What is Contemporary Learning?

Before discussing about what contemporary learning is, it is necessary to answer the question about what is learning?

“Learning is becoming” (Ranson et al., 1996)

Learning is a mixture of cognitive, emotional and social processes. It is both personal and social, as we learn though our experiences and our social interactions with others. Engestrom΄s theory (1987) of expansive learning highlighted that learning is a circle process where there are seven stages of consolidating knowledge.

Contemporary learning focus on empowering young people with skills and abilities, enabling them to successfully respond to the demanding challenges of the 21^st century. Learning should not ignore and be irrelevant to students΄ prior knowledge, life experiences, personal interests and needs. Connectivism is of great significance for contemporary learning, because according to Siemens (2005), As knowledge continues to grow and evolve, access to what is needed is more important than what the learner currently possesses”. Learning happens by making connections which enable us to learn more than we already know.

Understanding contemporary learning requires to offer young people meaningful experiences that will allow them to become open-minded, confident learners, critical thinkers and adequate problem-solvers. In the rapidly changing digital landscape of the 21^st century, new facts and challenges are constantly emerging, giving a new orientation to learning. In terms of these changes, new learning metaphors and theories have appeared, which promote a different approach to teaching. Paavola, Lipponen and Hakkarainen (2004) introduced the knowledge-creation metaphor, which is a sequel between the acquisition and participation metaphor. The acquisition metaphor is based on the idea that knowledge is a property of an individual mind, while the participation metaphor relies on the idea that “learning is a process of participating in various cultural practices and shared learning activities” (Sfard, 1998). In contrast, the knowledge-creation metaphor suggests that knowledge is constructed collaboratively by learners developing their own artifacts. Undoubtedly, new technologies can offer new possibilities and opportunities for people to learn, enrich their experiences and co-construct their knowledge. Thus, we should not underestimate the importance of technology for contemporary learning.

Social networking sites, blogging, wikis, online discussion forums and games, offer a plurality of spaces and activities which enable students to communicate and socialize with their peers, share their experiences, exchange their ideas and engage with them constructively. The possibility of building online learning communities also allows multiple voices to be heard and different perspectives to be expressed. As a result, through the openness and multiplicity of different voices, the dialogic space is opened up. According to Wegerif (2007), the dialogic space is “a space where dialogue is more important than ownership of ideas”. When students dialoguing, they interact with each other, learn to be open to new and different perspectives, question, reason and listen to other voices with respect. It is important to mention Bakhtin’s distinction between dialogue and conversation, according to whom dialogue is defined as a shared enquiry in which each answer produces a further question in a chain of questions and answers. Contemporary learning means collaborative and dialogic learning which can be promoted by approaches, such as Philosophy for Children or Thinking Together.

Contemporary learning necessitates the transformation of the existing educational practices as well as the evolution of learning to a more personalized experience for students by adjusting to their diverse needs and interests. Therefore, hierarchical relationships between teachers and students should be replaced by dynamic ones, in which teachers will abandon their previous role of simply transmitting knowledge and become facilitators of the learning process by guiding students. Students will no longer be passive recipients of knowledge, but instead they will be actively engaged in learning. As teachers, it is our duty to help students fulfil their potentials, develop their talents and capabilities as well as empower them with appropriate skills and abilities, such as problem-solving, decision-making, collaboration and critical thinking. By acquiring these skills, young people will be able to succeed and thrive in all fields of their life, including the workplace.

  Contemporary learning also means the democracy of knowledge. In the Internet Age, every single person has access to a large amount of information and learning occurs through network connections between entities (Downes, 2012). MOOCs are a typical example of how learning happens and should continue to be nowadays. They are based on connectivism’s principles and allow the distribution, construction and location of knowledge away from the “professor” to learners. Self-directed learning is also developed through MOOCs with users taking on the dual role of both teacher and student, as they are responsible for their own learning.

References

Paavola, S., Lipponen, L. and Hakkarainen, K. (2004). Models of Innovative Knowledge Communities and Three Metaphors of Learning. Review of Educational Research, 74(4), pp. 557-576.

Sfard, A. (1998). On Two Metaphors for Learning and the Dangers of Choosing Just One. Educational Researcher, 27(2), pp.4-13.

Siemens, G. (2005). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age [online] Available at:  http://er.dut.ac.za/bitstream/handle/123456789/69/Siemens_2005_Connectivism_A_learning_theory_for_the_digital_age.pdf [Accessed: 29^th March 2017].

Wegerif, R. (2007). Dialogic Education and Technology: Expanding the Space of Learning. New York: Springer-Verlag.