“WHY WE LEARN” – A SEED TO GROW THE TREE OF FREEDOM
Learning how to learn for changes.
Reality 1.0 –
“Learning for scores, careers, even social status in the classroom.”
When I was a mentor to help one of the students to learn math in China. One time, I could not answer one simple question from him. He asked me “why we should learn math?” He said that his parents and friends told him we learn math because to get higher scores and to get into one prestige university. “Only having a high sore can I get confidence in front of people.” My instinct forced me to defend the meaning of education I was taught by my parents. Learning is not only about exams or career (money), somehow for curiosity and fulfillments. But at that time, I did find any better explanation to persuade the student changing the thought about learning. After all, people treated traditional learning environment with a Mechanistic view (Thomas & Brown, n.d.) that learning happens in the classroom, the workplace. I understood that classrooms represented exams and careers, which is the most popular definition even now days. I still remembered the Bollywood movie Three Idiots (In Hirani, et al., 2011) how crucial exams it is for a student to access the ladder of social mobility in developing countries. It is still true in China, which can be reflected by the increasing number of students entering into Universities and study abroad. I believe that the degree is the proof of the efforts and persistence in the certain amount of time, which could not be totally equal to the master of the certain field. Even there is a better way to be a real master of the field, few brave learners quitted their classrooms and gave up their diplomas, arriving at the end of success. I guess because they know where is their passion and they are not afraid of failure.
“Are we the Organic Vege?”
Parents are trying to send their children to universities, which is like the farmers who cost a great amount of money to plant organic products, and all of us need the organic mark to be sold with a higher price ( to earn a higher salary) in the market. But thinking about what if the soil has been pesticized in the region in years, even without any pesticides used in the product, the products may still be pesticized.
Thinking 2.0
“Freedom is that learning how to learn for changes either by interests or by learning boundaries.”
The experienced farmers know the truth and seldom buy products because of the mark of organic, where experience top managers know those talents needed are those who know how to learn but not those who only carry a degree frame. In this constantly changing world, we have to learn how to learn new things for changes. It is like, one might not need to know how to use the telegraph to be a secretary 21st century, but have to learn how to use telepresence help out in the meeting, if needed. We spent tons of time learning how to learn for confronting new things. I learned English when I was ten years old, and I am still learning because I constantly need English to survive in the U.S. Imaging that I probably need to learn Arab languages if I will be doing international business with Arab countries. I am not afraid of it because I know the way I learned English and I knew language resources online. The process of learning languages, math, or other subject-matters are all the practices to explore how to learn and how to communicate.
When we were young, it is hard to understand “learn how to learn for changes.” Also, it might be late to ignite the passion for learning when we still do not know how.
Formal learning usually is not the best way to persuade children to polish their “knowledge” or “tools” to embrace their interests. Formal learning is marked as scores, exams, and measurements, which will never be popular among students and children. Thinking about the childhood experience when we were sent to the doctors while taking vaccines, the exams and measurements were like the horrible but helpful experiences. Informal learning saved the passion and the freedom among learners. Informal learning could be anything games, videos, exhibitions. “It takes place without books, without teachers, and without classrooms, and it requires environments that are bounded yet provide complete freedom of action within those boundaries” (Thomas & Brown, n.d.). Now changes are coming, how we should do as a learner and a designer.
Thinking 2.1.0
Learn how to learn “from the resources and each other” for changes either by interests or by boundaries.
For decades, we have been taught in the classrooms and memorized information for exams. Then, educators shifted the teacher-centered learning into student-centered learning where students are given the freedom to choose how to learn and what to learn in a digital learning age. So that the ecology of learning is to let learners stand in the center of the knowledge to recognize all the resources they think they need by interests or by challenges. The basic tenants or requirements of new learning environments include the digital and technology resources and the engagement of all individuals (teachers and students) to shape the collective wisdom. Also, the learning boundaries are the guidance or challenges to facilitate innovations in the process of learning. The prerequisite to have the ecology of learning is that Learners and educators recognize that the learning is not the result but the engagement process within the environment where there are rich resources including classrooms, peers, technology, and after school programs.
Agree: What I agree most is that Thomas and Brown (n.d.) argue that the evolvement of learning 2.0 is not going to replace traditional education like classrooms, but to have an all- inclusive point of view to treat classrooms as part of the learning ecology system. I believe that learning is about to explore and to experience different resources and ways to think about how to learn for changes. The passion and curiosity of individuals and community are the centers of learnings surrounded by resources learners have been seeking and contributing. In traditional education, we emphasized only how we were memorizing information for a job or a degree. However, we live in a constantly changing environment; especially, technology change how we perceive the world every day. In this case, learning how to learn is crucial for confronting changes and is important to recognize resources and connections provided by web 2.0.
Disagree: It hard to say what I did not agree with the frame of ecology learning, but I do have some opinions different from that of Siemens (2005) who stated that Technology is a connecting point between traditional learning and informal learning.
My perspective is to think about the learners are in the center to recognize the potential resources and connections between the questions and the answers inside and outside the classroom. Designers and educators should be the facilities to help learners to recognize resources and build connections between learners and any resources in both formal and informal learning environments. Another difference is that I believe that connections are not only about technology and learning but also we need to think about how other connections within the learning environment. Under the web 2.0, academic, interests, and peer cultures overlap each other to create a connected learning environment (lto, et al., 2013). How peer gets connected by interests sharing? How did individuals feel connections between academic and interests? How peers work together to improve academic and interests?
References
In Hirani, R., Chopra, V. V., Khan, A., Kapoor, K., Madhavan, R., Joshi, S., Irani, B., … Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Inc. (2011). 3 idiots.
Siemens, G. (n.d.). Connectivism:A learning theory for digital age. ITDL, 1-8.
Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (n.d.). A new culture of learning.
Posted on May 24, 2017Edit
VIRTUAL REALITY
I tried on VR one time when I was on LDT 597 (Emerging technology Topics). In the class, several of students chose to explore the use of VR and AR. My first thought was how did it work well in education. The cost, the quality, the compatibility were all the question marks in my mind. In one class, all of us went to Dramery (TLT Learning Lab) where there were VR and AR for us to experience. I tried on the VR game first. The price for the Glass was about several hundreds boxes, and the whole game set was not affordable for most of students. It was interesting to work in the office by using the game bar (for controlling the cups and pens on the table). However, I felt dazzling after working in the office 15 minutes. I believed that VR still have a long way to go for improving its comfortability. Besides, it is crucial that learning designers think about how to design the content to fit in the learning environment.
Only several months after my first experience of VR, I found more and more VR glass in Walmart. It showed affordable prices. Until this week, I was surprised by the speed of the improvement of VR and AR technology. Last semester, I was think about designing a 4D story game museum where student could be able to follow story within a 4D environment where they could smell and touch. In Virtual Reality And Augmented Reality In Education, my design might become true. ” Then we have this prototype, that we call ‘Tele Transport Booth'”, David says. “In addition to traveling to different virtual reality scenarios, it emits heat or cold, so that each experience gets to be very realistic. Also it emits odors: There is an experience in a buffet where you are being served a coffee and you can smell it.” It seems for me that technologies could be really powerful. I mean, the exponential development speed scary me in a positive way. It also encourages us and everybody to catch up the modern life.
As a future learning designer, I would like to think about the relationship between Bloom’s taxonomy and technology Many products could be used in different levels or could cover high level of learning and teaching.
For example, virtual reality is a good tool to use at the Remember and Understand level are two basic levels. Usually, students need to. Oculus Rift, Leap Motion, zSpace, and Daqri are all good products letting students to have multiple sensation while processing definition. For example, virtual reality is really helpful for students to build up the sense of space when they learn a geometry. Medical students could be easier to remember the organ function and features by observing 4D images.
For the Apply level, virtual reality, like Tilt Brush by Google, does a good job for learners to produce their own solutions on designs. (citation) Nasa and other pliant school are using virtual reality technology to mimic the real life situation for learners to practice procedures on the book.
For analyzing level, Raths talked about designers started to visually analyze statistics by using virtual reality. It could be really cool if statistics classes could be more fun and more practical by using virtual reality. Besides, virtual reality environment helps both teachers and students to track their learning process in classrooms and outside classrooms. Ryan Martinez talked about inMediaStudio has developed the Aula Virtual Santillana product that helps teachers and students to access assignments and other class information.
What I feel most interesting is how technology could be used to see the learning feedbacks. Ryan also introduced that at the end of the activity immersive learning experience , the teacher can know who has seen it and who has not, who is mistaken and who is not”.
For evaluating and creating level, NASA workspace inspired me to think about that students could be able to utilize the scientific ideas to develop and to creating new project in virtual reality. However, the evaluating and creating level, I could see the challenges behind the technology, because many scenarios might be programmed already for all potentialities.
WE ARE NOT “THE ADDICTIVE.”
I just commented back to my friends under the photo I posted on my Instagram after reading John Brown’s article. Until then, I realized what Web 2.0 means to me and the community we live in. Every morning, the first thing I check is my email, national news, WeChat, and groups’ chat. Every night, the last thing I check is social media and emails. It looks like that I am addictive to my iPhone, but people who live with Web 2.0 are all addictive to the learning experiences on the Internet. “I am learning!” will be the start of the explanation to those who called us “the addictive.”
LEARNING IN THE WORLD OF WEB 2.0
The context of Web 2.0 is based on the Social Learning Theory where learners learn from the social interactions including mutual communication and the collective knowledge building process. Learning in the traditional way embraced the Cartesian view (Brown & Alder, 2008, January 18), and it is a single path where students to access information only. Learning in the context of Web 2.0 is about how learning happened collectively. Brown and Alder(2008, January 18) pointed out that learners seek out their peers who share the same interests on line, and group together to solve problems and challenges. Typically, the learning starts from the learners who are passionate or curious about a certain skill or techniques; then those learners get together on the Web 2.0 (like w3school.com).
Three Types of Learners in the Web 2.0
From my point of view, there are three types of learning based on the roles in the learning community. The first level is the newcomer’s learning. The newcomers play in the peripheral role at the beginning of the learning journey. Many of newcomers would like to observe or to ask questions in the community at the beginning. Many of the online communities already have the Q & A webpage for newcomers to access the collective knowledge. With their skills and knowledge improved, learners could contribute opinions to the community and become the partners within the community, which is the second level of the learning of facilitators. The third level of the learning experience is to be the mentors who help newcomers to get involved in the learning community and to continually contribute to the learning community. The three levels of learning experiences are the similar demonstration of apprentice learning process for which Web 2.0 hold the platform.
The process reminds me how new YouTubers become internet celebrities later, and they start their journey from watching other experienced YouTubers, communicating within the community, and becoming the mentor to help others.
The idea how learning changes by Brown (2000, December 12) inspired me to think about how I learn in the Web 2.0. According to Brown (2000, December 12), “navigation,” “discovery,” “borrow,” and“ judge ” are the four features of learning in Web 2.0. Yes! I do the same procedure every day to look for answers for my curiosity. For example, I have been looking for the innovative ways to decorate cakes, and my first thing to do is to browse YouTube. After choosing from tons of videos related to the topics, I will watch the one I preferred and decide whether it is worth to use as the teaching material. I will thumb up for if it is of a high quality.
WHO ARE “WE” IN THE TRADITIONAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT AND THE WEB 2.0
In the “traditional” learning environments, we are trying to assign whom should be the center of the learning in the classroom. For example, in the past decade, teachers are the authority who have the knowledge and information to feed students’ learning experiences (teacher-centered learning). In recent year, there is a shift from teacher-centered learning to student-centered learning in which students bring their curiosities to seek answers from the authorities. In a traditional learning environment, there are only two roles in learning (information holders and learners). Differently, the learning in Web 2.0 bring the multiple roles to the learners. People can be the learners, the learning facilitator, and the mentors in need of the learning seniors. The center of learning becomes the building process of collective knowledge and how to use collective knowledge. I, personally, enjoy the cycle of learning online, because I usually already have a question or a learning desire before I search resources online.
Under the Web 2.0, traditional educators do not need to worry about building the motivation among students because learners have already been passionate about their questions and learning experiences. Also, the online resources help the project-based learning or discovery-based learning where students might bring their passion before starting learning.
THE SHIFTS BY WEB 2.0 FOR DESIGNING LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS
Based on the Brown (2000, December 12), the literacy evaluation, the preference of the multiple learning processes, and the situated learning. Web 2.0 provide multi-media literacy evolution. In the past, we have books, music, lectures to access information to use one at once. Now, all of the media could be accessed at the same time. It shortens the time of accessing information, but also it emerges new literacy or new genres to process information. Designers should be aware of the literacy evolution. The different combinations of the media might result in various affects in the learning environments.
We changed our way of learning in the past, and we started “bricolage”(2000, December 12). In the world of Web 2.0, learners are multi-processors to conduct “navigation,” “discovery,” “borrow,” and “judge” at the same time. The learning environment designers should focus on how to upgrade the users’ experiences on “navigation,” “discovery,” “borrow,” and “judge” at the same time, like offering guidance on the navigation (helping in refining keywords), increasing resources and communicational paths for learners’ “discovery,” “borrow,” and “judge.” For example, the Snopes.com is a good judgment help to improve learners’ judgment.
The third shift is that more situated learning happens. People can make their first birthday cake while watching instructions. Interestingly, I still remembered I learned how to tie my boyfriend’s tie on YouTube just the moment he needed to attend an unscheduled meeting. It is crucial to think about how to serve the online and offline learning experience better. The Hand-on-Universe project (HOU) (Brown & Alder, 2008, January 18), is to combine the online communication paths with the offline activities to learn both explicit and tacit knowledge in the same time.
Before finishing the first post, my friend explained to some of the questions I asked about the history of Forbidden City where she was traveling. I am learning instantly all over the world!
References
Brown, J., & Alder, R. (2008, January 18). Minds on fire: Open education, the
long tail, and learning 2.0. Retrieved May 16, 2017, from Educausereview
website: http://er.educause.edu/articles/2008/1/
minds-on-fire-open-education-the-long-tail-and-learning-20
Brown, J. S. (2000, December 12). Learning, working & play in the digital age.
Retrieved May 16, 2017, from Serendip studio website:
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/sci_edu/seelybrown/
IF I WAS SEVEN YEARS OLD AGAIN…
I still remembered I wanted to make a conch lamp when I was seven years old. By that time, I did not have any supports to help me out. There were reasons behind my regrets. In the past, seven years old was the age to learn about what designed curriculums had in school. There was no class for electricity in all of the primary schools. I was treated too little to learn about physics or other science formats before learning the basic math. Then, there was also a stereotype that girls seldom had the interests in the electricity. I failed to make my dream come true making my first craft lamp. What if I were seven years old now and I might make my first Adriano remoter or controllable lamp and show it to my classmates. What if?… I start to think about what current learning environment I missed in the past but is becoming popular. The connected learning.
Imaging I restarted my childhood, I had the same desire to make my first lamp by conch.
I might go to YouTube first, and find out how to make bulb blow and to find the materials I need to make it happens. I could also ask teachers who know about electricity, and I might join the group to discuss the lamp. I might also go to Makerspace to learn from those peers from different backgrounds but the same desires. I might become an engineer or industrial designer under the connected learning environment. It could be wonderful experience surrounded by passion and enjoyment. What if I would be one of the “participants, makers, and doers engaged in active and self-directed inquiry. The most activated and well-supported learners are using today’s social, interactive, and online media to boost their learning and opportunity, attesting to the tremendous potential of new media for advancing learning (Ito, et al., 2013).” From my perspective, connected learning environment is a place representing freedom to learn.
If I put the principle of connected learning to adjust my childhood experience, and I might be an excellent engineer.
1. Schools are not the only place to learn.
2. There are no age limitations on when to learn what in the age of Web. 2.0.
3. There is less stereotype based on what do you learn and less judgment on what do you learn in the age of Web 2.0.
4. There are resources and schools to facilitate the purpose behind learning.
Sadly, I was not 7-year-old anymore. Fortunately, I could be learning in the connected learning environment now.
In the connected learning, learners are not just setting in a physical place to memory information. They act in the connected learning where learners bring information (interests, questions) into different places to seek answers and to communicate with peers and communities. They are the center of resources with curiosity and passion for fitting in the fast changing society. Connected learning focuses on how learners possess their learning interests to fit in their career and civic engagement while accessing the technology supports (Ito, et al., 2013). The most interesting point is how the connected learning is combing interests, with academics, careers, and civic engagement. Based on my regret on learning, I fully understand how school learning was separating me from my interests and all my passions. Even we knew that how important the school work for our later development, we still did not know why we learn at the moment in school. The connected learning is to let learners bring their passion to the school and to the moments in life finding solutions.
John Seely Brown mentioned that (Macfound, 2010, December 1), 20 century of learning was not about recognizing the role of learners but only focus how information would be remembered. In the past, we are not the center of the learning. He also mentioned Children go outside to explore new technologies or interesting projects which inspire them to find purposes and passion for learning (Macfound, 2010, December 1). In the past, it was hard for us to learn things, not on my textbooks. All we had was the textbook to know about subject-matters, and there were rare resources for learners to explore themselves based on interests before the time of the internet. We could have gone to the library. But, we did not have the time to learn something not in the textbook, because of the tight school schedule and strict exams based on the textbooks. We lost.
Challenges and Possibility
I heard about a lot story about how students hated their teachers and lost motivation because of their teachers. I felt painful for teachers and students. Teachers were in between the lines of the measurements and the development of students ‘learning. They had to be strict and to improve their student ‘scores for careers. Then, students hate exams and hate the way teachers only push them to get a good score. All of them forget the purpose of learning. They are not the police and the prison, but they are all learners.
The first challenge confronting teachers is what to teach. They have to teach for SAT and other standardized exams. Facing with fast changing outside the world, it is crucial to balance the measurement system and to meet students’ needs, facilitating students in the learning process. Teachers are also the transfer point in the classroom and the guide that helps students pursue personal goals. Cantrill & et al. (2014) also pointed out that teachers should be able to reclaim their agency to teach what they think they need to teach in the classroom. The process of teaching should the process of creativity, and it is part of interaction and collaboration between the teachers and the students. Project-based learning is a good example that some teachers used in their classroom to let students explore what they want to do but still related to the content needed in the classroom.
The challenge should be treated as the possibility and transfer point to let students embrace learning greatly.
The connected learning sounds promising for education. However, who will always be there to support learners if the exams still are the center of the career path? DMLResearchHub. (2011, August 4a) The examination will still be the magic stick or a baton influencing greatly on what to teach in the classroom. Why we need the test? I believe that one is for the ability test, and another is for the differentiation among the group of learners. For the current exam system, tests represent the most efficient way to know the results of any needs. In this case, it is hard to let teachers be creative in teaching. Also, students might still be spending a lot of time on things they do not like.
Another problem also is about measurement in the informal learning. It is a time-consuming and difficult to measure the informal learning. Sometimes, informal learning happens all the time outside schools. It is hard to define when learners are learning and how learning process goes. Besides, it could not directly to see the effects on learners’ careers or social development, because learning is a process which is hard to measure.
References:
Ito, M., Gutiérrez, K., Livingstone, S., Penuel, B., Rhodes, J., Salen, K., . .
. Watkins, S. C. (2013). Connected learning [PDF e-book].
Cantrill, C., Filipiak, D., Garcia, A., Hunt, B., Lee, C., Mirra, N., . . .
Peppler, K. (2014). Teaching in the connected learning classroom. Retrieved
from https://dmlhub.net/wp-content/uploads/files/
teaching-in-the-CL-classroom.pdf
DMLResearchHub. (2011, August 4a). Games and education scholar comes paul gee on
video games, learning, and literacy [Video file]. Retrieved from
LEARNING BY GAINING
When I tried on Pokemon Go last year, the first thing came to my mind was how can help learners recognize plants and flowers on sites by using this technology geolocation and collection. I love learning different flowers and plants, but I found that I lost a lot of opportunities when I was hiking in nature. Learning become separately because I only can learn from the book or search online later but not recognize the plants instantly. I notice that the characters in Pokémon Go were created based on features of creatures or plants. What if there is a plant on where we can recognize plants while hiking, and we collect the discoveries of those plants or interesting insects? Recently, I am fascinated by a game called Magic Garden where I needed to collect stars to create my garden. What if there was a game to combine Pokémon go and Magic Garden to collect with knowledge of plantation and natural science.
What I found interesting about the Pokemon go was the center position of the learner. It offers all the control and passions to the learners. By doing so, gaming is the learning, which is a process that is hard to give a summary test because learners are constantly developing. From my perspective, Pokemon Go is the updated version of stamp collection or any other collection activity. The process of collecting is the important literacy learning process. Learners need to learn about the system of the collection, including the meaning, the value of the item, the strategies to improve the whole collection based on accessible resources. I had a friend who used to collect historical figures cards became a historian. Many of collectors have full of the knowledge and strategies in a certain field, and they do not feel that learning is boring but is their passion. They often feel satisfied when they could trace back their efforts or the collections which were evident of gaining. When learners love what they are doing and know they are making progress, and their creativity boosts into waves for being a better learner and promoter. Pokémon collectors feel exactly as other collectors about the enjoyment of learning for gaining. Besides, the internet improves the network of collectors where learning becomes exponentially. They make friends based on their passion and learn how to cooperate to gain. There is no limitation on how to learn in the game but the rules and code within the game help learners to gain strategies in the process.
Children would love to have multiple experiences to know about the world. As traditional learning setting only focuses on printing text and no other literacy practice, which might be the result of boring learning. That might not meet the demand of learners. Games with all different technologies create all of the multiple sensations and literacy formats for learners. We are all born as a good learner, but the traditional learning system is not diverse enough so that many learners who do not like printing text will be left out. Games are the another way to support us to be a good learner. The game is a mini social environment for children to adapt well the outside world later. Games, the Internet, and technologies offer a place where learners Learn how to gain (experiences, friendship, knowledge, and confidence, so on), which is different from the classroom.
Freedom to gain is an attractive point for all of the learners who will be fall in love with games with AR or VR. Pokémon Go seems like you can make a dream come true just to go outside to catch it, and the improved sense of control emphasized the sense of gaining. That is where learning happens.
