Sharing Good Practice enable learners to personalise their learning . It will also allow them to leverage their personal experiences and cultural capital to ensure their cognitive development and future success .
Cultural Capital
Cultural capital is a collection of the social assets ( education , intellect , style of speech and dress ) and other symbolic elements ( skills , tastes , posture , clothing , mannerisms , material belongings , credentials , etc .) that students acquire or possess by being part of a particular social class , ethnicity , or nation . The term was developed and popularised by latetwentieth-century French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu .
In our new hyper-connected , digitallylinked world , cultural capital can be exchanged for economic capital via social connections , knowledge , skills , values and behaviours that help one attain high-paying jobs .
This is why the ability to socialise , create personalised learning networks and find mentors is an increasingly important part of any useful learning pathway .
Learning Playlists
As new learning pathways evolve , students will increasingly have more choice in what they learn and how they learn . Just as listeners can curate their selection of music on Spotify and iTunes , students of the future will curate their own learning “ playlists ”.
We can make a comparison with how we used to listen to music . In the old days , if a listener liked a particular song , they were expected to buy the entire album . Today , listeners can download just the song they want and add it to their customised music playlist .
Part of the process of creating learning playlists will be to break down extensive curricula into manageablesized chunks of knowledge . These can then be categorised into sections based on learner needs , prior knowledge , difficulty level , the time required , and additional research requirements .
Using learning playlists will also mean that we will be expected to change how we assess . The essence of a playlist is that it is not one-size-fitsall ( like the current syllabus in most schools ). A learning playlist will be unique to the individual needs of each child . Therefore , the assessments will also be required to be differentiated and flexible .
Terry Heick writing for TeachThought , says , “ With modern digital and social technology , learning playlists are now possible . Each learner has access to both the content and the tools to consume content in an order that is within their unique Zone of Proximal Development , cultural schema , and personal interest — learning playlists combine the formless nature of digital content with the need for unique content . They need not be asynchronous . Fully social collaboration is possible within and across the lists . They can be projects , traditional academic work , or help inform Place-Based Education .”
Instead of focusing on rigid structure , prescribed syllabus , and teaching in sequence , we ’ ve got to transition towards the just in time , just enough , just for me philosophy of Personalised learning .
As students make this transition , what they need help with are the following :
• Building on prior knowledge and prior experience
• Bridging current knowledge and future knowledge
• Creating learning pathways that are diverse , cross-curricular , and interdisciplinary .
• Ensuring playlists and learning pathways cater to diverse and niche interests
• Making informed choices about post-high school and future career pathways
• Opportunities to share their learning and collaborate locally and globally
The main takeaway is that we need new learning pathways for a new economy .
The Gig Economy
The old paradigm where you entered the workforce and had a job for life is over . The old days when you worked for a single employer from nine to five are ending . We are now witnessing the evolution of new ways of working . A gig economy is an environment where temporary positions are readily available , and companies work with freelancers or contract independent workers for short-term assignments .
The U . S . Bureau of Labor Statistics says that today ’ s learners will have 8 to 10 jobs by the time they are 38 . Many of them will join the workforce as freelancers . The gig economy allows workers the flexibility of keeping their own time and also occasionally working on multiple jobs with different organisations . In such an economy , a worker is paid for the gig they do . These could be video production , copy editing , graphic designing , website creation , Uber driving etc .
A report by Mckinsey Global Institute titled , Independent Work : Choice , Necessity , and the Gig Economy found that up to 162 million people in Europe and the United States — or 20 to 30 per cent of the working-age population — engage in some form of independent work . The report points out that though these independent workers are of diverse demographic backgrounds , they could broadly be divided into four categories : free agents are those who actively choose independent work and derive their primary income from it ; casual earners , are those who use independent work for supplemental income and do so by choice ; reluctant , make their primary living from independent work but would prefer traditional jobs ; and the financially strapped , who do supplemental independent work out of necessity .
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