Self-organized learning in education

I’m the opening act at this event next month in Salzburg, Austria. Me and Dr. Dr. Was-ist-das. They have printed an article I wrote in „Selbstorganisiertes Lernen mit E-Learning. Einblick in die Landschaft der webbasierten Bildungsinnovation. Sammlung von ausgewählten Fach- und Praxisbeiträgen zu interaktiven Lehr- und Lernszenarien.“ Auf Englisch.

Most educators I run into are oblivious to the mind-blowing changes going on in the world.

Educators have traditionally focused on teaching students in a particular discipline. They sought to impart the wisdom in their curriculum. Their goal was to bring order out of chaos. Their program of instruction was determined in advance of its delivery.

In a connected world, disciplines are blinders. Unpredictability makes it futile to plan for every contingency in advance. Rigid rules and scientific laws are too brittle to flex with change.

From now on, the role of education is to provide, maintain, and improve a context that enables students to learn content among themselves. Helping students prepare to adapt to the future is more important than focusing on what has already happened. Students need to learn how to learn. In the words of this conference, they need to become effective self-directed learners.