Understanding SLO 22 - Lifelong Learning

This paper is an informative overview of the student learning objective SLO 22, lifelong learning, in relation to the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo Construction Management Department. The student learning objective of lifelong learning is an existing university objective for Cal Poly, however, recently has also become a department specific objective for Construction Management. This senior project explores what lifelong learning means to the Construction Management department. Further, the paper explores how the current outcomes of this objective may improve to more closely embody the department mission. These findings will allow for emphasis on lifelong learning in order to prepare students to be lifelong learners while receiving an education at Cal Poly, as well as continued growth after graduation. The hybrid nature of this senior project includes a project-based portion consisting of the creation of a study guide of SLO 22. The intended purpose of the study guide is to prepare students for the AIC Associate Contractor Exam. The research-based portion of this project includes the creation and distribution of a survey with the intention of determining what lifelong learning is, how the Cal Poly Construction Management Department is currently fulfilling this objective, and how it can be improved

Pedagogical and learning strategies for promoting internet information literacy in Singapore secondary school students

Internet information literacy has the potential to open the whole world of knowledge to easy access and use. Computer literacy and Internet readiness alone do not empower the learner to capitalise on the use of the Internet to acquire useful knowledge. Without information literacy, the learner would be overwhelmed not only by the information overload but also by being confronted with the amount of unreliable information posted on the Internet. Therefore this paper looks at how the Internet age might influence the ways that students learn and how to capitalise on it to prepare those students for the digital world of today and how to be empowered for the future challenges of the increasing complexities of tomorrow. The findings indicate that the integration of discipline-specific Internet information literacy into the curriculum is essential before we can enhance student learning using the Internet for resource-based learning. It is also to equip them with relevant information management skills and the ability to learn independently. These are fundamental skills required to become emerging lifelong learners in the midst of an information explosion so as to be able to meet the challenges of the 21st century and the knowledge economy

The Maker Movement, the Promise of Higher Education, and the Future of Work

abstract: The 21st century will be the site of numerous changes in education systems in response to a rapidly evolving technological environment where existing skill sets and career structures may cease to exist or, at the very least, change dramatically. Likewise, the nature of work will also change to become more automated and more technologically intensive across all sectors, from food service to scientific research. Simply having technical expertise or the ability to process and retain facts will in no way guarantee success in higher education or a satisfying career. Instead, the future will value those educated in a way that encourages collaboration with technology, critical thinking, creativity, clear communication skills, and strong lifelong learning strategies. These changes pose a challenge for higher education’s promise of employability and success post-graduation. Addressing how to prepare students for a technologically uncertain future is challenging. One possible model for education to prepare students for the future of work can be found within the Maker Movement. However, it is not fully understood what parts of this movement are most meaningful to implement in education more broadly, and higher education in particular. Through the qualitative analysis of nearly 160 interviews of adult makers, young makers and young makers’ parents, this dissertation unpacks how makers are learning, what they are learning, and how these qualities are applicable to education goals and the future of work in the 21st century. This research demonstrates that makers are learning valuable skills to prepare them for the future of work in the 21st century. Makers are learning communication skills, technical skills in fabrication and design, and developing lifelong learning strategies that will help prepare them for life in an increasingly technologically integrated future. This work discusses what aspects of the Maker Movement are most important for integration into higher education.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology 201

Self-Directed Learning and the Impact of Leadership: Analyzing Keys for Success from a Covenental Perspective

The current state of education seems to beg for visionary changes to truly impact students and prepare them for the future. Self-directed learning models purport to do just that, by preparing students to be self-motivated, lifelong learners. While many educators seek to apply self-directed practices, research reveals that there are several obstacles that can hinder self-directed learning. Duby’s 2006 study of schools employing self-directed learning investigated how leaders successfully overcome these hindrances via specific leadership attitudes and behaviors that not only effectively overcame these obstacles, but are also reflected in the covenantal perspective of leadership. Using content analysis, this paper further explores the findings of Duby’s study of educational leaders, analyzing them within the covenantal construct developed by Fischer (2003), in order to better understand the relationship between effective leadership practice and the covenantal perspective. This study revealed intriguing similarities between particulars of the CFA model and the leadership practices exhibited in the self-directed learning schools. These similarities also present opportunities for future study, including whether visionary organizations are more apt to be motivated by covenantal principles and examining the type of for-profit organizations that are more apt to embody the tenets of CFA

Literacy Transformation Through The Common Core: Finding our Heartbeat

For over a decade reading mandates have caused reading to be taught as its own subject, isolated from the other language arts, often in place of writing, content area learning, and arts integration. With the adoption and implementation of the Common Core State Standards (2010) there is potential for literacy teachers to rethink the curriculum used, methods of instruction, and how to provide individual and diverse learners with meaningful opportunities to use literacy to learn. If teachers take ownership and follow their expertise they can implement a more truly comprehensive and integrated learning experience that would prepare students for lifelong learning that uses literacy to learn content knowledge, sciences, math, art and music

Helping High School English Learners Self-Regulate Their Writing Development Through Formative Assessments

The goal of many educators is to prepare students for lifelong learning, yet something about the U.S. school system is having the opposite effect; while students begin their educational journey with curiosity and excitement, somewhere along the way, their thirst for knowledge is extinguished and replaced with the goal of just getting by. This is especially true for English learners who are often overwhelmed with the simultaneous learning of language and content and whose diverse backgrounds create diverse needs. Through exploring the theory of self-regulated learning, characteristics of effective formative assessment, and how best to meet the cultural and linguistic needs of high school English learners, this project identifies one method educators can use to help reignite their students’ love of learning: the HyperRubric. When used in a formative way, the HyperRubric can help learners begin to take a more active, reflective role in their learning and start to shift their mindset from focus on product to focus on process

Problem Based Learning and STEM Model design in a Secondary Biology Curriculum

Education in the field of science is designed to prepare students to achieve success and understanding of the science that surrounds them and hopefully train them for a continued education and understanding of the scientific field. When educational content is demonstrated rather than discovered it inhibits a student’s ability to become a lifelong learner and explorer of the sciences. Learning through demonstration also prevents students from experiencing the collaboration between science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The following education plan models education that is designed around discovering how real world body systems function and collaborating to apply knowledge rather than repeat it. The literature review following will explain further benefits of real world discovery based education. Further review explains how problem based learning drives students to approach real world scientific problems in local communities with a scientific and systematic belief that their knowledge is applicable in a real world setting

Architectural students’ year-out training experience in architectural ofces in the UK

This paper investigates architectural students’ ‘year-out’ learning experiences in architectural offices after completing RIBA Part I study within a UK university. By interviewing and analysing their reflections on the experience, the study examines how individual architecture students perceive and value their learning experience in architectural offices and how students understand and integrate what they have learned through two distinct elements of their training: in university and in offices. The architectural offices that students worked with vary in terms of workforce size and projects undertaken. The students’ training experience is not unified. The processes of engaging with concrete situations in real projects may permit students to follow opportunities that most inspire them and to develop their differing expertise, but their development in offices can also be restricted by the vicissitudes of market economics. This study has demonstrated that architectural students’ learning and development in architectural offices continued through ‘learning by doing’ and used drawings as primary design and communicative media. Working in offices gave weight to both explicit and tacit knowledge and used subjective judgments. A further understanding was also achieved about what architects are and what they do in practice. The realities of their architectural practice experience discouraged some Part I students from progressing into the next stage of architectural education, Part II, but for others it demonstrated that a career in architecture was ‘achievable’. This study argues that creative design, practical and technical abilities are not separate skill-sets that are developed in the university and in architectural offices respectively. They are linked and united in the learning process required to become a professional architect. The study also suggests that education in the university should do more to prepare students for their training in practice. Yun Gao is an architect and Senior Lecturer in the School of Art, Design, and Architecture at the University of Huddersfield. After earning a PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 1998, she practiced architecture in Bristol. Her research has explored teaching and learning in architectural education. Kevin Orr has been Senior Lecturer in the School of Education and Professional Development at the University of Huddersfield since 2006 where his research has mainly focused on work-based learning and professional development of teachers in the lifelong learning and skills sector

A focus on self-directed learning: The role that educators’ expectations play in the enhancement of students’ self-directedness

Research in self-directed learning (SDL) has become imperative for education and training in the international arena, and in South Africa. This is a result of the changing education landscape all over the world, initiated by the demands of the 21st century and the changes in knowledge and information production. Teacher-centred methods are still the standard in most schools and higher-education institutions in South African and therefore they do not sufficiently prepare students to become lifelong learners in the 21st century. This study was guided by the following research question: How do educators’ expectations influence students’ self-directed learning willingness? A constructivist paradigm is evident in my epistemological position, as the idea of SDL is based on the answers of the 12 research participants rather than on my own conceptualisation, as I choose a more personal manner of data collection and data analysis. It is recommended that educators transform their learning environments into supportive SDL environments by practising good teaching by a) motivating students not only to learn, but teaching students how to learn in a manner that is relevant and meaningful, b) having a longing to share their love of the subject with students, c) encouraging independence in learning, d) implementing teaching approaches that necessitate students to learn actively by taking responsibility for their own and co-operatively learning, and e) demonstrating positive expectations from students’ learning and encouraging students to engage in SDL.Keywords: educators’ expectations; self-directed learning; self-directedness; students’ motivation; willingnes

Application of Electronic Learning in the Educational Education Work of the Classroom Teaching and Teaching

Modern technologies provide advanced knowledge and prepare students for lifelong learning. They affect both education and upbringing. Electronic learning is now inevitable. The main goal is to create a modern school through information technology, and to abandon the current traditional way of working. Electronic learning offers many learning advantages where we will point out some of its most important features in the paper, and we will give guidance on how to apply it through several tasks related to the attitudes and opinions of teachers and students about its use, better results, more motivation for learning and similar. We have come up with a result where students and teachers advocate learning through information technology in classroom teaching and want to apply them in their work