Jul 20 2008
The e-mature learner - Pedagogy to Heutagogy
John Anderson’s research made me think more about heutagogy, its place in schools and what (future? current?) teachers are learning about how mature digital learners learn best.
On the issue of the relationship between the teacher and the learner - … mature (sixth form) learners were given the opportunity to prepare for high-stakes examinations, in a social constructivist model, … we noted that learners grew anxious. They were uncomfortable with the modest shift in the locus of control from the teacher to the learners. Put simply, they were used to being spoon-fed and felt abandoned.
How then can school learning shift the students outlined above to engage and help the more mature e-learners now emerging below?
Put simply (and very effectively by John Seely Brown, 1999) web-savvy learners demonstrate a literacy of navigating complex information structures online which is intuitive rather than taught.
Brown sees a mode of discovery-based, experiential learning through the web and describes it as ‘bricolage’ reasoning – reasoning which is neither deductive nor abstract, but highly social and concrete, even though it happens online.
Anderson then goes on to say
the hypothesis is that education technology offers tools with which to research, find out, synthesise, reflect and evaluate and therefore to act more effectively and efficiently as a maker of meaning.
Thats why web2.0 tools for digital learning are what interest me, not the technology itself. Reliance on text book catalogues, library shelf resources and other traditional classroom resources is diminishing rapidly and the budget shift in DET and schools is reflecting this, or should be.
Teachers are pioneering the use of web2.0 tools in many schools now. I am trying to develop my own PLN and also reassessing my thinking on where schools need to be within the next few years and how best to get there. Thats where the NSW CCP and laptops for all staff and students will help, but that in itself is NOT the answer. Far from it.
A shift in thinking, particulalry teaching practices, is far more important IF the digital revolution is to amount to a significant change in school learning. As a non ICT teacher, geek talk about systems, servers, cabling, bandwidth or other “hidden” technology leaves me cold, but any learners learning deeply and actually using
Online communication tools (to) provide a vehicle for learning, creating important opportunities for collaborative dialogue, and learning through group relationships.
is professionally exciting and where I’d like to be as soon as possible.
Fred Garnett’s work also made me think more about learner generated contexts. I particularly liked William Gibson’s quote on slide 4.
