Learning in a Digital World

Learning in a Digital World

I have found it very difficult in this transition to digital learning for my students. They are very familiar with digital learning but do not grasp the concept of knowledge building through networks.  They still need so much direction and are not self motivated. They still expect the teacher to spoon feed them. We are on the threshold of educational change and must realize we as educators and students are blazing the trail.  Technology will be the glue that sustains the learning environment in the digital world.

According to Siemens, the acceptance of online learning has grown due to the way in witch people communication everyday using digital technology (Siemens 2012). Today's learner must be able to manage high volumes of information and make it useful for knowledge construction. Students prepared for the 21st century must be self motivated and able to work in a collaborative networked digital environment.  However, learners need "soft" guidance towards desired learning outcomes.   (Siemens 2008).  Students need someone to guide them towards what needs to be learned and accomplished to meet the expectations of educational standards. The way in which we learn and communicate has changed overnight but education has not kept pace with those changes. According to Christensen (2008), the traditional model of education will be disrupted when the value chain is broken by networks of instructional designers and users who share technology. The commercialization of instructional design (the value chain) will be replaced by networks of open source contributors.

One of the major issued with designing construction for digital learning has been the lack of available software at no cost that can provide time effective individualized instruction.  I believe students in the k-12 education will need both face-to-face and online learning.  We must prepare this generation for the 21st skills that include cooperative learning, creativity, problems solving, and communication (Partnership for 21st century skills). One of the ways to accomplish 21st century instructions is to collaborate and share knowledge freely.  According to the Horizon Report(2013). Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) will provide tools to create online learning.  For now the course components available for use to create courses are relatively similar to the traditional format of lectures, quizzes, and homework assignments.  The beauty of the MOOCs is that the course components are meant to be used and re-purposed.  The MOOC components will grow and evolve as learners and teachers share and build towards digital learning components.  

References

Christensen, C. M., Horn, M. B., & Johnson, C. W. (2008). Disrupting Class: How disruptive innovation will change the way the world learns. New York. McGraw-Hill.The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2009). http://www.21stcenturyskills.org.

New Media Consoursium. (2013). The Horizon Report. Austin, TX. NMC. Retrieved from:  http://www.nmc.org/publications/2013-horizon-report-higher-ed

 Siemens, G. (2008, January 27). Learning and knowing in networks: Changing roles for educators and designers. Paper presented to ITFORUM. Retrieved from http://itforum.coe.uga.edu/Paper105/Siemens.pdf

Siemens, G., (2012). Networked Learning. International Review Of Research In Open & Distance Learning, 12(3), 1.