mere generel påpegning af spændinger involveret i at bruge web 2.0 i undervisningen. For det første er der teoretiske spændinger mellem 'uddannelses-logik' og 'web 2.0-logik'. For det andet er der en spænding mellem på den ene side den mangfoldighed af kontekster, som web 2.0-medieret læring lægger op til at inddrage, og på den anden side behovet for mere faste forankringspunkter for læringsaktiviteter