STSD Curriculum & Technology Update

Regular updates and musings on curriculum and technology in the Salisbury Township School District in Allentown, PA.

Shift: Lifelong Learning

When we hear the phrase lifelong learning, what do we think it really means?. In a Forbes Magazine article (Putting More Now Into The Internet), Peter Drucker explores why our idea of lifelong learning has shifted and what it means for us and our students.

For most of human history a skilled worker had learned what he needed to learn by the time his apprenticeship was finished at 18 or 19. Not so with the modern knowledge-worker. Physicians, medical technicians in the pathology lab, computer-repair people, lawyers and human resource managers can scarcely keep up with developments in their fields. This is why so many professional associations put continuing education among their highest priorities.

As we saw in the opening day Did You Know? video, our students will have to be agile learners. They will have to be able to teach themselves and manage the shift of multiple jobs and careers over a lifetime. They will be continuous learners in their field, and it is our responsibility to see that they graduate with the skills to succeed at that.

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Thanks for reading this week!

Comments

I have already noticed a shift in graduate courses as I sign approval sheets for teachers to take graduate courses online.  How nice it is to get up early on a Saturday with a coffee mug in your PJs and join a discussion group or react to critical readings. 
I notice in my own life how much I turn to the internet instead of hitting the crowded road or performing the time consuming task of turning “yellow pages.”
Information is available at our fingertips in massive quantities.  We will have to be lifelong learners if we are to stay current with the knowledge that is so readily available.

I keep coming back to Randy’s provocateur: what does the phrase lifelong learning mean.  Several things, I think.  Like Barbara, we will continue to learn just to stay current.  Like Drucker, we will continue to evolve as knowledge-workers needing a paradigm shift.  Like Pink, we will see a whole new mind be embraced as creative leaders and designers of the future.  Jobs of the 90s and early 21st century are outsourced because of “abundance, Asia, and automation.” Artists, storytellers, caregivers, what Pink calls “big picture thinkers” will benefit most in a flat world.  So how do we approach achieving lifelong learning with our students?  Collaboratively--with them.  A partnership between them as digital natives and us at some level of digital immigrant.  The new basics, the new literacies, the new tools.  It’s about synthesis, and remembering to embed the social context, best practices, and ethical use that technology cannot teach.  It’s about, I think, sharing knowledge, making connections, and growing together as a community of transparent learners.

I agree with many aspects of all the comments.  The first thought that came into my mind was synergy.  Synergy being defined at Webster’s Online Dictionary as: The working together of two things (muscles or drugs for example) to produce an effect greater than the sum of their individual effects.
We can create synergistic effects in a variety of ways.  The first one is by integrating technology daily within our classrooms, as RJ states, by embedding the social context and best practices that have always been employed in classrooms.  Another way is working as a partnership with students where the teachers become facilitators of learning rather than captains of content.  The learning is student centered and directed but partnered with the best practices.  These synergistic environments can create an limitless learning environment where everyone is learning.
I have had the largest success with my students when they felt that I was learning along with them and when they felt that they had a say in their own learning.

Having spent the long week-end traveling to and from Denver, Colorado to see my 31 year old daughter, I am amazed at the power of the internet and technology.  From making my flight and car rental arrangements and “checking-in” online through the internet, to staying in touch with work and people via cell phones and email, to watching my daughter in her constant stream of texting and seeking information through the internet, I am very much aware of the shift in communication and in seeking knowledge and information.  It is an exciting time, and I realize our students need to know how to teach themselves and stay constant learners if they want to be able to stay current....as do we adults.

One area that I am very interested in is the impact of trying to stay current with the increased communication and knowledge.  What is the impact on our time and ability to reflect, ponder, and enjoy solitude?  We need to make sure that we integrate all aspects of our humanity to maintain health and balance.

“What is the impact on our time and ability to reflect, ponder, and enjoy solitude?” This is a very important question! And I believe one of the new skills we need is to discern what is really worth our time. We’ve always had to do that, but now more than ever, with limitless information and countless distractions, it is an essential skill that we and our students must learn and work toward mastering.

Organization, planning and the ability to determine what is most relevant will help us and our students to succeed in this hyper-world, in and out of school. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills actually focuses on these kinds of skills in what they call Life and Career Skills. http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=266&Itemid=120

Their site is definitely worth the time if you seek a better understanding of what we mean by “21st century skills.”

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