21st century learning has become a catch phrase in today's educational circles and several educators and experts from different spectrum have already tried to give this kind of learning an identity and differentiate it from the old kinds of learning that permeated the mainstream education particularly in the 20th and 19th century.
We, in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning, have been keeping track of the latest debates and releases in this trend and have even devoted a whole section of this blog to articles on the 21st century learning. What we have noticed from all the staff we have read and posted about this kind of learning is that it is digitally based and technology plays a central role in its functioning, but there is also another version of this learning where technology is subordinate and the focus is put ,instead , on student as a human being able to learn be it in the 21st century or 19th century.This is at least what Teacher Thought has advocated in the graphic below.
For Teacher Thought there are 9 essential characteristics of the 21st century learning namely:
- Learner-centered
- Media-driven (this doesn’t have to mean digital media)
- Personalized
- Transfer-by-Design
- Visibly Relevant
- Data-Rich
- Adaptable
- Interdependent
- Diverse
While we do agree that learning should always be student-centered but given how digitally focused the world has become we do not agree that technology be given a minor role in the 21st century learning but still we are sharing with you the graphic and would love to hear your opinion on it : are you for or against such a model of learning ?
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Predicting the future appears to be something we as humans insist on doing, it features in our writing, films and religion, in fact in almost every aspect of our lives. We plan for the future, save for the future and often wish for a future when it is the now that is important. I suggest that if we can live in the now then we can be successful in whatever challenge we face for we will realise we have been successful in the challenges of the past.
ReplyDeleteWhere does this fit with education and 21st Century learning? We are falling into the trap of trying to predict and plan for multiple possible futures. The concept of 'filling the jug' no longer applies, we cannot give learners all the knowledge and understanding they will need to be successful and play their part in the world in a few short school years. Any technology dependent or led learning is a perilous step given the rate of development in this area. For example a device such as the Apple iPad has been with us a mere 2 ½ years, what device will be with us in 2014?
The one constant in learning is the learner. The one thing we know about learners is that they are all different but at some stage all will need or experience; guidance, motivation, explanation, organisation, discussion, recollection, time to assimilate, socialising, realisation, access to information/data/knowledge systems and to record and communicate. Technology is a tool in this process and can consist of a pencil or a powerful computer linked to numerous on line resources.
It is true that technology can meet and enhance many of these learning needs but technology does not generate the learning need and that is the fundamental point. You can have learning without technology and technology without learning. It is not a case of the degree technology is involved in learning the issue is how can technology best support and facilitate learning. Access to information/data/knowledge can be as debilitating as it can be enabling without an ability to discern, navigate, record and communicate. If we focus on the technology then we will get distracted by debates such as, is being able to write more important than using a keyboard, is a spell checker preventing people from learning to spell or is it more important to memorise or to be able to find information.
My preference is to focus on understanding learning needs and to enable the learner to learn in whatever environment they find themselves with whatever tools they have available. I have explored this in one of my e-books which can be found at www.ace-d.co.uk where you can see my working theory about the purpose of education too. I am in the process of writing the follow up to 'Understanding Learning Needs' (primarily a book for teachers) which looks at enabling the learner to learn under the title of 'Survival Intelligence' this text is written specifically for the learner and where I will talk about the use of technology in learning.
Kevin Hewitson
Director
Advocating creativity Ltd
Thank you Kenvin for this detialed exlanation I should include it in a separate post. I really appreciate it.
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