New Culture of Learning

The world is changing faster than ever and our skill sets have a shorter life

Understanding play is critical to understanding learning. Challenges we face are multi-faceted, requiring systems thinking & socio-technical sensibilities, as described in my INNOVATION PLAN -.

A new culture of learning needs to leverage social & technical infrastructures in new ways and play is the basis for cultivating imagination and innovation.

Play can be defined as the tension between the rules of the game and the freedom to act within those rules. But when play happens within a medium for learning—much like a culture in a petri dish—it creates a context in which information, ideas, and passions grow. Potent tools for this type of learning already exist in the world around us and have become part of our daily lives—think of Wikipedia, Facebook, YouTube, and online games, to name just a few.

A blended learning environment is created with a variety of building tools and while those structures can be firm, customized, and established based on project requirements and student needs, it is often the strategies that allow the structure to fit within an organizational culture and context. In this line, blended learning focuses on both digital tools and face-to-face instruction to offer a more personalized learning experience for each student.

For more information about research on blended learning please read my LITERATURE REVIEW2 -.

Hybrid and Blended Learning:

Poor planning and rising opportunities in uncertain times.

Incorporating technology into teaching and learning does not mean discarding previous approaches. The key is to adapt and create a new learning system by designing classrooms that better reflect the world students will participate in once they graduate.

Conflict With Traditional Learning Models.

Learning has focused on classroom routine as the only useful model for delivering learning. Corporate and organizational learning has also been classroom-based offering professional development and training, with techno-e-learning a major driver of compliance-based learning. Society has changed and we have clearly seen innovation in learning accelerate.

Learning is an easy process to impart (Thomas, 2012), yet learning education organizations are designed in a way that keeps the learning process difficult and inaccessible. Teachers, schools, and other learning organizations give recognition to those who endure and persevere within their rigid development. The new culture of learning requires two critical models.

-The relentless pace of change that is responsible for our disequilibrium is also our greatest hope. A growing digital, networked infrastructure is amplifying our ability to access. However, the type of learning that is going on as a result looks so different from the kinds of learning described by most educational theorists that it is essentially invisible. (Thomas, 2011).
-This new type of learning is a cultural phenomenon that underlies a large number of people’s experiences and affects them in myriad ways. It takes place without books, without teachers, and without classrooms, and it requires environments that are bounded. (Thomas, 2011)

My goals for my students are clear: to provide individualized and authentic learning experiences to students in two dual languages so they can communicate effectively and to help students develop a greater respect for other peoples and cultures. Using Chromebooks and our learning management system within a flexible classroom environment with personalized attention is how I plan to achieve that goal.

Holistic Thinking and Learning

To drive holistic thinking and learning, move toward asking questions over seeking answers. Specifically, we must filter everything we do in our organization through these three questions from A New Culture of Learning (Brown & Thomas, 2011). That is because “we believe that these three practices could frame a progression of learning that is endemic to digital networks'' (Brown & Thomas, 2011). With these questions as the lens through which we look, we create an environment of constant self-evaluation, iteration, and internal motivation (Brown & Thomas, 2011). “No one knows yet what a completed digital transformation may look like in the future. The journey for businesses is one of continuous adaptation and evolution.

References

Brown, J. S., & Thomas, D. (2011). A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

Cook, T.A. (2018, December 13). Evolution not revolution: Digitalization does not mean starting from scratch… Reuters. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://www.reuters.com/article/sponsored/evolution-not-revolution

Harapnuik, D. (2021, February 9). Learner’s Mindset Explained. It’s About Learning. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://www.harapnuik.org/?p=8705