Recent research shows there are three main reasons older people have
trouble learning:
1. lack of exercise
2. stress, both in the present and in the past
3. lowered ability to concentrate and focus
see my summaries of this research and my book on improving memory at
http://thankyoubrain.com/PracticalMemoryResearch.htm
Bill Klemm
W. R. (Bill) Klemm, D.V.M., Ph.D.
Professor of Neuroscience
College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Texas A&M University, VMA BLDG., Room 107
4458 TAMU
College Station, TX 77843-4458
Phone: 979-845-4201, FAX 979-847-8981
Webs:
www.cvm.tamu.edu/wklemm (personal site)
peer.tamu.edu (site for middle-school educational outreach)
thankyoubrain.com (site for book on memory improvement)
http://thankyoubrain.blogspot.com (memory research blog)
>>> Martin Allinson <[log in to unmask]> 08/19/07 1:27 AM >>>
Lina Fajerman wrote:
ôI am put out by the description of non accredited learning as
"infotainment
"- a very perjorative
description of a vital activity in many peoples lives.ö, and David
Wilson
wrote: ôYes, I agree.ö
I surmise that Lina was triggered to write this by my reference to
ôedutainmentö in my posting where I said:
ôThere is a need for research into how the 'old, but not over-the-hill'
can
be induced to 'stay in harness', even though they have the wherewithal
to
'shed the saddle, bridle, reins and bit'.
However it is not the sort of research endeavour that is within the
expertise of middle-aged academics supervising raw graduates.
It should however suit some of us third and fourth generation
(grandparent
and greatgrandparent) studiers and learners. Such conjecturing about the
fairly-immediate future seems to be something that particularly
interests
those of the third and fourth generation that 'return to college'.
But such research is very different from the 'not for credit
edu-tainment'
provision of Institutes of Learning in Later Life. (I am not decrying
that
provision. It has great value. I am just saying that research that
requires
postgraduate competencies and considerable life experience is something
different).
Lately, I have been wondering just how many well-heeled retiree
baby-boomers
will wish to get into postgraduate research, and how it will work out.
Will it require the invention of the Master of Arts Emeritus and
Doctorate
of Philosophy Emeritus, or can universities fit it in within the rules
of
their Graduate Schools for the present MA and PhD awards?ö
I would suggest that æinfotainmentÆ and æedutainmentÆ are no more, and
no
less, pejorative than æbiophysicsÆ and æbiochemistryÆ; because they
(like
all words) are at the centre zero on the scale that runs from
pejorative-to-adulatory. We have to do things like putting æmerelyÆ in
front
of them to shift them towards the pejorative end of the scale; or
æadvancedÆ
to shift them to towards the adulatory end.
I am an engineer, not a linguist/semanticist, so I may be wrong in my
belief
that it is how we use a word (by context, or with tone of voice or
accent)
that decides where we are placing the word, at that time, in the range
from
pejorative to adulatory. But that is my belief.
For instance, æprofessionÆ is only pejorative if we indicate that we
have
its Shavian definition of ôa conspiracy against a laityö in mind.
And æhigherÆ is only pejorative when it occurs in phrase-constructions
such
as ôFurther and Higher Educationö, and if we are talking of effects on
our
sense of smell.
We need our taxonomy of the various activities that have their roles in
the
studying and learning processes, and æinfotainmentÆ and æedutainmentÆ
seem
to me to be useful recent additions.
David Wilson, in his posting, went on to give a helpful exposition of
how
some activities in the academic world carry credits with them, but that
those credits will usually be irrelevant for the older clients of the
educational establishments.
My point, as for David in his language acquisition, is that we have to
manage to fit within the present framework or negotiate some suitable
extensions of the framework.
To get the services of academics that I felt I needed for my
self-development meant enrolling for an MA-by-research at my local
university in NE Thailand, and so I had to accept those æartificial
deadlines of accredited learningÆ that David mentions.
Within that MA process, I found that I needed to catch up on where
Futures
Studies had progressed to in the last quarter century and enrolled for
an
on-line course with the University of Hawaii. As I didnÆt want the three
credits, they enrolled me in an æungraded-and-not-for-creditÆ category
that
cost me a few less dollars. I was impressed that they have extended
their
framework in this way. (I attach the report of that on-line learning
experience that I did for the Strathclyde Conference.)
Looking at how some universities in America are marketing themselves to
us
oldies and making income from real estate for which they expect soon to
be
unable to attract young clients, it is clear that provision for mature
studying and learning is going to be big business for academics, as well
as
for the crews of cruise liners. We will live in interesting times, and
modifying the framework of accreditation will be an interesting process.
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