Learning theories for the digital age

I pointed out recently that many of the older theories of pedagogy were formulated in a pre-digital age. I blogged about some of the new theories that seem appropriate as explanatory frameworks for learning in a digital age. These included heutagogy, which describes a self-determined approach to learning, a new model of peer-peer learning known as paragogy, a post modernist 'rhizomatic' learning explanation, distributed learning and connectivist theory, and also a short essay on the digital natives/immigrants discourse. I questioned whether the old models are anachronistic.

Is it now time for these new theories to replace the old ones? Do we need them to describe and frame what is currently happening in an age where everyone is as connected as they wish to be, where social media are the new meeting places, and where mobile telephones are pervading every aspect of our lives. Are the old theories still adequate to describe the kinds of learning that we witness today in our hyper-connected world? Do Vygotsky's ZPD theory or Bruner's Scaffolding model still cut the mustard? Or can they work together with the new theories to provide us with a basis to understand what is happening. How can we for example describe learning activities such as blogging, social networking, crowd sourced learning, or user generated content such as Wikipedia and YouTube using older theories? How might we begin to understand the issues surrounding folksonomies, peer learning, or collaborative informal learning that seem to occur spontaneously, outside the classroom, spanning the entire globe - using old theories that were written to describe what happens in a classroom? Sure, I'm being deliberately provocative here, but it's needed discussion: Are the old models adequate, or are any of the new theories that are emerging more apposite, or more fit for purpose?

I finally got around to creating a slideshow that highlights some of the above issues, and features many of the theories I have previously written about. I stated in the presentation that theories are important for at least two reasons: Firstly they enables us to explain what we are seeing from a perspective. Secondly, they can inform and justify our professional practice as teachers. I suggested that although the new theories are useful, we still need to take transformational learning theories into account, and we need to reconsider some of the social learning theories that we are already familiar with. I created the slideshow below as an accompaniment to an invited webinar I presented for ELESIG - hosted by the University of Nottingham. I will be interested in your views.

Learning Theories for the Digital Age from Steve Wheeler

Photo by Steve Wheeler


Learning theories for the digital age by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.