Keynotes
Prof. Dr. Piet Kommers
"Learning amongst the Young Generation in the new University"
Prof. Dr.
Piet Kommers
Communication and 'mutually supporting learning experiences' have become a large part of higher education nowadays. The existential element:
"Who do I want to be, and why and how do I study this discipline" is dominant in youngsters' mobile communication.
It is recognized again that learning as shaping one's intellectual capacities cannot be isolated from one's personality, ideology and societal mission.
The phenomenon of "learning community" has gained momentum since the web evolved from an informational into a social and experiential context.
"Communities of Practice" refer to the notion that expertise is between- rather than exclusively inside persons.
Its consequence is that, both in study and work, institutional members participate in external communities through simulations, gaming and virtual realities.
2nd Life is a specimen of a larger trend towards ubiquity that allows citizens to identify with larger entities than regions and nations.
My presentation aims at the discussion to what extent our universities will absorb/defy youth culture in its way of learning and teaching.
My thesis is that universities need to articulate sharper what exactly is a "learning culture" and how it is supposed to proliferate in continuous professional learning in practice.
Piet Kommers is assistant professor at the University of Twente and honorary professor at the UNESCO International Research and Training Centre in Kiev. His current research is into educational aspect of virtual reality and the role of conceptual representations. His more complete curriculum vitae can be found on his Homepage.
RSS