The Canoe

Yesterday, I had the unique opportunity to go paddle with members of the Gibsons Paddle Club who signed up to learn how to steer and skip the canoe.  I feel so fortunate to be invited to participate as an observer and puller.  What was I observing?  I was watching how adults learn.  This was a chance to glean on some ideas that may relate to my dissertation.

OK.  I understand that there are many articles and books that focus on adult learning in addition to many workshops intentionally designed to cater adult learners.  By observing experienced paddlers taking the next step to learn how to skip, I wanted to understand why they were taking the workshop and what they intended to learn from the workshop.

This is what I would call taking the tacit to the explicit.  To take what I do and see and be able to articulate it with a length literature review is my personal challenge that I intend to tackle.  I have engaged in the SFU Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) as an adult learner, I have presented to Pemberton Secondary as an adult educator, and now I have participated in a steering workshop as an observer.  Three points of view on adult learning, the question is, what do I really want to report on?  This is the underpinning of the research question.

It sounds silly, but I do need to establish a goal or point I wish to obtain with my dissertation.  Although I can report on very interesting and overlapping attributes of adult learning, in general, but how can I relate what I have learned to what I want to research?  This has been my burning question from the start.  My topic is good, my focus could be better.

The canoe has been an awesome learning vehicle for me and my dissertation.  Two years ago, I could not even announce myself as an EdD Candidate until I had participated in Pulling Together.  I was a candidate for more than 7 months.  I could not adhere to the ideas of being an autodidactic learner until I had paddled in 2010.  I could not understand my strengths and weaknesses until I engaged with canoe and my crew members.

Blah, blah, blah… and the story goes on.  There are many lessons to be learned from the Canoe.  I have given only broad generalizations as to how the Canoe benefited my learning… academically, professionally, and personally.  I can only imagine what the Canoe can do to benefit others.  The Canoe is alive and well.  She is a kind spirit always willing to help.