ERIC Number: EJ1001706
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-Oct
Pages: 42
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1492-3831
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Footprints of Emergence
Williams, Roy Trevor; Mackness, Jenny; Gumtau, Simone
International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, v13 n4 p49-90 Oct 2012
It is ironic that the management of education has become more closed while learning has become more open, particularly over the past 10-20 years. The curriculum has become more instrumental, predictive, standardized, and micro-managed in the belief that this supports employability as well as the management of educational processes, resources, and value. Meanwhile, people have embraced interactive, participatory, collaborative, and innovative networks for living and learning. To respond to these challenges, we need to develop "practical tools to help us describe these new forms of learning" which are multivariate, self-organised, complex, adaptive, and unpredictable. We draw on complexity theory and our experience as researchers, designers, and participants in open and interactive learning to go beyond conventional approaches. We develop a 3D model of landscapes of learning for exploring the relationship between prescribed and emergent learning in any given curriculum. We do this by repeatedly testing our descriptive landscapes (or footprints) against theory, research, and practice across a range of case studies. By doing this, we have not only come up with a practical tool which can be used by curriculum designers, but also realised that the curriculum itself can usefully be treated as emergent, depending on the dynamics between prescribed and emergent learning and how the learning landscape is curated. (Contains 3 tables and 14 figures.)
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Instructional Design, Online Courses, Assistive Technology, Web Based Instruction, Case Studies, College Instruction, Educational Principles, Educational Change, Educational Environment, Educational Policy, Learning Processes, Curriculum Development, Curriculum Design, Learning Theories, Teacher Education, Business Administration Education, Autism, Special Education, Classification, Models, Educational Technology, Distance Education, Electronic Learning, Program Descriptions, Asperger Syndrome
Athabasca University. 1200, 10011 - 109 Street, Edmonton, AB T5J 3S8, Canada. Tel: 780-421-2536; Fax: 780-497-3416; e-mail: irrodl@athabascau.ca; Web site: http://www.irrodl.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education; Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A