Dr. Jon Wergin - The Deep Learning Mindset

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Jon Wergin has been Professor of Education Studies at Antioch University’s Graduate School of Leadership & Change since 2003, following a 30-year career at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he won awards for both teaching (1996) and scholarship (1998).

He was the founding director of the Forum on Faculty Roles and Rewards in the American Association for Higher Education in 1992, and continued an active association with AAHE until 2004, focusing his scholarship on leadership and change in higher education. He is the author or co-author of 18 books and monographs, 13 book chapters, and 64 scholarly papers, and has given invited addresses to more than 100 colleges, universities, and professional organizations on such topics as faculty development, evaluation research, professional education, curriculum development in higher education, evaluation and change in higher education, and department chair development. 

His most recent book is Deep Learning in a Disorienting World. After nearly 20 years with Antioch, Jon moved to semi-retirement status in July 2020.

Quotes I Enjoyed From This Episode

• "There's a deep learning mindset that gives us permission to continually be curious about the world."
• (Deep learners) "are driven by a sort of 'humble curiosity,' that there's always more to know. And the result of that knowledge will make for a more satisfying and efficacious life."
• "It's, putting yourself in that state of what I call 'constructive disorientation.' How do you find that sweet spot between comfort and anxiety? That place where you are just uncomfortable enough to be motivated to examine your feelings and reflect. But not so uncomfortable that you want to pull back, escape, and go to a more comfortable place. It can be a very narrow band."

Resource Mentioned in This Episode

• Podcast: Growing as Grownups Podcast - Robert Kegan and Keith Eigel
• Book: Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
• Film: In and Of Itself

About The International Leadership Association (ILA)

• The ILA was created in 1999 to bring together professionals with a keen interest in the study, practice, and teaching of leadership. 

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