The Alternative UK @AlterUK21 is a platform for imagining what civil society can be. We share a belief in the need for lifelong learning models that advance this purpose on a day-to-day basis. Read their recent editorial on the potential for Social Learning Clubs here.
Today we can all benefit by becoming students of human nature. Each day is filled with opportunities to improve how we relate to others. But we need to know what to look for in order to extract the most valuable lessons.
Mindful learning from daily experience can become a habit. These five questions help us diagnose what’s really going on:
ACTIVE LEARNING BY DESIGN
Most of the knowledge we need to do our work is learned informally. To thrive in an unpredictable world, we can make the most of these informal learning opportunities.
Above quote is from The Economist article: ” Lifelong learning is becoming an economic imperative ”
photo at top: “Run Beyond” by Angelo Bonello, Italy, taken at Light Fest 2017, Distillery District in Toronto
-Sharon VanderKaay

Design thinking helps us get unstuck. It reveals hidden options so we can take action with greater confidence and impact.
Active learning (vs. passive learning) is a mindful approach to leveraging on-job experience.
When we combine active learning with design thinking, we have a powerful framework for continuous progress.
As the integration of AI grows in every kind of job, human-centric skills are in growing demand. But critical thinking, judgment and decision making are difficult to teach.
Design thinking offers an optimistic, strengths-based approach to learning. It works because it encourages our natural human curiosity. In essence, we can learn to design our way through messy situations at work—while staying one step ahead of the robots.
Here’s a slide summary of these concepts: