7 Characteristics Of Future Learning

10/30/2012, TeachThought Staff, 1 Comment

Reading, in terms of scale and diversity, is different than it used to be.

Thinking, in terms of context and application, is also different.

It makes since that learning is also changing–becoming more entrepreneurial than directly didactic. That is, more learner-centered and controlled than teacher-and-report-card controlled.

The presentation below by Steven Wheeler explores some of the shifts occurring in our digital age. Clarifying the differences between knowledge, wisdom, and critical awareness was an excellent way to frame the presentation. As we explore so many new teaching and learning methods, an ironic side-effect is there is no longer a consensus on what “learning” is, a concept this presentation seeks to understand.

Architecture of Participation: 7 Characteristics of Future Learning

Also interesting was the “architecture of participation,” supercharged by social media and characterized by:

Collaborating
Tagging
Voting
Networking
User-Generated Content
Tools
Sharing

Social factors are coming to dominate learners’ interaction with text and other media, making a kind of communal constructivism perhaps the single-most fundamental trend in “future learning.” In this way, these actions become 7 characteristics of future learning itself.

Communal Constructivism

According to a study by Sheffield Hallam University, communal constructivism “posits that students not only actively and socially create their own knowledge, but are active in the process of constructing knowledge

for a larger learning community…(and) wider disciplinary arenas.” This simple-sounding idea has the potential to fundamentally shift how learning–and learning processes–are designed and evaluated. We’re going to explore communal constructivism in much greater depth soon, and the following presentation works well as a foundation for such a discussion.