Deliberations

George Siemens writes an interesting post entitled Dialogue Online on his Connectivism Blog. His theory of connectivism situates knowledge in the relationships that people have with each other. George isn't specifically in the deliberative space, rather he is interested in how learning necessarily occurs in a networked, social context. He writes:

Once we have formed a base in a discipline, or if the discipline itself consists of soft knowledge (i.e. politics, sociology, or any subject area where perspective and bias play greater roles), dialogue becomes critical to ensuring the situation is seen in all its complex glory. Instead of falsely simplifying a concept for ease of understanding, we need to complexify (i.e. Weinberger) the subject matter sufficiently to understand its nuances. Decision making happens only after understanding the messiness and chaos of a subject. Instead of permitting the educator to filter out elements not deemed relevant, the learner maintains control over the depth of complexification. In the end, understanding is achieved as a function of comprehending the diversity (and complexity) of an issue - a concept quite antithetical to how most of our learning is designed today. Learning is often designed to eliminate not accentuate complexity. I argue that complexity, held in context, is the more effective model of sensemaking and, as a result, decision making. Moving forward not-knowing is more valuable than moving forward assuming we know. Doubt, not certainty, is the foundation of reasoning, emotion, and learning.

I believe he is correct that a mindset more capable with complexity and contingency is required for better decision-making. but it's a bit like saying that everyone has to be clever to understand. The larger question is how build the capacity in people to think in those higher-order terms. Just as I experienced in the first deliberative event I attended recently, many ordinary citizens have difficulty abstracting, considering models and generally thinking and talking in an exploratory manner. In a deliberative setting, this would appear to be the greatest challenge for facilitators.

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