

Great Minds on Learning
John Helmer
Internationally respected author, blogger and learning expert, Donald Clark joins John Helmer of the Learning Hack podcast to discuss the history of thought and theorising about learning. The inspired, the enduring, the wacked-out weird and the just plain wrong, from Aristotle to the present day.
© John Helmer 2021
© John Helmer 2021
Episodes
Mentioned books

Oct 9, 2023 • 1h 10min
GMoLS5E26 German Idealists with Donald Clark
Join expert Donald Clark as he explores how German Idealists like Kant and Hegel shaped modern education, emphasizing state control and standardized testing. Delve into the moral importance of reason in education and the influence of lesser-known figures like Herbert and Humboldt. Discover Hegel's impact on education, society, and historicism, along with challenges in teaching and research in higher education. Explore the interaction of philosophy and politics in shaping education policies and advocate for lifelong learning and self-sufficiency in education.

Sep 25, 2023 • 1h 14min
GMoLS5E25 Evaluation with Donald Clark
In this episode, the first of a new season, we look at a group of thinkers who have focused on how we should evaluate the impact of the learning. Beginning with Donald L Kirkpatrick in the 1950s, they have given us models of how to measure and evaluate it. However, for all the work that has gone into this area, the general perception has long been that organisations simply do not evaluate anything like enough. There are indications, however, that this picture is changing, and interest in evaluation is on the up. With the advent of powerful new AI tools, could we be on the brink of a breakthrough? 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:55 - Introducing Evaluation 00:13:52 - Donald L. Kirkpatrick (1924 – 2014) 00:25:12 - Robert O. Brinkerhoff 00:34:59 - Will Thalheimer 00:50:54 - Valerie Anderson 01:02:47 - Summing up The Blog that started it all: https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2021/09/these-were-written-as-quick-readable.html Kirkpatrick bit.ly/2UdDyWf Contact Donald X: @DonaldClark LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-clark-04553022/ Blog: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/ Contact John Helmer X: @johnhelmer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/ Website: https://learninghackpodcast.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LearningHack/

Apr 24, 2023 • 1h
GMoLS4E24 Internet As Knowledge with Donald Clark
Expert Donald Clark discusses how the internet transformed knowledge creation. They highlight tech giants like Google and YouTube, along with new player OpenAI. The live audience at the Next Learning Conference in the Netherlands delves into the pioneers behind online tools powering global learning.

Apr 11, 2023 • 1h 13min
GMoLS4E23 Technology Delivery with Donald Clark
During the Covid lockdowns of recent years, online technology became practically the only way of delivering learning. But a long road has brought us to such a place. This episode covers the theorists, inventors and entrepreneurs who pioneered technology delivery of learning, beginning in the early years of the 20th century with the mechanical teaching devices of Sidney Pressey and B. F. Skinner. Introducing Technology Delivery – 1:20 Sidney L. Pressey (1888-1979) & B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) – 6:12 Sir Tim Berners-Lee (1955–) – 19:44 Bill Gates (1955–) – 32:43 Steve Jobs (1955-2011) – 45:12 Martin Dougiamas (1969–) – 56:10 Summing Up – 1:05:28 The Blog that started it all: https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2021/09/these-were-written-as-quick-readable.html Pressey & Skinner bit.ly/3pf3L7Y Berners-Lee bit.ly/2wE9Cep Gates bit.ly/2WS3hXj Jobs bit.ly/3bFx8Go Dougiamas bit.ly/2UXOJTq Contact Donald Twitter: @DonaldClark LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-clark-04553022/ Blog: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/ Read Donald's latest book, Learning Technology https://www.koganpage.com/product/learning-technology-9781398608740 Contact John Helmer Twitter: @johnhelmer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/ Website: http://learninghackpodcast.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learninghack

Mar 27, 2023 • 1h 13min
GMoLS4E22 Social Constructivists with Donald Clark
Social constructivism had its origins in the thought of Karl Marx. However, it became a strong influence on educationalists in the capitalist West during the latter half of the 20th Century, and thinkers such as Piaget and Vygotsky are popular on teacher training courses to this day. But does its central tenet, that learning is socially constructed rather than individually discovered, hold up under scrutiny? Introducing Social Constructivism – 1:24 Jean Piaget (1896-1980) – 6:44 Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) – 19:22 Jerome Bruner (1915-2016) – 33:12 Margaret Donaldson (1926-2020) – 41:56 Merlin Wittrock (1931 - 2007) – 52:22 Summing Up – 1:04:57 The Blog that started it all: https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2021/09/these-were-written-as-quick-readable.html Piaget bit.ly/2vRLT9J Vygotsky bit.ly/2SlHymF Bruner bit.ly/2OB4r4o Donaldson bit.ly/39eMvo1 Wittrock bit.ly/3EQW2Sp Contact Donald Twitter: @DonaldClark LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-clark-04553022/ Blog: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/ Read Donald's latest book, Learning Technology https://www.koganpage.com/product/learning-technology-9781398608740 Contact John Helmer Twitter: @johnhelmer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/ Website: http://learninghackpodcast.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learninghack

Feb 27, 2023 • 52min
GMoLS4E21 Utilitarians/Happiness with Donald Clark
This episode focuses on happiness. Utilitarianism is a strand in philosophy that says the greatest happiness of the greatest number should guide our judgment in all things – including education. But does its modern descendant, positive psychology, place too much trust in looking on the bright side? 0:00 - Intro 1:20 - Introducing Utilitarians/Happiness 5:37 - Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) 17:06 - John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) 28:51 - Martin Seligman (1942–) 37:35 - Summing Up The Blog that started it all: https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2021/09/these-were-written-as-quick-readable.html Bentham bit.ly/3okvNi2 Mill bit.ly/3CYxBRG Seligman bit.ly/2DVc3fw Contact Donald Twitter: @DonaldClark LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-clark-04553022/ Blog: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/ Read Donald's latest book, Learning Technology https://www.koganpage.com/product/learning-technology-9781398608740 Contact John Helmer Twitter: @johnhelmer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/ Website: http://learninghackpodcast.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learninghack

Feb 13, 2023 • 58min
GMoLS4E20 Religious Educators with Donald Clark
This episode covers a sizeable sweep of history, from the perhaps misnamed Dark Ages and the Islamic Golden Age, on through the Renaissance, Reformation and Enlightenment. As the Christian and Islamic faiths spread, learning became a powerful tool of religion – and Religious Educators, in their turn, changed the shape of learning. Introducing Religious Educators – 1:18 Augustine of Hippo (354-430) – 4:58 Al-Ghazali (1058-1111) – 10:23 Ibn Tufayl (1106-1185) – 13:18 Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) – 17:22 Martin Luther (1483-1546) – 25:06 John Calvin (1509-1564) – 32:32 Desiderius Erasmus (1466 – 1536) – 39:23 John Amos Comenius (1592-1670) – 46:25 Summing Up – 52:49 The Blog that started it all: https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2021/09/these-were-written-as-quick-readable.html St Augustine bit.ly/2Gm22q1 Al-Ghazzali bit.ly/3kN3yGI Ibn Tufayl bit.ly/3m5UtYU Ignatius bit.ly/2v7D76V Luther bit.ly/2GcJvMH Calvin bit.ly/2Ro2MRJ Erasmus bit.ly/3HmSc5e Comenius https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2022/07/comenius-1592-1670.html Contact Donald Twitter: @DonaldClark LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-clark-04553022/ Blog: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/ Read Donald's latest book, Learning Technology https://www.koganpage.com/product/learning-technology-9781398608740 Contact John Helmer Twitter: @johnhelmer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/ Website: http://learninghackpodcast.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learninghack

Jan 29, 2023 • 1h 9min
GMoLS4E19 AI Learning with Donald Clark
Once the stuff of science fiction, Artificial Intelligence is now a part of everyday life. But the story of how it came into being is not often told. This episode reveals its roots in neuropsychology and observations of the physical processes in the brain that lead to learning. The theorists who Donald and John discuss began their work at a time when behaviorism, which by and large disouraged attempts to look within the mind, dominated academic psychology. But despite a few 'winters', AI has developed to the point where it is now all-pervasive, and a driving force of change in learning. 1:20 Introducing AI Learning 8:06 Eric Kandel (1929 - ) 13:29 Donald Olding Hebb (1904 – 1985) 23:29 Warren Sturgis McCulloch (1898 – 1969) & Walter Pitts (1923 – 1969) 37:37 Frank Rosenblatt (1928 – 1971) 44:16 David Everett Rumelhart (1942-2011) & Geoffrey Everest Hinton (1947–) 57:06 Demis Hassabis (1976–) 1:07:23 Summing Up Read Donald's book, Artificial Intelligence for Learning: https://www.koganpage.com/product/artificial-intelligence-for-learning-9781789660814 Kandel bit.ly/3oiiYDo Hebb bit.ly/3kq3z2A McCulloch & Pitts bit.ly/3kn6Fo8 Rosenblatt bit.ly/31PZmih Rumelhart & Hinton bit.ly/3bXU3zd Hassabis bit.ly/3qrYgmT The Blog that started it all: https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2021/09/these-were-written-as-quick-readable.html Contact Donald Twitter: @DonaldClark LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-clark-04553022/ Blog: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/ Contact John Helmer Twitter: @johnhelmer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/ Website: https://learninghackpodcast.com Support the podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LearningHack

Dec 5, 2022 • 1h
GMoLS3E18 Extended Mind with Donald Clark
This episode was recorded live at the Online Educa Conference in Berlin and explores ideas of The Extended Mind. Where do our thoughts live? And if, as some theorists contend, they do not observe physical limitations, but extends to our technology tools and physical surroundings, what are the implications for learning? 1:22 - Introducing The Extended Mind 5:43 - Robert Stickgold (1945–) & Matthew Walker (1972/73) 12:41 - Roger Barker (1903-1990) & James J Gibson (1904-1979) 19:19 - Andy Clark (1957–) & David Chalmers (1966–) 25:48 - Douglas Carl Engelbart (1925-2013) 31:03 - Elon Musk (1971) 39:22 - Summing Up The Blog that started it all: https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2021/09/these-were-written-as-quick-readable.html Stickgold & Walker bit.ly/3HHB1LN Clark & Chalmers bit.ly/3CcuvbW Musk bit.ly/3cfE2o5 Contact Donald Twitter: @DonaldClark LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-clark-04553022/ Blog: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/ Read Donald's latest book, Learning Experience Design https://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-Experience-Design-Create-Effective/dp/1398602620/ref=asc_df_1398602620/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=500792593882&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8463523561401709872&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006565&hvtargid=pla-1245069293197&psc=1&th=1&psc=1 Contact John Helmer Twitter: @johnhelmer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/ Website: http://johnhelmerconsulting.com/

Nov 21, 2022 • 1h 3min
GMoLS3E17 Religious Leaders with Donald Clark
This episode features a group of people who were not writers, philosophers, psychologists or learning theorists in any usual sense of the term. Nevertheless, their influence on learning has been profound and long-lasting. They were the religious leaders who founded four of the world’s greatest faith traditions. 00:00 - Intro 01:20 - Introducing Religious Leaders 05:06 - Confucius (551 – 479 BCE) 16:55 - Buddha (6th and 5th C BCE) 28:36 - Jesus (7-2 BC to 30-36 AD) 41:56 - Muhammad (570 AD – 632 AD) 52:03 - Summing Up The Blog that started it all: https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2021/09/these-were-written-as-quick-readable.html Confucious bit.ly/2R4NMI3 Buddha bit.ly/2Pen4vz Jesus bit.ly/2NGPOMv Mohammed bit.ly/2RrIEN6 Contact Donald Twitter: @DonaldClark LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-clark-04553022/ Blog: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/ Read Donald's latest book, Learning Experience Design https://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-Experience-Design-Create-Effective/dp/1398602620/ref=asc_df_1398602620/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=500792593882&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8463523561401709872&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006565&hvtargid=pla-1245069293197&psc=1&th=1&psc=1 Contact John Helmer Twitter: @johnhelmer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/ Website: http://johnhelmerconsulting.com/