Category 1:
“There are few educators who would disagree with the
principle that lifelong learning is a good thing but the important questions
are about the types of learning that the concept promotes, the life that it
encourages us to lead, who benefits from this and the nature of the society
that it upholds.”
Objective: What have you learned from reflecting on this
particular quote? What has caught your attention?
This quote instantaneously caught my attention with the two words “lifelong learning” because I am myself a lifelong learner and an adult facilitator. It further raised my curiosity because I just finished my blog writing “Life-long learner through experience and empowerment: Choice, creativity, values, and self-realization are all distinctly human qualities which keep us engaged and motivated to become life-long learners (Abraham Maslow) http://kusumsoni2014.blogspot.ca/.
The quote is
true to some extent that some educators may disagree with the principle that
lifelong learning is a good thing because it has some challenges in acceptance
in the labour market. A principal
challenge as mentioned in European education systems remains the need for a
genuine lifelong learning culture that supports, values and recognises all
learning activity undertaken throughout life, either this being formal,
non-formal or informal. This is especially critical in this period of crisis
where lifelong learning should satisfy the need for creating new career
pathways and second chances for people. Quality assurance mechanisms need to be
established to ensure that the existing provision for lifelong learning
fulfills its aims (Endika Bengoetxea, Outikallioinen, Immo Schmidt-Jortzig, and
Richard Thorn, 2011).
But on the other
hand, the concept
of lifelong learning has become of vital importance with the emergence of new
technologies that change how we receive and gather information, collaborate
with others, and communicate. As technology rapidly changes individuals must
adapt and learn to meet everyday demands. The emergence of Web 2.0 technologies
has great potential to support lifelong learning endeavors, allowing for
informal, just-in-time, day-to-day learning. Constant change is emerging as the
new normal. In order to survive and thrive, organizations and individuals must
be able to adjust, and enhance their knowledge and skills to meet evolving
needs. This means the most important thing someone can learn is how to learn.
An understanding of web 2.0 tools is critical to keeping up with a changing
world and the information explosion. The professions in particular are
recognizing the importance of developing practitioners to be lifelong learners.
Nowadays, formal training is only a beginning; knowledge is accumulating at
such a fast rate that one must continue to learn to be effective Indeed, most
professions mandate that their members continue learning in order to maintain
their license to practice (Merriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner, 2007).
Reflective: What did you realize about teaching as a result of this quote
Even otherwise, if we take a bird’s eye view of the changing trends of teaching, learning and seeing an outcome in the change in behaviours, in the bigger picture of the world, the concepts of education and learning are fast changing in multidimensional frameworks, especially with the introduction of technology and e-learning. I seem to be naturally exploring the answer to the question in my own world, being an adult facilitator and a lifelong learner, what kind of learning this concept is promoting? I also agree with the notion that lifelong learning has not been restricted only to “lifelong” but it has also become “life-wide” and “life-deep” with the interplay of informal, non-formal and formal learning in different life domains and incorporating the meaning of religious, moral, ethical and social dimensions that shape human expression. They have led to richer and more pluralistic interpretations of the scope and possibilities of learning through the life course” (Aspin, Evan, Chapman & Bagnall, 2012, p-. 1iii). In true example of life-long and life-wide learning, I can share my own father’s example. At the age of 75, he expressed his desire to learn basic computers. I invited him to our “Active Seniors/Healthy Seniors” group, where I facilitated a self-directed and self paced computer basic level class. In the class, he learnt how to create and save his important documents in files and folders, send e-mails to his friends (rather than conventional posted letters), web search and so he got connected with his social and professional friends at much faster speed than earlier. At the age of 80, he expressed that he wants to make a face book account when he saw our kids socializing in much better way through sharing thoughts, audio-visual clips and with hundreds of his friends at a time. My daughter helped him create his face book account and gave a basic tutorial about face book use, privacy and benefits of using face book, which can save his time to send and read lots of e-mails. I was not shocked but happy, when last week he asked me if I have twitter account. Learning computers and the use of technology for him is not only a life-long learning process, but it has widened his scope to read e-books, read international newspapers online and he can share his pictures with the whole world without delay, and with one click. It saves energy, time and money. Learning computers has motivated my father to write his autobiography on the computer directly typing in word document. It has empowered him to express himself more confidently. He is very happily engaged in reading and writing and everyday learning new things on computers. He utilized all the three types of learning methodologies to learn computers, that is, formal, non-formal and informal learning from family, friends and self exploration. And in terms of teaching, it brings a sense of belonging, empowerment and transformation of self and the community, whosoever are touched by this whole learning process. Even myself, when i see myself as lifelong learner, during this course, PIDP 3100, I have learnt many new things. The most accomplishing one is how to make a blog, and now I am motivated to share my thoughts and new happenings in my life on a blog. That’s why 'Lifelong learning' is defined as the "ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated" pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons. Therefore, it not only enhances social inclusion, active citizenship, and personal development, but also self-sustainability, rather than competitiveness and employability, COM (2006) 614 final. Brussels, 23.10.2006.
Interpretative: What was your “Aha!” moment when you read this
quote? In what way this quote changed your mind about being an adult educator.
What was one key in-sight that you now have as a result of this quote?
Since the
very beginning of this course, my mind set is towards lifelong learners,
humanism theory of adult education, the learning which continuously encourages
adults to lead much confident, healthy and meaningful life. My “Aha!” moment
while reading this quote was when it says “...the life that it encourages us to lead, who
benefits from this and the nature of the society that it upholds.”,
that lifelong learning is not only transforming the self of a learner but brings impact on the broader
community. This statement reassured my
quest for understanding the meaning of complex words, such as, “adult
education”, “instructor” and class-room”; in context with lifelong learning
through experience and empowerment. I feel myself significantly transformed
towards the end of this course PIDP 3100 with a paradigm shift in my thinking
as Hasan (2012) have explained that the word “education” has been replaced by “learning” to signal an emphasis on the learner,
learning process and outcomes as opposed to a focus on imparting education”. Learning
is a basic endeavour of fulfilling material, scientific, religious and
spiritual needs. But it is certainly true that human beings would not have
survived without learning and learning is a lifelong process. This quote
encourages me to go further down in this topic “who benefits from this and the
nature of the society that it upholds.”
Decisional: How has this quote and the insight that you have gained from the reflecting upon it, influenced your notion of teaching or how you will teach in the future?
This quote has given me an insight to look at the diversity of larger socio-economic, mental and physical health and life dynamics of adult learners in context to their learning pace and abilities which is certainly different from children. It broadens my perspective of teaching, as I said earlier, by a major paradigm shift in my focus, as moving from “educating and dispensing knowledge” in a formal teaching in the classroom to “learner-centred” non-formal teaching in non-conventional classrooms. I also plan to create educational opportunities and support groups to the potential learners where they like to go for socialization or where they already work, for example, facilitating a food safe trainings and healthy cooking classes at religious places (churches, mosques and temples) where food is served as a community meal in some religions), cultural places (museums and galleries by becoming a tourist guide), health centres (hospitals and red cross by facilitating first aid trainings ) and recreational places (parks, sports and associations by facilitating yoga and mindfulness meditation training). This quote and my father’s example also gives me an insight to recognize that lifelong adult learners need flexible curricula and schedules, when they are self-motivated, self paced in their learning, and self-rewarded in terms of knowledge gain and sense of accomplishment. Though it is hard to estimate participation and success in non-formal and informal lifelong learning, which is so much embedded in people’s private lives as their continuous everyday learning, but certain measures will help me to know that learning is happening. For example, when somebody comes to know he/she has a chronic disease, he/she would go to a health professional to consult, research on internet, will talk to people who have the similar symptoms, seek support from the family and the community and in the end will learn to cope with the disease by taking medicine, life-style change and by prevention of certain things. The outcome of learning can be seen as an improvement of health conditions of that person. I full agree with King (2010), “In the fast paced world where knowledge is increasing at the lightening speed...formal learning is inadequate to meet these lifelong learning needs: people do not have time to enroll in formal classes at every new life stage and for every decision they must make”.
References:
1. Aspin, D. N., Evan, K., Chapman, J., and Bagnall, R., (2012, p-. 1iii): Introduction and overview. In, D. N. Aspin, J. Chapman, K. Evans, and R. Bagnall (Eds), Second Introduction and overview of lifelong learning, part 1, (pp x1v-1xxxiv) New York Springer.
2. COM (2006) 614 final. Brussels, 23.10.2006. Commission of the European Communities: "Adult learning: It is never too late to learn".
3.
Endika Bengoetxea,
Outikallioinen, Immo Schmidt-Jortzig, and Richard Thorn, 2011: European
Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education 2011, Brussels, http://www.enqa.eu/indirme/papers-and-reports/workshop-and-seminar/LLL_Publication.pdf
4.
Hasan, A.
(2012): Lifelong learning in OECD and developing countries: an
interpretation and assessment. In, D. N. Aspin, J. Chapman, K. Evans, and R.
Bagnall (Eds); Second Introduction and overview of lifelong learning, part 2
(pp 471-498), New York, Springer.
5.
King, K. P., (2012): Informal learning in a
virtual era. In C. K. Kasworm, A. D. Rose and J. M. Ross-Gordon (Eds.);
Handbook of adult and continuing education (pp. 421-429). Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage.
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