What is Education?- A thread on learning and teaching, the creative process, practice

[selil]

Imagine if that changed, and all a MarcT or Selil had to do was submit a short letter of intent defining scope, cost, and purpose to use their expertise to help us.

I'll be honest I think this is actually possible. A combatant commander J3 had his adjutant approach me for possibly briefing them in person in theater. Now, since the conversation nothing has happened but as they say, "There is a war on". The topic was not "small wars" but "cyber wars" and whether it happens or not I was still surprised when they gave me the time of day.

I'll also say a institutional ethnography or learning ethnography would help TRADOC and others understand where they are and what they really need to get to where they are going. Currently I see TRADOC steering the ship of learning by looking at the wake.

[marct]

I'll be honest I think this is actually possible. A combatant commander J3 had his adjutant approach me for possibly briefing them in person in theater. Now, since the conversation nothing has happened but as they say, "There is a war on". The topic was not "small wars" but "cyber wars" and whether it happens or not I was still surprised when they gave me the time of day.

I've had similar things happen, although more along the lines of "can I take you out for a beer and pick your brains...". Again, the topic wasn't "small wars", but.... I can definitely agree with the "surprised" reaction !

From what I have seen, this isn't an institutional mindset but, rather, and individual one; people tapping into their personal networks. I suspect that there is somewhat of an institutional paranoia operating here for, I'll admit, some very good reasons.

I'll also say a institutional ethnography or learning ethnography would help TRADOC and others understand where they are and what they really need to get to where they are going. Currently I see TRADOC steering the ship of learning by looking at the wake.

Hmmm, I would have said by looking at their sails, but I agree, there isn't much overt consideration of what their institutional environments actually are. I'm not sure how much of that stems from institutional paranoia (aka institutionally reinforced fear reactions), and how much stems from a "not made here" syndrome. There is also the fully understandable question of getting realistic responses verses getting responses that will keep the research / consulting money coming (see here for a perfect example).

Sam, right now a top notch institutional ethnography would take 2-3 years to actually do, and another year to write up. You would need a team of about 5-6 people to do it, and it would break about half of the rules in the book to do it properly. It would also think it unlikely to get IRB approval, given how it should be done ("Oh, too dangerous for the researchers and the LEGAL implications!!!!"). And that is just the fieldwork component of it.

So what they are likely to get instead is extremely limited institutional ethnographies that are, honestly, pretty seriously skewed. That skewing, BTW, will stem from a lot of factors, but the biggest one will be a structural factor stemming from contracting and employment limitations. Unfortunately, I've seen this type of problem before when I've done this type of work; you will get people hired to "fix" individual problems where the "solution" has already been "found" and the consultant just acts as a shaman giving that "solution" an imprimateur. What you almost never get is an organization that says "These are our limitations; this is what we must do; look around and come up with ways for us to do it well".