HOW TO OPTIMISE LEARNING DESIGN FOR THE EXPONENTIAL WORLD. “If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow” John Dew

I am challenging ideas about knowledge creation and learning in a series of blogs. They will provide some thoughts on how I go about designing learning that is relevant in the exponential world – the world of fast an unpredictable change where knowledge is exploding. They favour optimizing the social context created by technology, that drives connections and networks, to enhance deep transformational learning designs.

The series consists of four anchor points. I begin with the proposition that THE SINGLE EXPERT AS SOLE KNOWLEDGE PROVIDER IS DEAD. Within the current knowledge explosion, where knowledge is changing by the hour, richer meaning-making can emerge through social interaction than could ever be provided by one single expert.

The second anchor point suggests that COLLABORATIVE LEARNING GENERATES UNPREDICTABLE VARIETY OF THOUGHT, A VARIETY THAT EXPLODES THE KNOWLEDGE POOL.

And for those downhearted ‘experts’ whose death was announced, there is hope. The third anchor heralds THE BIRTH OF THE NEW ‘EXPERT AS KNOWLEDGE FACILITATOR RATHER THAN KNOWLEDGE PROVIDER’. They do this by facilitating the building of networks and by mapping out customized directions for individuals, in a world of ubiquitous knowledge

Lastly, the why and the how of ASSESSMENT WILL BE INTERROGATED. The

role of assessment is conceptualized as a mechanism designed to create further learning through prioritizing the ability to reflect and question.

Kenneth Boulding believes ‘knowledge is not something which exists and grows in the abstract. It is a function of human organisms and is social organisation’. He also believes that ‘Knowledge grows by the receipt of meaningful information - that is, by the intake of messages by a knower who is capable of reorganising his knowledge.’ (Ref: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kenneth_Boulding)

Join me for this exciting journey through recreating of all aspects of learning to make it relevant in the exponential world.

*(Ref: (Ref: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/833916-if-we-teach-today-s-students-as-we-taught-yesterday-s-we)