Nocking the Arrow

"We need to move beyond the idea that an education is something that is provided for us, and toward the idea that an education is something that we create for ourselves." - Stephen Downes In this age of abundance of information, shifting classroom pedagogy isn't nearly enough to make learning in school more relevant and authentic for the learner. Self-directed learning ( andragogy ), and self-determined learning ( heutagogy ) are the ideals necessary in making students " future ready " to live and learn in a web-connected world. While original research applied these concepts to mature learners, it has become apparent that even young children have an abundant capacity for recognizing and directing their learning. Anyone who has observed toddlers learning how to walk and talk understand the motivation and skill development that quickly develops during these processes. Considered by some to be on a learning continuum, self-directed learning, and self-determined ...

Blaschke, L.M., 2012 - Heutagogy & Lifelong Learning Recently, while researching learning spaces to support modern literacies, I came across an interesting term that I was unfamiliar with, heutagogy. Heutagogy is the study of self-determined learning. Introduced in a report by Stewart Hase and Chris Kenyon , heutagogy emphasizes skill competencies, primarily learning how to learn. Heutagogy also relates to the concept of life-wide learning by acknowledging the learner's opportunity to profit intellectually from authentic experiences and settings. Unlike pedagogy and andragogy , which place an emphasis on instructor control and direction, heutagogy is indeed learner orchestrated. As information becomes more readily available, providing students opportunities to assume more responsibility for their learning, the role of the pedagogic instructor shifts to that of a facilitating lead learner providing advice, resources, and encouragement. Over the past few years, my in...