The idea for this book actually originated back in 2008, with the publication of “Scaffolding Discovery Learning Spaces” in MERLOT’s Journal of Online Learning and Teaching at http://jolt.merlot.org/vol4no4/hai-jew_1208.pdf.   I was noticing so many resources online that were shared in public spaces for learning, but their structures were not aligned for human learning and consumption. That got me thinking about how to structure socio-technical spaces for individual and group learning, for interacting with other learners, and for innovating.  

There’s a lot of work in the literature about how to create formal learning in various fields, but informal learning has been less of a focus.  When I looked at global demographics and the many young people who are reaching college age (a majority of whom would not have a chance per se to pursue formal  higher education), that further reaffirmed the need for broader inclusivity in learning through these connective technologies.  In my 20s, I spent some four years abroad teaching at two universities overseas (and working for the United Nations Volunteer Programme of the UNDP).  Those years informed some of my sense of the world—and it is a world of great human potential, which should be supported.  We’re all cumulative products of the investments by so many around us, and we need to give something back.    

There are some very creative approaches to the design of self-discovery learning.  There are some sites with designed learning that has learning analytics on the back end.  There are some spaces that offer customization of learning.  There are also many open courseware resources from renowned universities and there are digital libraries with virtual community tools.  There are other structures out there. Ideally, we would have a parallel learning track for those going open-access and open-source and those going the formal route.  The mentoring piece is critical, though, to close the “zone of proximal development” for novice learners.  Mentoring is also critical for supporting innovations—learning that is cutting-edge, revolutionary, and potentially a positive “black swan.”  There is so much human potential that is not currently harnessed.  What is in the book is a small subset of what is going on out there.  I’ll be the first to admit that it can be hard to solicit works from people who are busy doing great things. I am very grateful for the authors who generously shared their expertise in Constructing Self-Discovery Learning Spaces Online.   

Another motivator was my realization that many of us engage in self-learning over our lifetimes.  It is said that the half-life of a college degree is just a few years.  What knowledge we have is constantly degrading over time, and we need to refresh our knowledge and skill sets constantly to remain relevant.  I realized that a lot of what I know has actually been acquired informally.  While I have had a fair amount of formal learning, and continue to take graduate courses even now every semester, I put in a lot of work into acquiring new knowledge and skills regularly.  There is so much to learn and so much that is puzzling and interesting.  I am very curious about what it takes to support people in their lifelong informal learning.  What is it that can be designed to engage people to stay the course and to learn something thoroughly and creatively (without falling into constraining mental models)?  How can that hunger to learn be supported with technologies and knowledge structures and the virtual support of co-learners?  How can people attain that self-efficacy and confidence that will lead to more risk-taking in their own learning?  

Having worked as a college instructor for many years (and now as an instructional designer at Kansas State University for over six years), I realize that people conceptualize knowledge in very different ways. They perceive the world very differently.  They come at various life challenges in very innovative ways.  It helps to appreciate people’s differences and to strive to include learners as much as possible.  It’s also important to set and uphold high standards because people often do rise to the expectations of their instructors and peers.  

People arrive at different fields from a variety of backgrounds. In the U.S., in many universities and workplaces, such diverse backgrounds are encouraged because the different influences cross-fertilize into other fields in refreshing ways.  The heart of innovation is about drawing from a wide diversity of influences to see a problem or design challenge or situation with new eyes.  A domain field that is thriving should be attracting people from various backgrounds and integrating ideas and practices from various sources.  

For curriculum or instructional designers, this issue of equifinality means constructing different ways for learners to acquire knowledge and to enter a field in different ways. This means varying the assignments for a course.  This means working with learners to have them co-design some of their own areas of study and research.  This means encouraging learners to share their works with each other, so the learners themselves get a breadth of knowledge. This also means that it’s critical to draw from a range of sources for the subject matter, so that learners acquire diverse points-of-view and avoid singular points-of-view.  It’s too easy to commit too early to orthodoxies, and for learning to progress, it may be more helpful to entertain a wide variety of ideas.  So the curriculum design has to align with a more open sense of teaching and learning.  (I agree with the concept that the instructor is a co-learner and a co-discoverer with the students—in a sense.  There is so much more to be explored in most fields.)  

In your book you mentioned that self-discovery learning takes place at all levels, but that self-discovery learners are “self-reliant and independent, and they maintain their own executive functions.” What types of tools can be used to encourage more people to adopt these self-regulating behaviors?

It seems to me that self-discovery learning requires a kind of toughness because there are so many distractions in the world, and our work lives are focused very much on practical achievements.  So many people are self-satisfied with having acquired a college degree and a job.  I’d rather people feel dissatisfied and hungry for more learning.  

To learn continually, one has to sort of align the aspects of life to enable the energy and time and circumstances to acquire and test new knowledge.  Executive functions refer to the human ability to maintain self-control and discipline and to make informed choices about one’s life and learning.  These functions are enhanced by a sense of specific feedback and progress in learning.  People enjoy applying their learning creatively, and seeing their own development and growth can be very encouraging—for more learning and more risk-taking in that learning.  

In terms of tools, there are numerous types. There are many that help people surface and record fresh ideas and create mental models.  There are note-taking tools that enhance human articulation of learning and explorations. There are social tools that help people connect up with like-minded souls to encourage each other in their learning. There are mixed technologies that enable massive open online courses (MOOCs) which encourage distributed co-learning and sharing.   It seems to me that people also need encouragement—acknowledgment for what they’re doing and have achieved.   It seems important to have learning paths that allow some time of dropping out for life issues but then an easy re-acclimation to further learning, in a way that works with people’s busy lives today.  

There was a pretty amazing synergy I had when I started publishing with IGI-Global a few years ago.  I would peruse the Call for Chapter proposals page, and the vivid proposals of various editors would spark ideas from my work life.  They would remind me of projects I was engaged in that would make good case studies.  Or there would be research I would be working on that might fit with a particular forthcoming text.  I would propose chapters, and the various editors would respond.  Their responses provided a motive for me to pursue further learning and research—to back up the writings—and I found all that very salutary for my work life.  Even if I couldn’t find a topic to pursue at a particular time, it was just inspiring to know that so much was going on in information technologies.   These would inspire me to dip into the research literature to learn about fresh aspects of my very diverse field—of instructional design, information technologies, and psychology.  

The process of working with editors on various texts helped me learn a lot.  Even just using email, one can get a strong sense of the other people on the other end—and their professional lives, standards, and work habits.  It’s pretty amazing how much collegiality there can be over distance and time through the use of mediated communications.  

Peer reviewers taught me a lot about how to improve a work into its final form. Many editors gave me great opportunities to publish in their various books.  It’s not that all the editors and peer reviewers say yes every time.  They don’t.   However, even if the answer is ultimately no (rarely), there is still plenty of learning in the editorial process.  One walks away with ideas on how to improve a work.  Every chapter or article I’ve worked on has ultimately landed in publication (many outside of IGI-Global, too)—but arriving at this “state of the world” has not been an easy one. The work is challenging and time-consuming.  One has to read widely to get a sense of what one knows that may be relevant for others.   I do think it’s overall a very positive experience to work with IGI-Global and its excellent invited editors and peer reviewers, who hail from all over the world.  I think IGI-Global is innovative in how they approach their projects, and they follow through very well.   

I’ve also had the privilege to work on edited texts, and IGI’s excellent staff members pulled out all the stops to help me reach out to many professors and professionals around the world to elicit draft chapters for review.  Every domain field needs a way to collect new knowledge and disseminate it, and publishing houses like IGI-Global are part of this critical function.  IGI also helps build virtual (and local) communities of experts from around the world who collaborate around shared projects.  This publisher has broad reach and very effective marketing to reach out to so many.  

Dr. Shalin Hai-Jew works as an instructional designer at Kansas State University (K-State); she teaches for WashingtonOnline (WAOL). She has taught at the university and college levels for many years and was tenured but left tenure to pursue instructional design work. She taught in the People’s Republic of China from 1988 – 1990 and 1992 – 1994, the latter two years with the United Nations Volunteers Programme of the UNDP. She has Bachelor’s degrees in English and psychology and a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from the University of Washington (where she was a Hugh Paradise Scholar); she has an Ed.D. (2005) in Educational Leadership with a focus on public administration from Seattle University, where she was a Morford Scholar. She reviews for several publications—Educause Quarterly and MERLOT’s Journal of Online Learning and Teaching. She was born in Huntsville, Alabama, in the US.