When I first heard the term learning environment, I immediately associate it with a brick-and-mortar environment; a classroom, a campus. Also, I associate it to the typical teaching-based approach to education where the culture is the environment, and concentrates on teaching us about the world. This model assumes that teaching is required for learning to occur. Consequently, it sees education as a process of conveying information from the teacher down to the student, and the student must prove through a test that he has received and assimilated the information. According to Thomas & Brown (2011), this model, however, “just can’t keep up with the rapid rate of change in the twenty-first century” (p. 323). Opposite to the teaching-based approach, it is the learning–based approach where the culture emerges from the environment and grows along with it. It focuses on learning through participation within the world. The classroom as a model is substituted by learning environments in which digital media provide access to a rich source of information and play, and the processes that happen within those environments are necessary to the results. The learning–based approach welcomes what we don’t know, come up with better questions about it, and continue asking these issues to learn more (Thomas & Brown, 2011). My goal is to take the new culture of learning and make it part of my innovation plan. In doing so, I hope that my students and I will involve ourselves in a world of infinite learning possibilities.
A New Culture of Learning
An extensive information system that provides almost limitless access and resources to learn about anything is one of the fundamental components of A New Culture of Learning. A second component is a limited and structured environment that allows for extensive action to develop and experiment with things within those limits, Brown & Thomas (2011). Due to the nature and goals of my innovation plan (Bilingual Blended Program), the limited access to the digital information set by my district, the age of my students; the second component of A New Culture of Learning is one of the fundamental ideas that I will bring into my learning environment.
Another idea that I will adopt from A New Culture of Learning is Learning to Embrace Change. Thomas & Brown (2011) states that “embracing change and seeing information as a resource can help us stop thinking of learning as an isolated process of information absorption and start thinking of it as a cultural and social process of engaging with the constantly changing world around us” (pp. 544-547). I welcome innovation, and I look forward to what will come next. I will look into the future for new possibilities. Also, I will make the most of living in a world of motion. So for our students, cohorts, administrators, and even ourselves to think holistically, we all must be flexibles and embrace change. Harapnuik (2015) states that “we have moved into a world of a ubiquitous axis which has changed everything” where “flexibility is a driving force in [everyone] lives.”
The main challenge in my project is to increase the Lexile level of my students. To do so, it requires memorization. Unfortunately, what students memorize are things they don’t actually use very often in their day-to-day lives (Thomas & Brown, 2011). Therefore, I will look for options to increase the tacit knowledge of my students. According to Thomas & Brown (2011), tacit knowledge “is the component of knowing that is assumed, unsaid, and understood as a product of experience and interaction” (pp. 969-972). I will expose my students to online activities that increase their tacit knowledge in a fun way.
By design and implementing in my classroom a significant learning environment that is learning centered, contextual, and inclusive; it will not only have a positive impact on my students but in my whole organization. “Renew or die,” says the Spanish adage. The future is here; the world is invariably moving to digital education. It is not if we want to go in that direction; it is the only practical way. According to Harapnuik (2015), “We live in an age where we can access all the world’s information from the palm of our hands. There’s never been a better time to be a learner”. Our district is implementing the learning–based approach from top-bottom. They started with high schools; now they are moving fast into middle schools; it is a matter of time for change to arrive at our school. And I say “why to wait.”
Since I started my graduate studies, my learning philosophy has drastically changed. When I first begin to build my E-portfolio, I created the Why, How, and What of my learning philosophy, it was well-intentioned but lacking a structure that supported with solid arguments the concepts exposed. My learning philosophy has become an organic learning philosophy, constantly changing. With each course I take, with each book I read, I modify it.
References
Harapnuik, D. (2015, May 8). Creating significant learning environments (CSLE) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ-c7rz7eT4
Thomas, D. & Brown, J. S. (2011). A New culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Kindle ed., CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
