Students today are immersed in a
world that is rich in digital media and tools. Their lives are influenced by
the digital media. The influence begins at a young and innocent age.
Students can learn by themselves in
their digital world. Learning has become a much more active process due to that
ease of accessing information on the Internet and all the digital tools.
Students construct meaning through
these tools in a way that is relevant, meaningful and fun.
Ian Jukes, Ted McCain and Lee
Crockett (2010) provide the following characteristics of digital learners:
1. Digital learners
(DL) prefer to access information quickly from multiple-media source, but
pedagogic educators (PE) prefer slow and controlled release of information from
limited sources.
2. DLs prefer
parallel processing and multitasking, but PEs prefer linear processing and
single tasks or limited multitasking.
3. DLs prefer random
access to hyper-linked multimedia information, but PEs prefer to provide
information linearly, logically and sequentially.
4. DLs prefer to
learn "just in time", but PEs prefer to teach "just in
case".
5. DLs prefer
instant gratification and immediate rewards, but PEs prefer deferred
gratification and delayed rewards.
6. DLs prefer to
network simultaneously with others, but many PEs prefer students to work
independently before they network and interact.
7. DLs prefer
processing pictures, sounds, colors and video before text, PEs prefer to
provide text before picture, sound and video.
8. DLs prefer
learning that is relevant, active, and instantly useful and fun, but many PEs
feel compelled to teach memorization of content in the curriculum guide.
Because these are the
characteristics of digital learners, it's the end of pedagogy and the beginning
of anthropogoy:
Anthropogogy: The
study of human learning
(Greek) – Anthrop (άνθρωπ) means people
and Agy (άγω) means to conduct / lead.
Nir Golan, an educational and leadership
expert, suggests combining the terms Pedagogy (child learning) and
Androgogy (male / adult learning), into one term, Anthropogogy:
to mean human learning. Teaching should be carried out alongside the
comprehensive development of the human being regardless of his/her biological
age. The distinction between a child's learning and an adult's learning is not
relevant because the differences between adults and children are disappearing.
Therefore, the child learner should be treated like an adult learner.
Felix Adam first defined the term Anthropogogy
in 1977 as: "The science and the art of permanently teaching and educating
a person throughout any period of his/her psycho-biological development and in
the functioning of his/her natural, ergo logical and social life."
In 1981, K.D Benne described the term
as: "The guideline of learning and education of people of all ages, as the
basis for human survival, highlighting the importance of controlling the
processes of critical thinking and innovation, ability to listen and
communicate with others whose views are contradictory. Provide the ability to
learn how to learn again."
Nir Golan offers a new definition of
Anthropogogy as: "Leading a person (regardless of age) throughout
significant learning towards behavioral change that can be implemented immediately."
(Golan, 2014)
In today's reality, culture is changing
rapidly, so education has to be a lifelong process: where the teacher helps the
learner discover the unknown without repeating information about the known.
According to Golan, Anthropogogy has
four basic principles:
1. The
independent learner:
the perception of oneself as an independent entity. A person sees him/herself
as someone who is self-directed; choosing what to learn, how much and how to
learn it. The role of the teacher is not to give ready answers to predetermined
questions, but to help the learner find out for him/herself what the important
questions are and how to answer them.
Digital learners (DL) prefer to access information quickly from multiple-media
source: prefer processing pictures, sounds, colors and video before text.
2. Adapting
learning to that person's needs:
the person is ready to learn when he/she needs that specific learning process,
and it is incorporated into daily tasks and social functioning. He/she sees
that the learning process serves his/her personal development.
Since every person has their own characteristics
and needs, therefore, the most effective way of learning is to adapt learning
to the needs and characteristics of that individual person with reference to
their emotional and mental components, and not only to cognitive and behavioral
aspects. DLs prefer parallel processing and
multitasking and to learn "just in time".
3. Renovating
learning: In the
digital age where there is widespread availability of network information,
learning should give news and added value to the learner.
People approach learning in possession
of their life experiences. For learning to be more significant, the learner
needs to connect the current learning knowledge with his/her prior knowledge.
As such, educators have to find out the prior knowledge of the person and his/her
previous experiences in order to connect it to the learning experience and not
teach him/her things they already know. Thus the person who teaches should
renovate learning. DLs
prefer to network simultaneously with others and random access to hyper-linked
multimedia information
4. Immediate and
practical learning:
The main motive for human learning is for problem solving. The learner has a
need for the immediate application of the learned material, so learning has to
be more focused in giving solutions to the particular problem. Learning which
cannot be implemented immediately is perceived as a waste of time. DLs prefer
instant gratification and immediate rewards.
·
Anthropogogy helps DLs to learn what is relevant, in an
active, instantly useful and fun way.
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