Slow learning: My Conversation with Dr. Thomas Tillmann

A Conversation with Dr. Thomas Tillmann at Lernhacks on #slowlearning

Last week I had a great conversation with Dr. Thomas Tillmann about #slowlearning and why its such a timely idea. We've been inspired by the great work of Tom Wambeke Delphine Dall'Agata and colleagues at ITCILO which fits so closely with our own emerging vision and experiences. We thought that some of the key ideas that came up in our lively exchange might be of wider interest and contribute to the further development of the #slowlearning movement.

Many organisations and individuals are showing symptoms of overload, burnout and stress. This is an increasingly vital problem with many dimensions for organisations. There’s wide agreement that #learning is a key capability to be fostered for improved performance and innovation. Slow Learning encourages people to step back and recognize their potential, develop it, and translate insights into action. By #reflecting on their learning in this way, learners experience self-efficacy. Having confidence in one’s ability to learn and grow is an essential resource for a fulfilled, happy life.

The evidence is strong that learning improves if we can slow down to notice what we know and have experienced, reflect on our actions and feelings and rehearse next steps. The act of pausing and standing back to gain deeper understanding has significant benefits for job performance, for #leadership, for #wellbeing and #resilience and for career success.

Slow Learning is by no means a stance of escapism that seeks to deny the importance of digital opportunities. Rather, in the light of ChatGPT and other developments Slow Learning can be seen as part of the “digital avant-garde” in the sense that it complements “Fast Learning”. As things speed up so they also have to slow down.

Reflective slow learning is not in competition with machines. Slow Learning starts from a reflective understanding of emerging technological developments and their implications for future learning needs, ways of working, and societal developments. Slow Learning is not backward-looking but embraces and humanises present and future technologies.

Slow Learning is a mindset. At a personal level this involves awareness of the benefits of slowing down and a commitment to create more opportunities for #reflection, sensemaking, connecting things and sharing our insights with peers. This mindset requires that we go beyond good intentions and re-learn and re-apply the disciplines of slow learning.

It’s also part of our personal commitment to professionalism in our roles. It requires self-awareness and takes us beyond simple consumption of information and a desire for more and more, faster and faster, problem-solving activity. At an organisational level it’s about growing a culture that values and rewards time spent learning together. It builds reflection and challenge into our organisational routines.

Slow learning is also set of tools, techniques, practices, and skills. Through the skilful and regular use of slow learning and reflective practices we turn our commitment into action and make it a habit. The challenge here is to make slow learning both personal and scalable. That means experimenting with a range of practices to build our personal slow learning repertoire over time so we find ‘what works for us’. But it also requires us to build slow learning practices into existing organisational routines so that they are relevant to the real world demands on our attention and our time.

We may need to begin small by building these practices into existing routines such as project review meetings, performance appraisals and team meetings or by ‘reflecting in the cracks and crevices’ between our daily activities. Adopting slow learning practices makes learning visible which builds confidence in our personal and collective ability to learn.

So we concluded:

·??????The benefits of reflective, slow learning are powerful across many areas of our working lives

·??????The more we speed up the more we also need to slow down

·??????Slow learning is a critical part of the digital future not a nostalgic yearning for the past

·??????Slow learning is both a mindset and a set of tools, practices and skills

·??????It has to be both personalised and scalable; a fit for individuals and also adaptable to organisational culture