The key for understanding the role of media in learning is that of a catalyst; It allows us to reconsider the mutual effects between teachers and learners, and among teachers in particular. Most crucial is that we start to understand that effective teachers have stayed good learners themselves. For at least six decades education has invested in optimizing the delivery- and instructional function of teaching. As the web suddenly allowed learners to find factual information in a split second, it became immediately clear that the critical phase in learning is in the “problem finding” rather than the “problem solving.”
This blog brings forward the recent evolution from individualized- via collaborative- into the collective learning via social media. The target of the analysis is to find out how learning starts to improve itself; not by better transfer methods; but by avoiding the learner to feel as a copycat of the teacher. In a number of recent projects in The Netherlands we meet the combination of regular education with innovative thinking like in the cradle-to-cradle industry and design. The TRIZ method based upon Altshuller’s conceptual re-engineering is a good candidate to revitalize learning practices and allow teachers to re-establish what is important in learning. As a consequence, assessment methods should focus on the authenticity rather than the multiplicity of learning effects; Creativeness should regain its status in learning communities, to being with among teachers who have an open mind towards new learning practices. Again, here also the role of new media is one of catalyst as before.
