Who is the learner of the future? What matters most for this learner?

[Connie Weber]

Let's say you're at a cocktail party or a picnic. You're among friends, so you feel pretty easy about chatting, you can "speak your gut" more or less without getting too fancy, without piling on the references. You're approached by someone you know who isn't much involved with education and is turning to you because he thinks you know something about what's happening with the "digital revolution." He asks in a soulful way, wanting to know your personal view and perspective of "what's going on."

"Who is the learner of the future?" he asks. "What matters most for this learner to learn?" "How will this learner learn best?"

Could you please use that as a jump-off place, and say what you'd say to that friend if you were just "telling it like it is," your take? Please feel free to discuss both the positive and negative sides of where you see things are now, and where you see things are going.

Thanks. I'm using this as a launching point for discussion of some of the questions we're exploring in Harvard's Summer Institute, The Future of Learning.

[Connie Weber]

For those of us who attended the Future of Learning, remember the final presentation that included our responses to the exercise "I used to think.... But now I think...."?

If you'd like to add some of those in here, they'd be more than welcome!

[Connie Weber]

Some from our learning group:

I used to think
--that we could control technology

But now I think
--technology is something I need to have much much more awareness of, and share awareness of

I used to think
--I was an arts/humanities teacher, and teaching technology was someone's else's job

But now I think
--It's my responsibility, my job

I used to think
--I was very conscious about globalization

But now I think
--globalization is infinitely more complex than I ever thought, we have to deal with nuances and layers of development of citizenship: you have to be a citizen of your local, your nation, the world... and globalization goes in both directions, large to small and small to large

I used to think
--learning to collaborate, learning collaboration-skills, was uniquely difficult at my school.

But now I think
--keep gathering information on how to do this, everyone is struggling with it, we need to forge a new model. Learn skills to build collaboration.

I used to think
--the digital revolution led to understanding and acceptance

But now I think
--It's about practicing managing tensions, sharing, and producing things together

I used to think
--I was effectively incorporating technology in my curriculum

But now I think
--technology continually changes... keep going, always keep learning more

And here's mine:

I used to think
--we were too late to start

But now I think
--We need to jump in as learners, let the children teach us, be models of strong and unafraid learners. We need to be ethical guides, coaches and participants.

[Connie Weber]

A fantastic video that is directly pertinent to the Learner of the Future:

It's about an hour and a half long; you have to settle into it, relax, take in information for a while. I guarantee it'll make you think, a lot.

http://www.unite.umn.edu/specials/Events/CYFAR/2008/index.html?id=7


"Research Presentation
Educating the Whole Child for the World: Culture and Education in the New Millennium

Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco, professor, immigration studies, New York University"

[Connie Weber]

[Jane Nordli Jessep]

Hey, Connie,
I haven't seen much action yet on these discussions, but I'll jump in anyway. Not sure if I can be particularly insightful or prescient right now. But I know that I look to my little grandchildren and wonder what their challenges will be. I also wonder what we as a culture are going to do about the ever widening gap between the lowest rungs of the socioeconomic ladder and the highest. Education has got to become a truly dynamic, vital, invigorating and innovative force. Being at PZC was inspiring and I had the feeling that people were quite taken with the idea of inquiry. Maybe that becomes a topic related to your question. But what I worry about is how to drag the institution of education into the 21st century. Despite the best intentions of states with the new and seemingly rigorous standards I don't get the sense that schools are becoming the beehives of activity, intellectual stimulation, and emotionally safe places they should be. The standards seem mostly to be about the tests. Bill Gates talk on TED about his KIPP schools was inspiring, the idea of innovative charter schools making public schools have to sit up and take notice is a good thing. (Sorry I'm rambling here, is that okay?) There is a great deal of information out there but how do we invite students to be not only good researchers but truly good researchers with a skeptical eye and ear, a desire to challenge their most cherished beliefs in order to get to the bottom of an issue or puzzle, as well as individuals unafraid of commitment and discipline. I haven't said anything so far...but I do see the need to what was it Howard G. said at the plenary, perhaps shock therapy is in order??
Looking forward to more concrete ideas coming out of this discussion.
Jane

[Connie Weber]

Hi Jane,

Thank you for your thoughts, and yes, it's ok to ramble. There are so many questions!

Wonder what you meant about "not much action in these discussions," wondering what makes you say that. ;-) (The question shows I'm still in spirit in the Project Zero Classroom, as you can see!)

In the final plenary at Future of Learning, Howard Gardner talked about three roles we take on, in this millennial age: the immigrant, the pioneer, and the sage. As immigrants, we have to plunge in, immerse ourselves in the new culture. It can be shocking; maybe one lesson we learn is how we all contain multitudes (Whitman, and beyond). We can share, we can work together, we can also be estranged. Still, we must go forth. Then we become pioneers, discovering new lands, adapt them and shape them. Yes, we have guides for our pioneering; it's up to us to choose them wisely. (I like the role of being a scout for the pioneers, I'll have to write to Howard Gardner about maybe adding in that role.) Anyhow, Howard said "yet pioneers are constantly creating the new thinking outside the box--you have to invent it yourselves--and even come to like the inventing process..."

He said we have to immerse ourselves in the Wild (remember his references to the Wild Digital West?), "co-emerge with students": students will learn from watching you learn, and you learn by watching students teach you. "If you teach, learn, and live these experiences, eventually you'll go beyond being an immigrant or pioneer, eventually you'll become a sage" (and by that he means wise through reflection and experience, not the "sage on the stage" but the real kind).

I certainly have not described Howard's last talk as perfectly as he delivered it. It was a supremely inspirational talk, one that makes you gasp with realization of how things are beginning to tie together and makes sense. And hopeful, moving, rejuvenating.

What I'm seeing about the future is we have to fashion it. I do get the feeling that more and more momentum is gathering to create, promote, and nurture a new way of learning--radically new, something that's likely to redefine who we are as an organism. We are the Learning Animal, and suddenly our tools have taken a cosmic leap. What do we do next?

Looking at our schools, you have to wonder: will they last? Are they meant to last? Is there a better way for citizens (of locales, of states, nations, the world) to learn? Are there hybrid models of earthly-situated, globally-connected learning labs (or as John Seely Brown (?) calls them, studios of learning) we can help to invent?

We're certainly wasting a lot of time in the education sphere by being obsessed with pencil and paper tests, maybe with assessment in general. (Unless assessment is so interwoven with learning as to be nearly seamless, I'll still wonder if it's a waste of time. But that's just my opinion.)

This is our age. The digital revolution, globalization... We're working on creating it. We're landed in the era as the "home of the times" --which Veronica Boix Mansilla said.

And by the way, this morning I read an article she wrote with Howard Gardner, "From Teaching Globalization to Nurturing Global Consciousness" and whew, is it rich and full of ideas for where we need to go... Maybe we should read that work together and begin a discussion. It's in Learning in the Global Era, edited by Marcelo M. Suarez-Orozco.

Maybe that's what you were talking about with regard to the discussion? Wanting concrete ideas, guidance? (I think of jungle guides, carving out the path just a tiny ways ahead of us, using machetes.)

Let's figure it out together. Within our inter-connected, purposeful learning communities. Sharing all our discoveries as we go.

[Jane Nordli Jessep]

Connie,
I only meant that no one seemed to have posted in a couple of months. Not that the postings in all of the Fireside universe aren't interesting and thought provoking. I have to reread your posting as I just scanned it. Hey, I set up my own little Ning for the participants that were with me in the TfU WIDE course we just finished, I thought we might continue chatting about some of the ideas not only from the course but about education per se. Oh boy. I will look forward to reading the resources you've linked here. Is it hard to create links? I want to do that in my Study Group 4 Ning.
Great seeing you here. More soon.
Jane

[Mary K. Marjerrison]

Hey Jane!
A great site for collecting and sharing websites with others is www.diigo.com. I have created groups on it, including one for our Study Group, and have had some light response from participants. I've also started it for my school, which I think will be really useful.
It was really great dining and chatting with you at PZC!
Mary

[Jane Nordli Jessep]

Okay, I think I'm starting to be able to count backwards and forwards, hooray. Connie, just be patient with me. Yes?
I read through several pages of the early days of this conversation and I think it was Ian who wondered if the questions about the learners of the future need to have a few different frames as perhaps the poor countries can't be as connected as developed countries. When I was at TED in February there was a brief update about Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop per Child program. I thought it might be fun to look at the talk he did at TED in 2006. I hope I can link it here: http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/41
I think that the possibilities of how we might be connected to learners everywhere are mind boggling. As Mr. Negroponte mentions, the implications of this program and the far reach of technology will throw old paradigms out the window.
Jane

[Mike]

Hi All... hope this finds you well...lovely today in south jersey!

Re-reading a book this morning came across this from:

Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future-
Margaret Wheatley

”As we work together to restore hope to the future, we need to include a new and strange ally—our willingness to be disturbed.

Our willingness to have our beliefs and ideas challenged by what others think. No one person or perspective can give us the answers we need to the problems of today.

Paradoxically, we can only find those answers by admitting we don’t know.

We have to be willing to let go of our certainty and expect ourselves to be confused for a time.We weren’t trained to admit we don’t know. Most of us were taught to sound certain and confident, to state our opinion as if it were true.

We haven’t been rewarded for being confused. Or for asking more questions rather than giving quick answers. We’ve also spent many years listening too theirs mainly to determine whether we agree with them or not. We don’t have time or interest to sit and listen to those who think differently than we do."

Are you and the others you may work with...willing to be disturbed?

be well..mike

[Connie Weber]

Mike,

Leave it to you... how right you are to be reminding us of Wheatley, emergence, and complexity studies.

Yes, I am willing to be disturbed... And to teach the students that disturbance factors in as a huge catalyst for learning. Letting go of certainty... learning to say "I don't know" --those should be in every list of important 21st century skills, and are perhaps the most neglected.

[Connie Weber]

Hi Jane,

Glad you discovered the pages of discussion. The topic is essential for us to think about--and thanks to Future of Learning for the guiding questions.

We appreciate your referencing the One Laptop per Child Program. Any idea how it's going now?

Yes, within the forces of Globalization and the Digital Revolution, we have to keep in mind who is gaining more access, who is not afforded any access? What happens to the world next will be markedly influenced by ACCESS.

BTW, check out Andrew's blog post on Fireside: "If Textbooks Go Digital, Do We Lose Deep Learning?" That blog is addressing paradigm-change, bigtime.