Empathy and Intuition in Distance Learning
Reflections on Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences
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COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE Collective intelligence occupies cyberspace, which can be defined as a network of connections where any piece of information is in virtual contact with any other, and with everyone. Pierre Levy’s postulate is that, “the evolution in progress converges toward the constitution of a new arena for communication, thought, and work for human societies.” “The new means of creation and communication may also profoundly renew the form of social bonds toward greater fraternity, and help solve the problems that humanity is debating today. “ Collective intelligence must be invented, it is not a given, it is not in our nature. We must invent the techniques, systems of signs, and forms of social organization and regulation that will allow us to think together, to focus intellectual and spiritual strength, to multiply our imaginations and experiences, to negotiate practical solutions to the complex problems that we must confront in real time and at all levels. This requires discovering or inventing a successor to writing, a successor to language so that information processing can be distributed and coordinated everywhere, so that it is naturally integrated into all human activities and is within the reach of everyone. Knowledge space encourages the reinvention of social bonds around reciprocal learning, synergy of skills, imagination, and collective intelligence. We must understand, collective intelligence is not a purely cognitive object. Intelligence must be understood here as in the expression “travailler en bonne intelligence” (to work in harmony, to share knowledge) or in the meaning it has in “intelligence avec l’ennemi” (communicating secrets to the enemy). This is a very general approach to life in society and to its possible future. Collective intelligence is a global project whose ethical and aesthetic dimensions are as important as the technological and organizational aspects. Living knowledge, the know-how and skills of human beings, is in the process of becoming recognized as the source of all other riches. So, what purpose should we assign to new communication tools? Their most useful social role would undoubtedly be to provide groups of humans with the instruments to bring together their mental strengths to constitute collective intellects or imaginations. Communication technology would then be presented as the technical infrastructure of the collective brain, or of the hypercortex of living communities.
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About the Book
Empathy and Intuition in Distance Learning Professor of cognitive sciences and education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Howard Gardner is among the most influential education theorists in the world. Over the past twenty years, his theory of multiple intelligences, according to which every individual possesses various intelligences in different areas, has been broadly established in education. This theory is a revolution in attitudes on learning, especially concerning the greater customization of curricula, instruction, and evaluation, as well as the study of the nature of interdisciplinary efforts in education. This short work reflects on some intelligences that are not yet accepted by Gardner. Primarily empathy and intuition, which after many lectures, and through my personal experience, have led me to think that they should be an integral part of distance learning. Ginette Provost Flatow
About the Author
Involved in distance learning for six years and in education for 28 years, the author has always sought ways to make education innovative, with the goal of improving student success. Following a reading of the book Les Intelligences Multiples by Howard Gardner, she noted that empathy and intuition were important components of distance learning, as well as of education in general. This work presents her reflections on intuition, empathy, and multiple intelligences.