The Hero's Journey
??????????????????: I’ve recently found myself doing some talks, workshops, and professional development around how to create AI policy within educational institutions and ensure policy actually informs protocol. Honestly, I never thought I’d be doing this. I intended to go into educational research when I first set out as a teacher, specialising in meta-cognition and neuroscience. So I suppose if I did find anything impactful maybe I would have ended up here. I didn’t expect to hold knowledge in an EdTech capacity that others find valuable though. All of this is to say that two aspects of my recent talks have particularly resonated with those who connected with me afterward. One I share below, the other I’ll keep in my pocket to create an air of mystery about myself. No one has described me as enigmatic before, I fancy trying it on for a bit!
The Hero’s journey is a ubiquitous arc of most stories told throughout human history. Distilled by Joseph Campbell and used to map many a protagonist’s metamorphosis. From as far back as the Epics of Gilgamesh to the recent journey of Paul Atreides in Dune. You might be wondering what type of journey have we set upon in reading this article. One of lateral thinking to apply this monomyth to your story right now. A story of trials and tribulations as you try to improve your pedagogy.
Many acronyms and models for how to go about implementing new curricula, purchasing new EdTech, or choosing new pedagogies exist. But we tell stories as heroic journeys and not as step-by-step methods for a reason. Because we relate to them. I suggest we articulate this journey and map our projects as objects of heroism not as a series of boxes to tick. And I suggest this because when you place yourself firmly in the shoes of the protagonist you can’t help but protagonise. And you’ll do so through failure and even death. Your mindset will change. When on a journey, bumps in the road are expected. And when expected they are seen as the enthrallment that they are, instead of an inconvenience.
So when do we embark upon these Homerian hills? When we receive a call to adventure. The key is to listen. A rather loud siren sings from the rooftops of late and I find myself helping many a hero with its call. AI. But that is not the only adventure calling you, is it? This call could be a deep desire you have to impact education. Metacognition and neuroeducation called me, and I heard that call at 23 on the summer isles. But that’s a story for another time. When we have a calling. We have a journey. So we can map out the path through Joseph Campbell’s eyes to strengthen our mindset. As well as plan our implementation frameworks to strengthen our impact. And though I may speak in hyperbole to engage your senses. A calling can equally be that your department feels they could get better at feedback.
At the beginning of the project, a hero’s journey can be good to map out the emotional ups and downs you’ll experience throughout project implementation. Making the fact that you will fail and go through a painful rebirth explicit, will lessen the shock that might strike you in these moments. Not only this, but it will help you decide whether the journey is even worth it before you embark. And choosing the journeys you don’t walk, is as vital as choosing the ones that you do. But if you do indeed choose the journey, the map will calm your mind so that you can make an informed decision on your next step. Even if that next step is to realise that you are not going through a rebirth, but a death of the journey. That’s why once you have mapped this out, keeping it visible and charting your course is crucial.
Bringing your team along on this journey mapping is a good idea. Most teams that work on a project experience conflict. No matter how good the culture. Conflict is productive when done well because it indicates honest communication. And nothing can be achieved unless the truth is known. However, conflict also kills. Not just the explosive kind either. But also the secret disagreements that go left unsaid. In fact this one is even more deadly. The vast majority of this problematic conflict arises from emotions not necessarily logical disagreements. Being able to communicate our emotions can be tricky. Change management centres around the understanding of what emotions arise during change and how to accommodate them. The hero’s journey is yet another model in this respect that can help us contextualise our emotions and thus improve how we communicate them.
And my last piece of advice for the use of this journey. By both having an ‘expected journey’ as well as recording the journey as it unfolds you can track how far off the path you’ve gone. Not to redirect, but to reflect. Maybe your foresight isn’t as strong as you would like. Or maybe indeed you have bitten off more than you can chew and need to go through death and rebirth to learn a lesson you didn’t expect. A destination you hadn’t considered. The product of your project is undoubtedly important. But frankly, you will not produce the impact you want on every project you implement. That’s just probability for you. You can learn from every journey though. And with every lesson learned, your chances of improving upon the projects you implement increase.
With that said…
"You're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, So... get on your way!" - Dr Seuss
What heroic journey do you intend to travel?
Recent journeys I've read:
?????????? ????????????????
Click the image to have a read