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Flexible Opportunities in a Digital Future: Keynote Presentation - New Generation Students: Personalised Learning in a Digital Age
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This
presentation focussed on how new generation tertiary education students
interact in a digital age. It discussed how they adapt and customise their learning and
personalise their interactions to suit their needs. It will argue that students
need to acquire a range of literacies to successfully personalise their
learning and social environments. New generation tertiary education students
are characterised by having a rapport or relationship with technology and they have
an inherent need to express themselves through multiple avenues which utilise
user-generated content. User-generated content includes artefacts created by
the student that are uploaded to the internet for sharing with other people. Knowledge
acquisition now focuses on networks and ecologies, and knowledge now requires
literacies in networking (Siemens, 2006). In addition, our learning is increasingly
mobile as we move through a wider range of spaces. We now expect to be able to
work, learn, and study whenever and wherever we
want (Johnson, et al, 2012).
Higher
education learning is no longer typified by a singular place of learning but a
range of places and spaces that we seamlessly move through (Keppell &
Riddle, 2012). For example, a student may move through a variety of learning
spaces on any given day. This may include working at home, reading journal
articles on the train, sitting in a cafe and perusing some of the work on a
learning management system. Spaces for knowledge generation may be physical,
blended or virtual areas that enhance learning, motivate learners and promote
authentic learning interactions. Students require literacies to adapt and
personalise distributed learning spaces. The personalised learning model
suggested in this presentation focuses on students customising their learning
environment and creating their own digital identities. It is suggested that
personalising learning requires a range of literacies and we need to explicitly
teach students how to design their own personal learning spaces and own their
place of learning.
References:
Johnson, L.,
Adams, S., Cummins, M., and Estrada, V. (2012). Technology Outlook for STEM+
Education 2012-2017: An NMC Horizon Report Sector Analysis. Austin, Texas: The
New Media Consortium.
Keppell, M. &
Riddle, M. (2012). Distributed learning places: Physical, blended and virtual
learning spaces in higher education. (pp. 1-20). In Mike Keppell, Kay Souter
& Matthew Riddle (Eds.). (2011). Physical and virtual learning spaces in
higher education: Concepts for the modern learning environment. Information
Science Publishing, Hershey.