Gone are the days of studying over mounds of textbooks from a local library. Educational systems are shifting themselves to prepare for the global shift towards a knowledge-based system. This includes the impact of eCommerce, the digitalizing of our personal lives, and the changing nature of workplaces and skills (Howell, 2013, p. 40)
Within Australia, particularly Western Australia, the School Standards and Curriculum Authority notes the goal for students to be that:
“Students develop ICT capability as they learn to use ICT effectively and appropriately to access, create and communicate information and dieas, solve problems and work collaboratively in all learning areas at school, and in their lives beyond school.” (SCSA, 2017)
The usage of ICT can positively impact learning, with major contributions of ICT suggesting that the use of ICT can help students with the development of their thinking and inquiry skills. These can increase learning opportunities, enhance learning outcomes, and improve activity choices (Kachelhoffer & Khine, 2009, p. 230). Kachelhoffer & Khine (2009, p. 337) recommend that the usage of ICT as a productivity tool furthermore provides students with the understanding and familiarity with which to scaffold their own learning.
Learning has always oriented around, as Bernie Dunlap in his Ted Talk notes, around the need for passion in learning, and for learning. This has evolved with ICT with the concept of Passionate affinity spaces (PAS). Gee & Hayes (2011, p. 69) note that this is learning which occurs when people organize themselves as group in / or / via the internet to learn and share information on a shared interest, endeavour, or passion. Just as schools form an ecosystem of learning, so are these PAS formed together to support the common endeavour.
It does not require, Gee and Hayes note, for everyone to have a deep passion for the topic, but that a few of the students are able to share knowledge on it in shared collaboration. Examples of this include people ‘modding’, or modifying game content to add to an existing game (Moddb), sharing historical information (Reddit), generating fan content for a shared enjoyment of a genre (fanfiction, Deviantart) and even for pure educational purposes, like Stack overflow for coding problems, pursuits, education and interest. Teachers should be aware of the existence of these spaces, and also the mediums in which students can share those. Having chat spaces outside of class for students to further engage with a topic, collaborate and share ideas is another way that teachers can encourage students to not just utilise ICT, but continue communicating with peers past the classroom and into real life affinity spaces.
How digital technology is received is an ongoing concern because students are now global citizens. They must interact with, and consider, an influx of information that comes from different cultural contents and backgrounds, shaping them in different ways to receive the lens from a new perspective. Lifelong learning is about understanding the social and interest needs of ones students, and helping them cultivate ways to better fulfil these criteria throughout the student's life, past school. By aiding students in developing interactive communities, teaching critical ways of asking questions, and forming a strong basis of personal responsibility for learning, students will not just know why they should learn, but gain the skills for how to learn by wanting to learn in a changing, digital world.
References
Gee, J. P., & Hayes, E. (2011). Language and Learning in the Digital Age (1st ed.). London and New York: Routledge.
Howell, J. (2013). Teaching with ICT: Digital Pedagogies for Collaboration and Creativity. Oxford University press.
Kachelhoffer, A., & Khine, M. S. (2009). Bridging the Digital Divide, Aiming to Become Lifelong Learners. WCCE, 229–237. Retrieved from https://link-springer-com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-642-03115-1_24.pdf
Killen, R. (2016). Effective Teaching Strategies. (A. Crabb, Ed.) (7th ed.). Melbourne: CENGAGE Learning Australia. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DlDgwcoBCWfnjqcxuH9Sj8_NGBNHUImcmKW2ixCxid8/edit#
School curriculum and standards authority (SCSA). (2017).Information and communication technology (ICT) Capabilities. Retrieved 28 August, 2017, from https://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/5157/ICT.pdf