English - Critical Essay

Assignment Pack CU1000 English for Academic Purposes

Study Period 53

2019

James Cook University

School of [Insert School] [Insert Subject Code]

Page 2

SOURCES FOR CRITICAL ESSAY

Read the instructions in the Subject Outline before commencing the final

written assignment – critical essay.

Topic Discuss the most important characteristics of a successful adult learner enrolled in tertiary education in a digital era. N.B. ‘An adult learner’ refers to anyone seventeen or over who is enrolled in a university or other formal tertiary education institution.

Use at least five (5) sources provided below. Plus at least one (1) originally sourced academic text

(i.e. a text you found yourself)

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Final Essay source material

Please note when reading this material:

The numbers that appear in front of the quotes are page numbers. APA style requires you to

quote page numbers after every direct quote.

Ellipses (…) indicate material has been omitted that is not relevant to the topic; as the

instructions above state, you only need to draw on the material provided here.

Citations are not provided in APA style. You must demonstrate your knowledge of APA by

ensuring the citations conform to APA style in the in-text citations and reference list in the

essays. In some cases, your ability to find citation information online may be tested.

However, there is no need to research any further material.

Source one

Title: Garrison’s model of self-directed learning: preliminary validation and the relationship

to academic achievement

Author: Sabry M.bd-El-Fattah

Source: Spanish Journal of Psychology 13.1 Nov 2010 p.586-601

587: Self-directed learning (SDL) is a central concept in the study and practice of adult

education (Brockett & Hiemstra, 1991)…However, SDL has largely been defined in terms of

external control and facilitation, rather than internal cognitive processing and learning.

To address these concerns, Garrison (1997) proposed a SDL model which integrated external

management (contextual control), internal monitoring (cognitive responsibility), and

motivational (entering and task) factors associated with learning in an educational context.

According to Garrison (1997), self-management concerns task control issues including the

enactment of learning goals and the management of learning resources and support. Task

control is determined by balancing the factors of proficiency, resources and interdependence.

Proficiency represents the abilities and skills of the facilitator and the learner. Resources

encompass a range of support and assistance available in an education setting.

Interdependence reflects institutional or subject norms and standards as well as a learner’s

integrity and choice. Self-management of learning represents a collaborative experience

between teacher and learner. The teacher maintains an appropriate dynamic balance of

external control necessary for successful educational outcomes.

Another component of Garrion’s SDL model is self-monitoring. It addresses the cognitive

and metacognitive processes which include monitoring the repertoire of learning strategies as

well as awareness and an ability to think about thinking. It is the process where the learning

takes responsibility for the construction of personal meaning through integrating new ideas

and concepts with previous knowledge.

Lastly, motivation helps initiate and maintain effector towards learning and the achievement

of cognitive goals.

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The literature on SDL asserts that self-directed learners demonstrate great awareness of their

responsibility in making learning meaningful and monitoring themselves (Garrison, 1997).

They were found to be curious and willing to try new things, view problems as challenges,

desire change, and enjoy learning (Temple & Rodero, 1995). Guthrie, McGough, Bennett,

and Rice (1996) reported that in a Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI) program,

self-directed learners demonstrated the ability to search for information in multiple texts,

employ different strategies to achieve goals, and to represent ideas in different forms

(drawing and writing). Morrow and Young (1997) observed that with proper planning and

implementation, self-directed learning can encourage students to develop their own rules and

leadership patterns. Thus, self-directed learners take responsibility for the construction

588: of personal meaning, initiation and maintenance of effort toward learning tasks, and

achievement of cognitive goals, and therefore they are more likely to be promoted as high

achievers (Garrison, 1997).

Several studies have reported a significant positive relationship between SDL and academic

achievement in a traditional classroom setting (Darmayanti, 1994), a non-web based distance

learning setting (Hsu & Shiue, 2005), a web-based learning setting (Haron, 2003), and a

distant education setting (Harriman, 1990). Other studies have reported a significant positive

relationship within a specific content areas including nursing (Savoie, 1979), social and

political sciences (Anderson, 1993), business (Morris, 1995), business, communication,

public administration, and hospitality management (Ogazon, 1995), and biology (Haggerty,

2000). In a recent study, Stewart (2007), for example, found a positive relationship between

SDL readiness and the overall learning outcome ratings in project-based learning in

engineering with self-management being the strongest predictor.

593: This means that increasing a learner’s control through self-management brings with it

elevated responsibilities, particularly with regard to the learning process itself and the

construction of meaning. The immediate benefit of increased self-management is increased

awareness of the need to make learning more meaningful, that is, to take greater

responsibility in the monitoring of the learning process itself. It is difficult to get learners to

accept responsibility for meaningful learning outcomes when they have little control of, and

input into, the learning process (Garrison, 1991, 1997).

594: Finally, the analyses of the present study indicated a relationship between SDL aptitude

and academic achievement. These findings can also be explained within the framework of the

self-regulated motivational literature which indicates that successful learners have more

effective and efficient learning strategies for accessing and using their knowledge, are self-

motivated, and can monitor and change their strategies to improve their learning outcomes

(Corno, 1989; Pintrich & DeGroot, 1990). When learners recognize their learning needs,

formulate learning objectives, select contents, draw up learning strategies, procure teaching

materials and media, identify additional human and physical resources and make use of them,

and they themselves organize, control, inspect, and evaluate their own learning, they are more

likely to perform highly on learning tasks.

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Source two

Sanacore, Joseph. (2008). Turning reluctant learners into inspired learners. Clearing House:

A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas , 82(1), 40-44. Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com/docview/196893799?accountid=16285

40: Creating a foundation for academic success requires a number of factors, and in the

forefront is motivation. Although some students come to school highly motivated, others are

reluctant to learn.

According to Protheroe (2004), reluctant learners do not complete tasks, do avoid challenges,

and are satisfied with just getting by. They are often capable of excelling but do not seem

concerned about achieving in school.

…Another related issue is how these individuals perceive themselves. If they consistently

receive negative comments about their school performance, they may develop low self-

esteem, low-efficacy, or learned helplessness. When students believe they are incapable of

completing meaningful assignments, their motivation to learn diminishes.

41: What is motivation?

Ryan and Cooper (2007b) write that “the intrinsic rewards of an occupation are the internal

psychic or spiritual satisfactions one receives from one’s work, such as a personal sense of

accomplishment or an enjoyment of the work itself” (5). Although seemingly idealistic when

applied to students, moving from reluctance to inspiration requires a serious shift in

classroom philosophy and practice.

…Specifically, teachers need to remind themselves that emphasizing external constraints

weakens intrinsic motivation and performance. These constraints include surveillance,

deadlines, bribes, threats, evaluation by others, and rewards.

How can we turn reluctant learners into inspired learners?

One major goal of educators is to increase their students’ independence and interest in

learning. Although tokenism can be useful to immediately hook reluctant learners, teachers

should not forget the big picture.

Create a learning environment that is encouraging and challenging.

Whether we are teaching or learning, we all benefit from support. Reluctant learners, in

particular, thrive on a balance of being praised for specific accomplishments and challenged

to attain high expectations.

42: Provide students with opportunities to make learning choices.

Students’ self-determination flourishes when they have some degree of power and control

over classroom activities, but their self-determination is compromised, or negated, when

teachers require them to rigidly follow curricula, rules, and assessments.

By giving students freedom to act responsibly, we increase their autonomous behavior, which

in turn elicits cognitive flexibility, high task interest, positive emotion, creativity, and

persistence (Clifford 2007;Deci and Ryan 1987).

Increase students’ participation in classroom activities.

Some students participate minimally during classroom activities because they are bored, shy,

embarrassed, nonresilient, passive, or learning disabled. Furthermore, individuals who fail

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repeatedly or who perceive academic requirements to be irrelevant to their lives might refuse

to demonstrate effort in fulfilling curricular requirements.

43: Encourage students to love learning. If teachers provide optimal conditions for enjoying

learning, students will likely develop intrinsic motivation to learn. Encouraging intrinsic

learning, however, can sometimes be as much of a challenge for teachers as it is for students

attempting to develop an inner desire to learn.

Source three

Bruce, Christine S., Hughes, Hilary E., & Somerville, Mary M. (2012) Supporting

informed learners in the 21st century. Library Trends, 60(3), pp.

522-545.

522: This paper elaborates the idea of informed learning (the kind of learning made possible

through evolving and transferable capacity to use information to learn), as an important

aspect of information literacy, and a key to realising the potential of the information society.

…In the last ten years information literacy has taken the international political stage,

receiving a high level of profiling that has ushered the agenda into a new era. The United

Nations Educational and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO), the United States

National Forum for Information Literacy (NFIL), and the United States National Commission

for Library and Information Science

523: (NCLIS) in particular have engaged in international and crosssectoral advocacy,

establishing the value of information literacy in all parts of society. At the same time, we

have seen the widespread adoption of information literacy and lifelong learning as required

graduate attributes in many educational institutions and professional associations.

525: Attention to the question of diversity and contextualisation [of information literacy

learning] must involve asking: what does effective information use look like across contexts,

national borders, complex organisations, and community sub-cultures, including the

innovative cultures emerging in digital landscapes.

526: The idea of informed learning was developed to direct attention towards those

interpretations of information literacy that involve using information to learn. The notion of

learning lies at the heart of information literacy.

…Informed learning may be defined as using information to learn. It is learning through

engaging with or interacting with information.

527: Thus, informed learning is a holistic pedagogy (Bruce & Hughes, 2010), which builds

upon information skills and develops effective, critical, creative, reflective and ethical

information use for learning in any of life’s paths.

…It [informed learning] encourages learners to become aware of themselves as information

users, of what informs them and how they are being informed and transformed, as learners.

Informed learning occurs as people encounter information, as they engage with information

in any context and work with it to ‘form’ their information using experiences. Informed

learning is grounded in, and emerges from, the information practices of professional,

community or academic life. Information

528: practices are here interpreted as broad processes of information use, such as

organizational or personal decision-making, collaborative design, evidence-based practice,

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disciplinary research, professional and private problem-solving, or more focussed activities

such as preparing a travel itinerary, report writing, web-page development, musical score

composition, or art work creation (Bruce, 2008). By extension, informed learning is also

grounded in interactive, collaborative information practices associated with information

exchange and knowledge creation through interactive web technologies.

…Once learners (in whatever role, for example, as parents, citizens, researchers, or

employees) recognise what constitutes information in their context, and how they are using

that information to learn, they can be more in charge of their information environment and

how they encounter, source, control, engage with and learn from information.

Information might take the form of pictures, sound, or text and it could be static, moving, two

– or three - dimensional. It may take the form of research outcomes or community discourse;

it may be an element of our physical environment (Lupton, 2008) or our physical presence

(Lloyd, 2010).

529: Our global information society is one in which much information is available. An

information literate society is one where people are empowered to use information for

personal, social, political or economic benefit.

Informed scholars, an informed workforce and an informed citizenry are key benefits to be

gained from an emphasis on informed learning across society. Informed scholars are

informed learners in formal learning communities, such as schools, universities and research

centres, who engage with information to learn in various ways. An informed workforce,

similarly, is one that adapts to change, innovates and uses knowledge creatively and wisely

for many purposes. An informed citizenry is a community of citizens that uses information

effectively to learn for health, financial, educational, political, recreational and other

purposes. The following sections identify key experiences of these groups.

Informed scholars use information to learn individually and collectively. This occurs

naturally throughout the transformative inquiry processes in the disciplinary,

multidisciplinary, and transdisciplinary information practices associated with study and

research.

530: In contemporary profit and not-for-profit environments, organisations worldwide are

experiencing increasing complexity. Therefore, workplace communities must necessarily

become engaged in informed learning. In maintaining competitiveness or market-niche and in

anticipating current and potential clients’ expectations, awareness of and capacity to use

information to learn as individuals, in teams and within the wider organisation is vital.

531: In the wider community, people need to use information to learn for everyday life

purposes in a wide variety of contexts. For example, individuals engage in informed learning

to pursue interests around health, finance, politics, recreation or religion, in settings that

include libraries, cultural heritage centers, voluntary organizations, social clubs, and online

forums.

535: Supportive scholarly contexts, such as schools, universities and research centres, are

learner-centred and foster collaborative and independent learning. Vital elements of informed

learning in scholarly contexts include: reflective learning, which promotes inquiry, reflection,

and problem-solving; thoughtful and effective management of information resources; self-

directed learning individually and in teams; research-based learning which activates and

extends prior learning; and curriculum that encourages reflection on the implications for self

and others of learning.

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Students continuously engage in thoughtful dialog and reflection about what they are learning

as they engage with their information environment. They are encouraged to consider how

their learning is influenced by different sources and technologies and understand which

information processes best suit their learning needs and styles. (Bruce, 2008; Bruce &

Hughes, 2010; Jacobs, 2008).

Informed educators act as learning guides and consultants to their students, fostering

independent research and co-creation of new knowledge. They ensure students are equipped

with understandings and capabilities to take advantage of a range of established and emerging

technologies and to interact safely, responsibly and productively in online

environments. Informed educators embrace social and cultural diversity, creating inclusive

learning environments that enable students to share varied knowledge and experiences and so

develop rich, inquiring and mutually respectful world views. Librarians, technologists,

learning designers, learning support staff as well as discipline based teachers must all work

together to support such contexts.

537: While ICTs [information communication technologies] are important and influential

sources of information, they often represent barriers for those struggling to use the

technologies due to limited capabilities or access. Today’s digital/virtual environments make

it harder for people to be information literate (Lorenzo & Dziuban, 2006). The sheer volume

of content and software available makes successful and creative use of what is available an

ongoing challenge. A British report shows that while people may use technology extensively,

they do not have the capabilities required to make the most of their information

environments, due to limitations in their information literacy (Rowlands & Nicholas, 2008).

High levels of technology without informed learning or information skills of the conceptual

kind may mean that we become poor learners.

538: A writer must seek history, context, inspiration, collaboration and review with or

without technology. While technology may simplify or make the process more complex, it

may also act as a barrier or may add new facets to the experience.

Source four

Humanities 2.0: E-Learning in the Digital World

Guerlac, Suzanne

Representations; Fall 2011; 116; ProQuest Research Library

pp. 102-128

102: The global economy is changing at a dizzying pace, largely because of the accelerating

speed of information technology.

…Knowledge, in this context, is redefined. It no longer serves us with the task of solving the

mysteries of the physical world, of constructing an orderly sense of the past, or of shaping a

share culture heritage. It is now placed in the service of, and often identified with, innovation.

Knowledge implies the effective management of information and the conversion of it into

capital. Learning is re-definted in accordance with software platforms that link corporate

training for employees and the delivery of content. E-learning gathers both together in a new

business of education that is now tracked by financial specialists as a new profit sector.

103: The global competition in e-learning generates new software capabilities, which in turn

stimulate domestic demand for online alternatives to traditional education at all levels.

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106: With e-learning the discourse of public education—access, affordability and so on—

flips over to become a discourse of revenue production and cost effectiveness in the business

of education.

108: In 1994, the sociologist Martin Trow noted the “tendency of ICTs [information

communication technologies] to blur and weaken institutional and intellectual boundaries of

all kinds.” One of the most significant boundaries was the one between public and private/

the combination of higher tuition, increased enrollments and the e-learning solution bring the

public university closer and closer to the business model of for-profit institutions of higher

education.

110: Obviously, e-learning is best suited to “right answer” disciplines such as basic

mathematics, foreign languages, business at an introductory level, engineering and computer

services, as well as skills training. Blended approaches [use of both online and face-to-face],

however, can incorporate experiments with the potential of digital media to enrich teaching

and research in the humanities.

Countering those who, Cassandra-line, announce the demise of the humanities (Stanley

Fisher being the most vocal, younger voices embrace digital tools they believe capable of

regenerating the humanities, which they feel have been weakened by decades of conflict over

issues relating to the cannon, multiculturalism, interdisciplinarity and the critique of

humanism.

113: Carol Twigg of the National Center for Academic Transformations estimates that three-

quarters of the costs of colleges and universities are personnel costs. What is the point of this

expense, which gets passed along to students who incur a massive debt, if most of what one

learns, as John Seely Brown maintains, will become outdated in five years? What is the point,

when Web 2.0 has taught us that the best way to learn is not from specialists or professionals

but peer-to-peer collaborations? The new model for learning is Wikipedia, where

collaboration occurs on a massive scale, and knowledge, always subject to revision, is

universally available to be remixed or adapted as one sees fit.

115: The task of the humanities becomes one of creating and critically examining new modes

of knowledge production.

Source five

Karakas, Fahri and Alperen Manisaligil. 2012. Reorienting self-directed learning for the

creative, digital era. European Journal of Training and Development. Vol 36, no. 7. Pp.712-

731.

712: As the scale of economic and social changes in Europe demand new approaches to

education and training, the significance and centrality of self-directed learning (SDL) in

European workplaces is increasing.

713: SDL has been defined as “a process in which individuals take the initiative, with or

without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals,

identifying human and material resources for learning, choosing and implementing

appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes” (Knowles, 1975, p. 18). It

has also been defined as an independent pursuit involving a philosophy of personal autonomy

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and self-management (Candy, 1991); learners’ psychological processes that are purposefully

directed to gain knowledge, solve problems, or develop a skill (Long, 1994); self-directed

study where an individual accepts responsibility for designing and pursuing an educative

activity (Houle, 1988, p. 92); a training design where trainees master packages of material at

their own pace without instructor’s aid (Piskurich, 1993); and the most basic response to

newness, problems, or challenges in the environment (Guglielmino, 2008).

Empirical research has demonstrated a number of positive effects of SDL in the workplaces

including increased performance (Artis and Harris, 2007), cost savings in training and

development programs (Durr, 1992; Guglielmino and Murdick, 1997), increased ability for

critical thinking and questioning (Candy, 1991), increased confidence and problem solving

capabilities (Durr, 1992), sharing knowledge and building networks with others (Rowland

and Volet, 1996), stronger affective commitment (Cho and Kwon, 2005), and a sense of

meaning at work (Kops, 1997).

714: The dramatic shifts in technology and the workplaces are transforming the landscape

and dynamics of SDL. Some of the technological shifts include the popularisation of online

learning or web-based learning, digital tools, Web 2.0 technologies, social networking tools,

and social media (Song and Hill, 2007). The new learning environments are convenient,

versatile, enjoyable, non-linear, interactive, and

user-tailored (Fischer and Scharff, 1998; Candy, 2004). In this context, self-directed

learners’ responsibility, control, and effectiveness are higher than the past (Vonderwell

and Turner, 2005). Furthermore, with the help of these technologies self-directed

learners are constructing knowledge instead of recording or memorising it (Harel and

Papert, 1991).

Web 2.0 technologies (i.e. web-based interactive and connective read/write

technologies) are at the heart of this new digital ecosystem. The new generation

internet tools, so-called Web 2.0 technologies (O’Reilly, 2005) have fostered the growth

and popularisation of web-based communities, social networking sites, video sharing

sites, wikis, and blogs. Web 2.0 technologies have changed the digital ecosystem such

that information is constantly being generated, updated, and converged into new

patterns and forms expanding the utility and life of the original content.

715: We describe five transformations that characterise the changing landscape of

learning in the creative digital age:

(1) virtual collaboration;

(2) technological convergence;

(3) global connectivity;

(4) online communities; and

(5) digital creativity; which we will describe in terms of their implications for SDL

716: Virtual collaboration

The first transformation is virtual collaboration, which is best described in the

path-breaking work of Tapscott and Williams (2006): “Wikinomics”. Wikinomics is defined

as the new art and science of collaboration (Tapscott and Williams, 2006)

where billions of connected people collaborate and participate in innovation, wealth

creation, and social development on the virtual global platform of the Internet.

717: These trends have been changing the nature and the face of SDL. In the past,

self-directed learners pursued learning in relative isolation (listening to radio or TV,

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receiving information by post, or using CDs). SDL now takes place in collaborative

virtual environments where users share knowledge, offer each other resources,

recommend learning tips, and exchange ideas with each other.

Technological convergence

The second transformation entails the convergence of new technologies of information

and communications. Technological convergence is the principle that the various

media, such as radio, TV, newspapers, CD players, video recorders, telephones, mobile

devices, and the Internet, are all coming together to form one global information

channel.

The implication of technological convergence is that employees can use a variety of

digital tools and mobile devices available to them (including iPhone, iPad, Blackberry,

social networking sites, video sharing sites, wikis, and blogs) for continuous learning

in their lives.

718: Global connectivity

The third transformation is global connectivity; which can be defined as the ability to

link or connect to the internet – the global brain – providing access to worldwide

online information resources just by sitting in front of and clicking on your computer,

laptop, or mobile device.

One significant implication of global connectivity is that individuals act and feel as

global citizens of a hyper-connected knowledge platform. There is a natural affinity and

alignment between SDL and global

connectivity. As self-directed learners are embedded in a set of relationships and

networks within the digital ecosystem, they are well equipped to be active citizens and

informed decision makers in a hyper-connected society.

719: Online communities

The fourth transformation is the usage of internet platforms and new media for social

change and community benefits. The new media, also called “social media” has been

used extensively by social movements to educate, communicate, lobby, protest,

fundraise, democratise information and increase social awareness.

In sum, online communities enable self-directed learners to:

. pursue hobbies or share similar interests and passions with like-minded people;

. expand their networks and meet new people;

. post queries and learn from experts or peers;

. engage in meaningful and lively conversations; and

. engage in issue-oriented non-partisan social activism.

720: Digital creativity

The final transformation is the increasing importance of creativity and innovativeness

in digital platforms and future business models. Creativity is becoming increasingly

significant to find new ways to bridge and resolve wider global issues, social divides,

and poverty gaps of the twenty-first century (Waddock, 2007).

721: In this new paradigm, self-directed learners can:

. customise and design their learning based on their unique needs, skills, and

interests;

. build on their inner creative abilities and strengths; and

. hold responsibility for planning, implementing and evaluating their own

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learning processes (Brockett and Hiemstra, 1991; Park, 2009).

Source six

Cari Kenner and Jason Weinerman. ‘Adult Learning Theory: Application and non-traditional

students.’ Journal of College Reading and Learning. 41 (2): 87-96.

89: Adult Learning Strategy and Theory

Schraw and Moshman (1995) lay out three metacognitive frameworks that identify how

people structure their own learning theories. These three frameworks are tacit theory,

informal theory, and formal theory. Academic experts use the formal theory when they apply

complex theoretical frameworks to generate new knowledge (Schraw and Moshman, 1995).

As formal theory is rare and only found within the higher realms of academic expertise, it

will not be discussed further in this article.

Tacit theory frames the acquisition of metacognitive skills as occurring without any specific

learning framework. According to tacit theory, adult learners acquire their metacognitive

skills from peers, teachers, and the local culture. Adult learners likely have these skills deeply

ingrained into their conceptual framework, which may make it difficult for them to change,

regardless of the degree of error resulting from a flawed tacitly-developed learning theory

(Guzzetti, Snyder, Glass, & Gamas, 1993).

90: One step up the formalization chain of individual metacognitive theory is informal

theory, describing the learner as possessing some recognition of metacognition. Individuals

who use informal theory still acquire their metacognitive skills over time from their peers and

their environment, but they have at least a rudimentary conscious thought process regarding

their metacognitive framework (Schraw & Moshman, 1995). For adult students, much of

their informal metacognitive strategies develop in workplace environments, where

metacognitive development is recognized by their peers as a sign of wisdom, which brings

together intelligence, experience, and reflection (Prewitt, 2003).

Adult learners beginning their post secondary education are likely to have a gap in their

academic development process.

91: Instead of continuing to acquire academic knowledge and skills, they have increased the

development of practical knowledge in the workplace.

While this practical knowledge is useful in navigating daily life, it likely proves inadequate in

meeting the specific challenges of the academic environment.

Entry level coursework can provide activities for adult learners to compare academic and

non-academic knowledge. Specific questions that can encourage adult learners to compare

their practical knowledge with the skills needed in their academic career can include

analyzing citation usage in academic writing but not in professional memos and the role of

first person in different writing forms. Other material that can be presented in this framework

include introducing the role of bias and informational versus persuasive writing styles. These

additional assignments can demonstrate that not all written material needs to be taken as the

ultimate truth.

92: Framing

As adult learners are likely to be more task and goal-oriented (Knowles, 1984), it is important

to frame their reintroduction to collegiate learning in such a way that they can see the benefits

as directly relating to their academic careers.

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93: By understanding their existing learning preferences, adult learners can compare the new

study strategies taught in the developmental courses with their previous learning models.

Since many adult learners will have models based on practical knowledge from workplace

environments, the newer models should prove superior in the academic environment.

Source seven

Littlejohn, A. H. Beetham and L. McGill

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning

‘Learning at the digital frontier: a review of digital literacies in theory and practice.’ 2012.

Volume 28. 547-556.

547: Digital forms of information and communication are transforming what it means to

work, study, research, express oneself, perhaps even to think. These transformations

challenge the core business of universities – to produce and disseminate knowledge through

research and teaching – and could have a profound impact on learning.

These changes are framed by a number of societal trends. First, workplaces are being

transformed such that production and practice are increasingly knowledge

driven (Hardt&Negri 2008, p. 290). Not only are workplaces making extensive use of

networked technology, they are beginning to model themselves on such technologies,

becoming distributed, dynamic and highly mediated environments (Fiedler & Pata 2009).

Second, work problems are becoming more complex such that people have to constantly

build new knowledge to solve these problems, requiring updating of expertise and continuous

learning (Fiedler & Pata 2009; Littlejohn et al. 2012). Third, people are regularly and

repeatedly transitioning into new roles and careers, necessitating lifelong learning (Kirpal et

al. 2007). Fourth, expertise is becoming more distributed, creating a need to learn across sites

(Ludvigsen et al. 2011). Finally, learning itself is increasingly mediated by technology and is

being redefined by technology.

Digital literacy is, therefore, becoming central to what higher and vocational (further)

education can offer. By ‘digital literacy’ we mean the capabilities required to thrive in and

beyond education, in an age when digital forms of information and communication

predominate.

549: The formulation of literacies as ‘social practices of using codes for making and

exchanging meanings’ (Street 1996) reappeared continuously throughout the literature.

‘Social practices’ here signify not only that the relevant activities involve other people, but

that they are situated in specific social and cultural contexts from which they derive their

meaning and on which they are significantly dependent for their performance. Similarly

‘making and exchanging meanings’ are informational and communicational activities whose

value is determined by factors extending beyond the immediate context. The word

‘knowledge’ can be used to denote this value, and has historically been used to assert the

cultural value of meaning-making practices acquired through formal education and training.

550: An understanding of literacies as situated knowledge practices has several implications

for the development of digital literacies by learners, for which there is some support in the

available research.

First, literacies must be foundational capabilities such as reading, writing or numeracy on

which more particular skills depend. Literacies (and their lack) will therefore have a lifelong

and lifewide impact. They are practices without which a learner is impoverished in relation to

culturally valued knowledge. On these grounds, it makes sense to talk about literacy, or

literacies, of the digital. Governments around the world have begun to acknowledge an

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entitlement to digital capability alongside the entitlement to read-write literacy and numeracy

for their citizens.

Second, extended literacy practice should be developed continuously. Literacies are acquired

through continued development and refinement in different contexts, not through one-off

instruction (see for example Bruner 1990; Graff 1995). Personal styles and preferences will

emerge, just as with writing or musical and artistic expression.

Third, the digital practice that emerges in a complex situation such as a learning activity will

involve an interaction between personal capabilities or dispositions and the environment

supporting action. There is emerging evidence, discussed in detail in the next section, that

transferring digital capabilities from one environment to another – from social life to learning

for example – is more problematic for learners than has been acknowledged (Cranmer 2006;

Facer & Selwyn 2010). Tacit situational knowledge seems to play a vital role in competent

performance, as does participation with competent others in digitally mediated environments

(Fowler & Edwards 2005). The implication for learner development is clear. Generic virtual

environments such as virtual learning environments (or learning management systems) and

search engines support the practice of generic digital capabilities. It is participation in subject

specific tasks, with (where relevant) subject-specialist technologies, that enables learners to

become competent actors in specialized knowledge communities.

Fourth, and relatedly, digital literacies must have a bearing on individual identity –

specifically on how one adopts a stance towards knowledge in digital forms.

551: Finally, literacies are continually evolving in response to changes in the technical,

epistemological, and cultural order. Changes associated with the ‘digital’ age include the

need to adopt multiple modes of meaning making (Kress 2003; Siemens 2006; Seely

Brown &Adler 2008) because of a multiplicity of available media and the rise of hyperlinked

and hybrid media forms.

Therefore, digital literacy extends beyond technical competence, such as the ability to form

letters in writing, or use a keyboard. Digitally based knowledge practices are meaningful and

generative of meaning: they depend on the learner’s previous experiences (Goodyear & Ellis

2008), on dispositions such as confidence, self-efficacy and motivation (Candy 1991), and on

qualities of the environment where that practicetakes place, including of course the available

digital technologies (Engeström 1999). Digital literacies are both constitutive of and

expressive of personal identity.

However, other research has highlighted the difficulties of transposing practices from social

contexts into formal learning (Cranmer 2006; Facer&Selwyn 2010). Some aspects of

learners’ everyday practices with technology are in fact at odds with the practices valued in

traditional academic teaching and assessment, as we argued in an earlier work (Beetham

2009). For example, academics report that learners struggle particularly with tasks of

judgement and evaluation, and with issues of originality in representing their ideas. These

have always been difficult issues for students, but they are now being posed in a context

where identities are being constantly renegotiated online, where new ideas become instantly

available in multiple fragments and copies and reinscriptions of themselves, and where ‘the

power of the crowd’ dominates how opinion is expressed.

15

Source eight

Jeff Shephard and Barbara Mullins. 2012, ‘Balancing Act: A Phenomelogical Study of

Female Adult Learners who successfully persisted to graduate school.’ The Qualitative

Report. Vol 17, 1-21.

1: After a significant review of literature related to adult learning, Cross (1981) found there is

“enough consistency in the findings to give a generalized picture of what people say deters

them from participating in adult learning activities” (p. 98). She grouped these deterrents into

situational, institutional and dispositional barriers, describing them as follows:

Situational barriers are those arising from one’s situation in life at a given time. Lack of time

due to job and home responsibilities, for example, deters large numbers of potential learners

in the 25– to 45–year–old age group. Lack of money is a problem for young people and

others of low income. Lack of child care is a problem for young parents; transportation is a

situational barrier for geographically isolated and physically handicapped learners.

Institutional barriers consist of all those practices and procedures that exclude or discourage

working adults from participating in educational activities – inconvenient schedules or

locations, full–time fees for part–time study, inappropriate courses of study and so forth.

Dispositional barriers are those related to attitudes and self–perceptions about oneself as a

learner. Many older citizens, for example, feel that they are too old to learn. Adults with poor

educational backgrounds frequently lack interest in learning or confidence in their ability to

learn. (p. 98)

p. 2 While some may argue the barriers described by Cross (1981) are dated, we believe they

take on new meanings for adult learners in the 21st century.

4: It is widely known and accepted that higher levels of educational attainment have a

positive effect on individuals, society and higher education (Bowen, Chingos, & McPherson,

2009; Nevill & Chen, 2007; Wendler et al., 2010). Income levels for individuals are

positively correlated with educational levels; higher educational levels increase contributions

to and participation in society; and participation in higher education benefits academies via

increased enrollment rates and completion levels which has a positive effect on funding.

5: In the study presented here, Cross’ (1981) barriers for adult learners were utilized as a

framework for discussion with adult learners who have successfully persisted in their

graduate studies while maintaining multiple responsibilities in addition to their academic

pursuits.

18: The three interviews with Alice, Betty, and Charla suggest that the barriers identified by

Cross (1981) 30 years ago are still relevant for graduate adult learners. However, it appears

that institutional barriers may be less of an issue than at the time of her writings due to more

learning options for adult learners due to advancements in technology. For example, Alice

was able to take advantage of an online program to complete her graduate studies. However,

Betty still had to succumb to inflexible course schedules in order to complete her graduate

degree. This was a result of her choice to attend an on–campus program at the same

university where she completed her baccalaureate degree. While Betty may have been able to

complete her degree via an online program and mitigate the barriers associated with the

inflexible course schedule and commuting, her comfort level with a familiar setting – the

campus, faculty and administrators – took precedent.

The institutional barriers that Charla encountered began to form a dispositional barrier related

to her confidence level and created doubts in her ability to persist. While Alice may have had

some slight hesitation regarding her abilities to complete a master’s degree, it was quickly

surmounted when she successfully completed her first major assignment. Choosing to attend

16

the same university where she completed her baccalaureate degree gave Betty a sense of

comfort that enabled her to overcome her initial concerns with the perceived rigors of

graduate school. Like Alice, Betty’s initial experiences in the classroom made her more

confident and comfortable with graduate studies.

Interview data related to the situational barrier provided rich material for understanding how

graduate adult learners successfully persist and complete graduate studies. As most graduate

adult learners will surely have to balance family and work with their academic desires, keys

to successful persistence can provide hope and

19: The keys to overcoming situational barriers included the importance of family support,

the ability to prioritize activities and tasks and the unforeseen benefit of attending graduate

school as an adult.

Source nine

Education and Information Technologies 10:1/2, 109–121, 2005.

Self Organising Wayfinding Support for Lifelong Learners

COLIN TATTERSALL ∗, JOCELYN MANDERVELD, BERT VAN DEN BERG, REN´E VAN ES, JOS´E JANSSEN and ROB KOPER

109: Lifelong learning refers to the activities people perform throughout their lives to

improve their knowledge, skills and competence in a particular field, given some personal,

societal or employment related motives (Field, 2001). The European Commission has

designated lifelong learning as one of its priorities, identified targets for lifelong learning in

Europe, and is monitoring the implementation of strategies in its member states (European

Commission, 2003).

110: However, taking on new responsibilities is not without its challenges. Brookfield (1985)

notes that although self-directed learning “has connotations of autonomy, independence and

isolation”, investigations have highlighted that “adults would like more, rather than less,

assistance in their learning pursuits”. Similarly, Candy (1991) writes that self-directed

learners are often challenged to assume certain responsibilities, and that when deciding how

to approach learning tasks, the self-directed learner is “confronted with the problem of how to

find a way into and through a body of knowledge that is unknown at the outset. Without the

benefit of any explicit guidance, a self-directed learner is obliged to map out a course of

inquiry that seems appropriate, but that may involve a certain amount of difficulty and

disappointment that could have been averted.”

We use the term “Educational wayfinding” to describe the cognitive, decision-making

process carried out by self-directed learners as they assume responsibility for choosing

and sequencing their learning events.

111: As a response to this issue of financing support for lifelong learners, a significant

amount of research has explored the application of information technologies to lifelong

learning support (Dicheva and McLoughlin, 2003; Sinitsa, 2000). Much of this research

revolves around the use of the World Wide Web in lifelong learning, facilitating the creation

of distributed networks of learning resources (Zahariadis and Voliotis, 2003). These

educational hypermedia systems (De Bra, 2002) are part of the Adaptive Hypermedia

research area (Brusilovsky, 2001; Cristea and De Bra, 2002). The authors of a recent

CEDEFOP thematic workshop report (CEDEFOP, 2003) contend that Adaptive Hypermedia

Systems (AHSs) are “particularly suited to implementing lifelong learning . . . because they

17

can tailor the learning environment and content to each individual learner’s needs and

aptitudes”.

112: The previous section reviewed three sources of wayfinding support—course designers,

attempting to predict efficient paths for lifelong learners, learner support services, providing

flexible advice but at price, and adaptive hypermedia systems, still challenged to prove their

practical application. A fourth source can be found in the “other learners”, a point noted by

Brookfield (1985) when he states that the “successful self-directed learners . . . place their

learning within a social setting in which the advice, information, and skill modelling provided

by other learners are crucial conditions for successful learning”.

Source ten

Learn Inq (2007) 1:41–49

DOI 10.1007/s11519-007-0001-5

The paradoxical future of digital learning

Mark Warschauer

41: There is little doubt that this rapid diffusion of new technologies will broadly

impact the nature of learning and literacy. As Ong (1982) wrote, ‘‘Technologies are

not mere exterior aids but also interior transformations of consciousness, and never

more than when they affect the word’’ (p. 82).

42: However, technology does not transform learning and literacy by itself, but only in

conjunction with other social and economic factors. This transitional stage suggests that the

future of learning in the 21st century will be quite complex, as we strive toward post-

industrial forms of knowledge acquisition and production without having yet overcome the

educational contradictions and failings of the industrial age. In the remainder of this essay, I

examine the paradoxes that emerge when we examine three widely accepted beliefs about the

future of digital learning, related to what people learn, how they learn, and where they learn

in the digital era.

The first paradox relates to what students need to learn in the new digital classroom.

A wide range of organizations (e.g., North Central Regional Educational Laboratory

& the Metiri Group, 2003; Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2004) and individuals

(e.g., Gee, 2003, 2004; Lemke, 1998) have argued that the literacies of the print era

are being superceded by a new set of digital-age literacies, the most frequently

mentioned of which are information literacy and multimedia literacy.

Information literacy refers to the ability to define what sorts of information are

needed; locate the needed information efficiently; evaluate information and its

sources critically; incorporate selected information into one’s knowledge base;

understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information;

and access and use information ethically and legally (American Library Association,

2000). Though the need for information literacy pre-dates the digital era, its

importance has now greatly expanded in a world where vast amounts of unfiltered

data are available online. The ability to draw on draw rote answers is inadequate in a

world where yesterday’s answers are outdated faster than ever. Education must

equip students to aim further ahead of a faster target.

43: Multimedia literacy refers to the ability to interpret, design, and create content that makes

use of images, photographs, video, animation, music, sounds, texts, and

18

typography (for overviews, see Daley, 2003; Kress, 2003). Among other things, it includes an

understanding of frame composition; color palette; audio, image, and video editing

techniques; sound–text–image relations; the effects of typography; transitional effects;

navigation and interface construction; and generic conventions in diverse media (Daley,

2003). In the 21st century, multimedia literacy is viewed as important for occupational

purposes (with an increasing amount of jobs requiring production of multimodal content),

civic purposes (with full participation in society enhanced by the ability to interpret and

produce multimedia through blogging, podcasting, Website creation, etc.), and artistic

purposes (with digital photography,digital video, and other forms of new media emerging as

important forms of art and self-expression).

While the rationale behind the need for both information and multimedia literacy is thus

clear, what often gets lost in discussions of new literacies is their relationship to more

traditional literacies of print-based reading and writing. Two points deserve consideration.

First, the same digital media that are fostering the need for new literacies are also making

traditional literacies more valuable then ever before. For example, the development of a

computer-based informational economy has brought about the loss of millions of

manufacturing, mining, and agricultural jobs in the US that demanded little or no literacy,

while creating in their place large numbers of office jobs requiring substantial amounts of

reading and writing (see discussion in Warschauer, 2006).

Second, competence in traditional literacies is often a gateway to successful entry into the

world of new literacies.

44: None of this negates the necessity of promoting multimedia literacy and information

literacy in schools, but approaches need to be found that simultaneously develop diverse

students’ reading, writing, cultural literacy, and academic literacy, rather than relying on

basic drills (see, for example, Becker, 2000; Wenglinsky,1998), haphazard cutting and

pasting from the Internet (Warschauer, Knobel, & Stone, 2004), or production of superficial

PowerPoint presentations. Cummins’s (2001) framework for academic language learning,

emphasizing maximum cognitive engagement, maximum identity investment, and a critical

focus on linguistic meaning, form, and use, is particularly suitable for combining new and

traditional forms of literacy.

45: A second element of conventional wisdom about digital learning relates to how students

learn. Simply put, the belief is that the best forms of digital learning involve autonomous

learning, following the mantra that the teacher must become a guide on the side rather than a

sage on the stage.

Digital media undoubtedly provides greater opportunities for youth to learn autonomously.

Yet the paradox is that people develop the ability to work autonomously, whether in online or

offline realms, only through processes of being instructed or mentored by others. This study

of network science, backed up by studies of other online projects (Warschauer, 2003b),

strongly calls into question the notion of the teacher being a guide on the side. Rather, the

teacher must be centrally involved, actively instructing and mentoring students, especially at

the initial stages of work on a project.

46: In summary, the ability to learn autonomously will indeed be critical in the digital future.

However, paradoxically, strong mentorship is required for students to achieve this autonomy,

while an overemphasis on student independence can leave students floundering.

19

The how paradox is closely related to the where paradox. Autonomous learners can learn

anywhere. Particularly using digital media, people of all ages can learn in out of school

settings like never before, through accessing online information, using educational or

edutainment software, participating in online communities, or playing individual or

multiplayer games. These powerful forms of out-of-school learning are viewed as making

formal education less relevant, especially when schools prove less

than fully capable of successfully incorporating new media in instruction (see, e.g.,

Gee, 2003, 2004).

The paradox here is that, at the same time that new opportunities increase for powerful out-

of-school learning, formal education is actually rising rather than falling in its impact on

people’s lives.

48: Curricular and pedagogical approaches to educational technology exist that can foster

improved digital learning for all. Such approaches emphasize scaffolding in reading, writing,

and cultural literacy while providing access to new digital-era literacies; involve strong

person guidance and mentorship from teachers and peers; and serve to make links between

in-school and out-of-school learning, rather than devaluing either (see examples and

discussion in Brown, Cummins, & Sayers, 2007;Warschauer, 2006; Warschauer, Grant, Del

Real, & Rousseau, 2004). Such approaches will not magically overcome educational

inequity; that is a broader challenge involving much more than good use of computers in

schools. But simplistic views of digital learning, which pit new literacies against old,

autonomy versus mentorship, or home versus school, will only serve to worsen educational

divides.