The Learning Lab – judhuur al-ta3allum

"Liberating education consists in acts of cognition, not transferals of information.”

This oft-repeated quote of Paulo Freire (1968) is touted by many but practiced by few. In its bid to modernize its economy as rapidly as possible, Qatar has unwittingly bought into the “transferals of information” paradigm. Leveraging its immense wealth to expedite the conventional, incremental socio- economic development process that young nations normally experience, Qatar has purchased several “ready-made” infrastructure products from the Global North including the US branch campuses that comprise Education City (Khodr, 2011). And while this strategy has certainly accelerated socio-economic growth, it has also had the unanticipated effect of promoting western values at the expense of local ones (Al-Ammari & Romanowski, 2016). Economically, individualistic market capitalism replaces collectivistic tribal socialism. Educationally, secular ideals challenge Islamic ones as English replaces Arabic as the medium of instruction (Amin & Cochrane, 2024). In other words, “transferals of information” have resulted in transferals of values. However, Qatar Foundation (QF) recognizes the limitations and strictures of traditional educational 1formats, promoting the “multiversity” concept (see Walsh, 2019), an Aristotlean ideal that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. The earlier labs that inspire this proposal are evidence of this sea change in mentality. In this context, the learning lab offers a radical reset to the conventional learning environment where students are placed in the box of the classroom and summarily assigned roles. Are systems of learning “carved in stone”? Are faculty and administrators the only “experts”? Are western values, knowledge, and identities the only ones that carry real currency or legitimacy? The initial research questions are:

1. How can learners, recast as “experts” of their own lifeworlds, create systems of growth that prioritize their own needs, goals, and values?

2. What “products” of any “value” (both terms, highly subjective) can and should be disseminated?

3. What is the value of dissemination itself? To what ends? Who is the “consumer”? How does creating a “consumer” result in forms of privileging that make certain outcomes more “valuable” than others? Underlying these are more fundamental questions, representing both the methodology and purpose of the lab:

1. What is “learning” and what do I/we learn?

2. Where, when, and how do I/we learn?

3. Why do I/we learn?

Drawing upon Qadhi and Alkubaisi’s (2022) experience in devolving education in Qatar and Biesta’s (2011) “value-based education, ” the learning lab advocates “learnerization, ” a dynamic paradigm that challenges

the gates, filters and sillows between courses, disciplines, models, and institutions, deconstructing the traditional roles of “teacher” and “student, ” empowering both to engage as equal partners in the art of learning, in safe spaces for uncovering learner-defined values and goals that enhance autonomy, agency, and authenticity. The research team, combining current students, alumni, and faculty from different disciplines and EC institutions epitomizes the deprivileging and deconstructivist approach inherent in this approach. Theoretically and methodologically, grounded theory is adopted as an inductive process of self, peer and group discovery occurs across multiple modes of expression (artistic, emotive, dialogic, etc.). Initial data collection is qualitative: observation of learning behaviours and environments; self-reporting; interviewing; and focus groups provide rich data for discursive analysis and coding. But as the project grows, leveraging external funding, over a three-year arc from single learnerized modules to entire learnerized courses, faculty learnerization training programs, learnerized academic certificates and minors, even an “Institute of Learning,” quantitative survey data of student and faculty experiences with learnerization will also be collected. Pedagogically, the learning lab employs high-quality purpose-made instructional podcasts in line with Moore’s (2024) systematic review conclusion that “the ability to gather and share information across time and space, alongside emphases on dialogue, participation, and voice, also means that podcasts may hold emancipatory potential.” In Qatar, where nonnative learners of English often struggle with written texts (cf. Mohammed et al., 2022), podcasts support learnerization without the added cognitive load of reading (cf. Fatima, 2023; Green, 2020). Then, to capture lab findings, a second series of reflective podcasts documents research team narratives of learnerization, supporting and promoting the initiative beyond the confines of the lab. In summary, the learning lab explores an alternative paradigm for education that prioritizes learners’ ability to identify their own learning values and goals and create meaningful ways to express and achieve these.