A4YorkCilke

A4YorkCilke

To Do

• please work as a group (minimum: 2 members; max: 6 members) and submit one answer as a group (clearly identifying the members of your group)
• read Fischer, G: "Lifelong Learning - More Than Training", Special Issue on Intelligent Systems/Tools In Training and Life-Long Learning (eds.: Riichiro Mizoguchi and Piet A.M. Kommers), Journal of Interactive Learning Research, Vol. 11, No 3/4, 2000, pp. 265-294. http://l3d.cs.colorado.edu/~gerhard/papers/lll99.pdf
• reflect on the following statement about Lifelong Learning:
  • "If the world of working and living relies on collaboration, creativity, definition and framing of problems and if it requires dealing with uncertainty, change, and intelligence that is distributed across cultures, disciplines, and tools-then education should foster transdisciplinary competencies that prepare students for having meaningful and productive lives in such a world."
• in your statement, address the following issues:
  We are asking "YOU" questions - use this as an opportunity to discuss your individual experiences among the members of your group → you can answer individually or find the largest common denominator

Part 1

• do you agree with this statement?
• what does the statement mean for YOU?
• do you prepare yourself to be a lifelong learner? what are your most important activities you undertake?
• does your education at CU prepare you for being a lifelong learner?
  • which activities are most important for this objective?
  • which activities are "in the way" to achieve this objective?

Part 2:

• which support from Information and Communication technologies (or: which Digital and Social Systems) are most important for lifelong learning?
  • describe requirements for them
  • describe your personal experience with them

Group response

1. Members of the Group

Dain Cilke, Ian York

2. Statement Part1

Nice work!

Ian:
While I agree with the statement in general, which is that education should provide the tools necessary for individuals to participate meaningfully in their world, defining the substance of such an education is much more complicated. Broadly considered, I would suggest that these skills include:
-- Literacy (the ability to gather, understand, and communicate relevant information)
-- Problem Solving Skills (techniques to define the problem, outline limits of understanding, propose possible solutions, means of
-- Collaboration Skills (tactics for productively interacting within groups, including group dynamics, communication styles, and conflict resolution skills)

These skills and techniques can help provide a framework and process for approaching most situations and over time can foster a mindset that adapts to the content and context of a given problem. This approach avoids issues surrounding educational content (which books, breadth vs depth, etc) although there is a need for some foundational knowledge across all major disciplines (literature, art, science, music, math, etc).

Through both studying and working in science and information technology, I have become accustomed to continuous learning. Given the arguably unproductive attrition rate in technology, the need to constantly adapt and learn is mandatory. A broad based foundation of knowledge is helpful in transitioning domain spaces, as well as some of the above skills,

CU is largely a content promoting institution and is designed to help individuals gain the domain specific knowledge needed to make contributions to these increasingly deep and narrow disciplines. I would favor required freshman classes focusing on fundamental problem solving and collaboration techniques to help guide both investigation and communication regardless of the specific domain.

During discussions such as these, I always am reminded of the following quote: "In times of change learners inherit the earth while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to work in a world that no longer exists." - Eric Hoffer

Dain:
I concur with Ian's assessment of the statement. The reasoning behind the statement is sound, however, putting such a plan into action would require a great deal of planning and restructuring of our current education system. Also, the extent of the transdisciplinary competencies have to be considered. In my mind, having a basic understanding of the way the world works is essential but is there a point where to much knowledge inhibits a person.
For me, this statement is a conceptualization of a lifelong goal. I believe it is important to have a basic understanding of all aspects of life in order to truly understand any one aspect. I strive to have a basic understanding of philosophy, ethics, politics, economics, math and science. In order to learn disciplines outside of my majors, I utilize my electives to take classes from all colleges. However, I find the most important activity I can undertake (outside finishing college) is to read. Reading allows me to explore all fields of life in a convenient manor.
Going to college at CU has been an important step in preparing me to be a lifelong learner. It has allowed me to take classes outside of my major and being in a collegiate setting has given me a "thirst" for learning. The only downside to college is that life seems to get in the way. It is difficult to balance social relationships, school and activities. Often, due to time constraints, the knowledge that could be gleaned from such activities is often cut short due to the fact that you are rushing to some other activity.

3. Statement Part2

Taking again the broadest view, the ICTs needed for lifelong learning should:
-- Be able to clearly communicate the information
-- Provide for maximum number of interested individuals access to the information
-- Foster collaboration around and extension of current knowledge

While I think technologies fulfilling these requirements largely exist in various forms (from books to internet), organization and access remain problematic barriers. However, there are organizations and websites which are trying to address these problems. For example, the project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page) is attempting to bring a library to the internet. However, it has to overcome significant obstacles. The largest is that the books have to be transcribed from a hard copy. This presents an obvious challenge for a book of any significant length. Also, since the books are being copied from a hard copy, copyright infringement is a major concern. As such, the books which are readily supported are older or tech manuals. However, Project Gutenberg highlights what needs to be done in information technologies to make them more assessable for lifelong learning. Information needs to be assessable which means that websites need to be streamlined to allow for fast and easy access to the desired data. Servers and the internet need to be updated to allow faster access and better data management.