#4 Blog Posting - 21st Century Skills and Lifelong Learning

The goal of schools is to prepare students for their journey through life. However, in today’s technological world, technology and information never stop changing. Therefore, if people stop learning after school, they will be worlds behind in technology before they even have time to blink. Therefore, lifelong learning is essential to living a successful life. As Sharples (2000) describes, lifelong learning is a collaborative task. Everyone has his or her own collaborative group such as co-workers, friends, religious groups, and other various groups (Sharples). Sharples describes tools for lifelong learning: “memory aids, concept and topic maps, case archive and communication devices that are: highly portable, [able to be used anywhere]…individual [targeting individual learning styles and needs]…unobtrusive [so that the learning is paramount]…available anywhere [to collaborate with teachers, peers, and experts]…adaptable to the learner’s evolving skills and knowledge; persistent [so that the learner can continue to learn]…useful [technologically current]…intuitive [so that the learner can easily use them].” The tools Sharples describes are here and active in Web 2.0 tools, modern cell phones, iPods, and computers. Through using these tools, people can continue to learn their entire life.

The learning groups that Sharples described in his article are taking a new shape. A new way of forming groups has emerged through the implementation of the Internet. It is referred to as either Personal Learning Network or Professional Learning Network (PLN) (academicaesthetic, 2008). Essentially, a PLN is expanding upon the idea of the ‘offline’ groups that Sharples mentioned and goes online to the Internet to find group members, colleagues, and collaborators (academicaesthetic). With these online groups, collaboration reaches its maximum potential, and with it, so can individual performance. As Tobin (1998) points out, there are many ways a learning network can be useful: sorting through data to identify important information, share learning resources and opportunities, mentoring and helping to apply new skills to practical applications, and sharing wisdom and resources – both to others and from others.

Because of the Internet, the ability to communicate, collaborate, and expand ideas due to this collaboration is enormous. No longer are people restrained to resources they can walk or drive to. People can share information and receive free information and assistance from people all over the world. People can communicate and collaborate with the best experts in the field in which they are studying, and through this, can learn more than they ever thought they would or ever thought possible.

References

academicaesthetic. (2008, August 20). How 2(.0): Personal learning networks, 1/4 [Video File]. Video posted to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK8kqjNomAg

Sharples, M. (2000). The design of personal mobile technologies for lifelong learning. Retrieved August 14, 2009, from http://www.eee.bham.ac.uk/sharplem/papers/handler%20comped.pdf

Tobin, D. R. (1998). Building your personal learning network. Retrieved August 14, 2009, from http://www.tobincls.com/learningnetwork.htm