Teaching kids how to fish.

This week we were asked to think about the possibilities of tech-driven, self-directed, distance learning. It took me a while (in my general sleep-deprived state) to figure out exactly what all of that meant, so, being the nice person that I am, I’ll break it down to layman’s terms.

Distance learning is a concept that is well-rooted in our South-African society and even more so in the international community. Physical access to universities and other learning institutions are simply not always possible (or even convenient) and thus correspondence- or distance learning was born. The process of receiving resources through the postal system has however become very problematic in South Africa. With almost constant issues, such as strikes, “go-slow’s” and transportation problems, our mailing system has become extremely unreliable. Private courier services are benefitting financially from this, but students are losing.

To address the afore mentioned problem, some institutions are now resorting to digital resources such as electronic textbooks, telematics classrooms and online courses. This therefore forms the tech-driven arm of the equation.

Up until this point, everything made a lot of sense to me. The concepts and methodology behind them are intuitive and are being implemented in a lot of instances in our country already. It is the concepts of self-driven learning that took me a while to get a good grasp on.

Self-directed learning basically means that instead of working from a set curriculum with predetermined topics and outcomes, learners are now asked what they think they should learn or what they are interested in learning about. These topics are then explored by the learners themselves. They normally make use of a question as a guiding principle and then do their own research and learning in order to answer the question that they posed to themselves. This method of learning makes very little use of teachers, as all learning are student motivated and teachers are seen primarily as another resource, just like the library and internet.

This sounds almost too good to be true – learners that take control of their own learning and that are intrinsically motivated by their interests and thirst for knowledge?

Well, it kind of is. Although this education method worked in one or two instances in the USA, the vast majority of learners at school level in South Africa, do not have the resources or self-discipline to make this a viable option for the majority of schools.  

However, I do believe that this model of learning will gain popularity over the next few years and that it will definitely play a big role in the way that we think about education in the future. Having learners determine their own curriculum based on their interests and then expecting them to develop the skills to implement said curriculum in their own setting, is effectively teaching learners how to learn instead of what to learn. 

In a world where the amount of knowledge is expanding at an ever increasing pace, this skillset will prepare learners much more efficiently to function independently and effectively. I’m really excited about this model of teaching and I plan to incorporate elements of it in my own classroom in the very near future.