Learning - that elusive moment when things make sense.
Learning - that inclusive moment which allows one to become a member of a specific group.
Learning - how does one learn today?
Despite the blinking bytes of wisdom I come across, that moment still escapes me, leaving me with the hindsight of having learnt something, rather than the precise moment of deep learning. However, it is not hindsight I wish to focus on today, rather learning for today - which is not that different to all the yesterdays, except in the ways which we can now learn.
The choices of learning are public.
The choices of learning are open.
And like the shimmerings of a painting, one reflection of light may lead to another, another connection, another option of learning.
These options are available for both learners and educators but it takes interest, time and above all, the passion for learning.
Heick (2013) points out these characteristics which are so intrinsic to one's learning today:
1. Dialogic Response: Learning is a conversation–whether personal, local, and direct, or more general, global, and digitally-based
2. Community Interaction: Communities–including local physical communities, and digital, niche communities–nurture relationships and frame content
3. Abstraction & Creativity: Creativity isn’t just art and whimsy, but the overlap between the macro thinking and micro details to solve the challenges of daily living
4. Media Literacy: Digital media evolves constantly. This makes not simply “keeping up,” but grasping the nuance of platform critical
5. Play: This is the opposite of compliant response to teacher-centered environments. In play, learners freely experiment, show ambition, follow curiosity, and take risks to create, design, evolve, and connect in ways that are otherwise impossible under compulsion
6. Self-Directed Learning: Play is a big part of self-directed learning, but more broadly can include academic response, project-based learning, game-based learning, and other “school-like” learning forms while students hold themselves and one another accountable to their own criteria of quality
As one can see, these characteristics have always been part of learning, except that with today's option of digital learning, Media Literacies play a major part of the learning process. By Media Literacies, I would like to add that here, I include also the skills of networking, for working across borders in realtime is common practice in many fields. Media Literacies, Digital Literacies, Digital Citizenship - all inter-connected and essential to learning today.
Which leads me to wonder how one's learning may meet what students' want today?
Learning.
Learning for futures unknown, for today's connected and mobile generations, learning for life.
As my semester of digital rejection slowly heads towards its end, questions of learning how to learn still remain pertinent.
How do you learn?
How do your students want to learn?
Further References:
Couros, G. , 2013, 10 Expectations from Students
Heick, T., 2013, 6 Channels of 21st Century Learning
Heick, T. 2013, How 21st Century Thinking is Just Different
