Against Education: Understanding the New Culture of Learning

Douglas Thomas

Thu., June 11, 11:00–12:30, Main Lounge (2nd floor, Central)

The educational needs of the 21st century pose a number of serious problems for current educational practices. First and foremost, we see the 21st century as a time that is characterized by a constant sense of change. Educational practices that focus on the transfer of static knowledge simply cannot keep up with the rapid rate of change. Practices that focus on adaptation or reaction to change fare better, but are still finding themselves outpaced by an environment that requires content to be updated almost as fast as it can be taught. What is required is an understanding of the new and emerging culture of learning that is responsive to the context of constant flux, while at the same time grounded in a theory of learning.

Accordingly, understanding the processes of learning that underwrite the practices emerging from participation in digital games and networks may enable us to design learning environments to harness the power of digital participation for learning in the 21st century.

The goal of this presentation is to advance three central theses:

• The world of the 21st century is characterized by a sense of flux and constant change and that such a landscape requires us to further rethink our notions of interaction with new media toward a deeper understanding of participation (knowing).
• The notion of experience (and participation) within new media contexts has shifted from a traditional sense of experiencing content to using content as context to construct a social world with others (making).
• The critical understanding of the media of the 21st century is the one that allows people to navigate the complexities of a constantly changing world and to use that sense of flux productively: play (playing).

As the educational landscape changes in the 21st century, our paradigms for learning, knowing and education also need to shift. The digital world is just now beginning to open up new affordances, new possibilities, and new tools that make inquiry and process based learning not only possible, but what is likely to become the standard for learning. In a world where knowing, making, and playing are growing at an incredible pace, we need to develop the tools and theoretical apparatus that harness the power of digital worlds and are responsive to them.

We face a world today of almost infinite complexity, endless possibility, and near constant change. If our educational institutions and our informal learning environments are going to take advantage of these changes, our approach to education and learning needs to be as rich and complex as the challenges and opportunities we face.