Informed Learning and Harry Potter Part 1

Bruce, Christine Susan. Informed Learning. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-8389-8489-5

Christine Bruce in chapter 3 of her book, Informed Learning, describes seven faces of informed learning. I want to look at Hermione, a character in Harry Potter, through these seven faces.

1. "Informed Learning is Experienced as Using Technology to Communicate and Keep Abreast of Developments in the field."

I would broaden this idea to beyond technology to all the different means we keep current in a particular field and discipline. This would include conversations with others, e-mails, blogs, and listservs.

Hermione is constantly learning in the Harry Potter series. For example, she has a subscription to the Daily Prophet, even though she does not believe everything in it. Hermione is a critical observer of media. She spends lots of time in the library doing research. She researches anything she is interested in at the time. I like to think that I received two degrees an an undergraduate. One was my formal education and its required classes and the second was the reading I did on my own. Ron in book 4 asks how Hermione can do all of this non-required reading and research with all the requirements of their schoolwork. Hermione somehow finds time to do both.

Hermione is an example of an inquisitive learner. She never stops learning. We are more motivated and focused when we are reading and researching topics that interest us.