Dr. Farideh Mashayekh contribution to the "OSS and OER in Education Series." In this post, she shares share some of her thoughts about the importance and nature of adult learning in a knowledge society, opening ample opportunities for the rest of us to connect these topics with open source software and open educational resources.
Author - Dr. Farideh Mashayekh (Bazargan), "Lifelong Learning in Knowledge Society". Originally submitted May 29th, 2007 to the OSS and OER in Education Series, Terra Incognita blog (Penn State World Campus), edited by Ken Udas.
Prelude
- The new millennium requires new vision and understanding of learning.
- Transition from Industrial Society to Information and Knowledge Society has its impacts on social, economic and cultural aspects of life.
- What are the impacts of the transition to
Information Age regarding:
- personal fulfillment
- citizenship
- employability
- What are the implications of this transition on learning?
- What is the vision of future learning?
- How can we be prepared for an Information Age and a
Knowledge Society ?
- In a technology-enabled, lifelong learning environment, digital literacy (e-skills), scientific literacy, cultural literacy, in addition to key competencies, are the critical perquisites for access, participation, and learning to live together in peace.
- With the advent of “e-learning,” some believed that the panacea for learning had been discovered. But without a holistic approach to learning, technology by itself can’t bring any change.
- In a world of active lifelong learning, an individual’s skills portfolio will be built and documented based on a mix of real-life experiences, achievements, and formal learning certifications.
- While classroom-based learning will continue, especially with early phases of education, it will play a decreased role during an individual lifetime.
- In knowledge society, individuals of every age and background are invited to join in logical analysis, technical dissertations, rich and wide knowledge of diverse subject matters. “Intellectual activity is anywhere and everywhere, whether at the frontier of knowledge or in a third-grade class-room.” (Jerome Brunner)
Definition of key concepts
Lifelong learning
A cradle to grave process designed to provide any citizen with a constantly updated personal and professional development. A tool which enables him/her to face change, to adapt to the requirements of the labor market, to take responsibility for his or her own life, to attain personal fulfillment and to assume the responsiveness of an active citizen.
Knowledge society
- Is a society that creates, shares, and uses knowledge for the prosperity and well-being of its people.
- Is what we should be seeking to build in the 21st century through networking, and acquisition of higher level cognitive skills.
New approaches to knowledge
- The new approach will strike a better balance between purely formal knowledge, applied knowledge and meta-knowledge.
- At the present time knowledge is conveyed through speech and the written word. In the future, there will be an extraordinary diversification of its representations, particularly through the new information and communications technology (ICT).
- Cross-cutting themes, interdisciplinary approach will become more important than disciplinary one.
- Knowledge will be inclusive and it will involve “higher-level” of cognitive domain:
- Analyses
- Synthesis
- Evaluation
- Learners will be more closely associated with the creation of knowledge and more involved in the learning process.
