While reading The Book of Problems, one short passage by Federico Mayor stood out to me because of how directly it addresses the relationship between learning, technology, reflection, and personal knowledge. The methodology regarding learning to know and to do is widely developed. Teachers all around the world have a treasure of experience and bestContinue reading “What Do We Still Not Understand About Learning?”
Author Archives: Michael Lance Whisenant, PhD
What Can a Pocket-Sized Device Teach Us About the Systems Around Us
Many of the technologies we use every day operate quietly in the background. Access cards, remote controls, wireless sensors, garage doors, and connected devices all rely on signals and protocols that most people never see or think about. Flipper Zero makes those invisible systems more tangible. It is a compact device designed for exploring wirelessContinue reading “What Can a Pocket-Sized Device Teach Us About the Systems Around Us”
How Can Artificial Intelligence Expand Human Capability?
What happens when artificial intelligence is no longer used simply as a tool, but as a partner in human performance, learning, decision-making, and even physical recovery? That question became the central theme of my research. Across the articles and videos I reviewed, three ideas stood out most: the growing partnership between people and machines, theContinue reading “How Can Artificial Intelligence Expand Human Capability?”
Who Is Responsible When Artificial Intelligence Makes the Decision?
As artificial intelligence becomes more involved in healthcare, education, finance, employment, transportation, and public policy, two ethical concerns rise above the rest: responsibility and transparency. Who is responsible when an artificial intelligence system causes harm? Who is included in the “we” that is expected to answer for its decisions? These questions become increasingly difficult whenContinue reading “Who Is Responsible When Artificial Intelligence Makes the Decision?”
The 9 Commandments
On Empowerment In our technologically advanced society, where “give me now” is the predominant mindset, children do not understand the value of patience, dedication and the antiquity involved in getting where we are as a nation. History is often a glazed eye subject for them while not understanding the importance in lessons learned. To youth, anything theyContinue reading “The 9 Commandments”
Has Technology Improved the Way We Communicate, or Changed What Communication Means?
During my undergraduate years at the University of Central Arkansas, where I minored in philosophy, I encountered a wide range of readings that challenged how I understood society, power, and human behavior. Martin Heidegger’s The Question Concerning Technology was one of the works that stayed with me, much like Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish. IContinue reading “Has Technology Improved the Way We Communicate, or Changed What Communication Means?”
What Does It Mean to Know?
Who we are is revealed not only through what we say about ourselves, but through how we act. Oets Kolk Bouwsma once wrote that a person’s life shows what that person truly thinks of themselves. He made a similar observation about Socrates, noting that Socrates both spoke highly and acted highly, while others spoke highlyContinue reading “What Does It Mean to Know?”
Paradigms
In The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn introduced the idea of a paradigm as a dominant framework that shapes how a field understands problems, evaluates evidence, and determines what counts as legitimate knowledge. Newtonian mechanics is one of the clearest examples. It guided scientific thought for centuries before Einstein’s theory of relativity revealed itsContinue reading “Paradigms”
Alignment is All You Need
In a 2016 interview, Charles Fadel, the Center for Curriculum Redesign founder, stated “from the times of Socrates and Confucius, it has been obvious that what makes people successful in life is not only what they know and how skillfully they use their knowledge, but also how they behave and engage in the world. InContinue reading “Alignment is All You Need”
Learning to Be
In looking at our current educational institutions, the majority are structured to teach to specific outcomes (i.e., teaching to the test), as this methodology was applicable to the Industrial Age. Basic literacy and numeracy were taught as essential requirements for working in factories and military service. As nations further modernized, public education systems still taughtContinue reading “Learning to Be”