Teaching - Can we eliminate the generational divide?

For decades, the concept of self-directed learning was central to what adult education was all about (Mezirow, 1985). At the time, an estimated 70% of adult learning was self-directed. I assume it is much higher now, but have not seen figures.

Self-directed learning has been described as “a process in which individuals take the initiative, with or without the help of others” to diagnose their learning needs, formulate goals, identify resources for learning, and evaluate learning outcomes (Knowles, 1975).

More modern philosophy involves adults participating in collaborative settings and fostering peer-to-peer exchange of expertise and knowledge, which can be very powerful. It is helpful to have a facilitator to guide the exchange, but that person need not lead the discussion. Adult learning pedagogy theory indicates that adults learn more and retain knowledge for a longer period of time if they are in charge of their learning rather than being a passive consumer.

The concepts and theories that define SDL are decades old, but open source textbooks and open source curriculum? Who would have imagined that in 2009, we can attend graduate schools like MIT, Yale, or Stanford online – for free. We can watch the individual lectures, take the tests, get the course materials and attend every class offered in the finest grad schools in the world! If the piece of paper is what matters, and you want a degree, you still must attend. But every day we see more and more open source opportunities, not only from Universities but from sources everywhere - from TED lectures to The Big Think where we can see mini lectures by fantastic thinkers.

The critical collaboration component is missing, but everything is there for the self-motivated. More and more, our resources make learning part of a continuum that naturally becomes a lifelong process. If we seek it out, it is there for us - although I hope more collaboration tools will be available to take full advantage of these resources. Adults need to discuss topics and have critical peer-to-peer exchange amongst themselves because it usually means they will learn and retain more. 

Here, then, is the big disconnect. Why are most of our Universities teaching the most natural self-directed learners – our “digital natives” – the same way kids have been taught for hundreds of years? They have grown up in an environment of self-directed learning, and they know a lot – about a lot. In a classroom, they can still have the advantage of collaboration and peer-to-peer exchange if it is encouraged and ideas are accepted openly. Many of them are true experts (thanks to their personal interests and the motivation they had to seek out niche communities online, where they have pursued them). Why are kids still sitting in classrooms while teachers or professors lecture, instruct them and give them tests to measure ability? Why not shift the pedagogical role here too? Won’t they retain the knowledge for a longer period of time if they are not merely passive consumers fulfilling a requirement? I emphasize “most” because forward thinking learning institutions are experimenting and even executing methods that will ultimately change this. There are grants and foundations with fascinating research going on (The MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Youth Project is particularly interesting).

The gap between how we teach and how kids learn today is just too wide to ignore any more. And the need for collaboration tools to help adults take full advantage of the learning opportunities that are increasing exponentially is growing daily.