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TopBackground: Personalisation In A Lifelong Learning Vision
Over time a great amount of theories and definitions of personalisation of learning have been produced. The expressions personalised learning, personalising learning, individualised learning have been coined to characterise and support with different emphasis the basic common view that each learner should be able to choose a tailored learning path, in order to meet personal needs, interests and abilities (Bentley & Miller, 2004); to promote both independence and dependability (Downes, 2007;); to enhance social skills and sense of responsibility toward others (Pankhurst, 1922; Keller, 1968); to improve creative, intellectual, social and moral growth and develop personality fully (OECD, 2006; Rogers, 1983).
As the activator of economical, cultural and social growth of the knowledge society, the individual should be seen as an active, responsible and self-motivated learner, a co-author of the script that determines how education is delivered (Knowles, 1970; Leadbeater, 2004), often with extensive use of technology in the process; briefly, a lifelong learner (Leone, 2010; Martinez-Pons, 2002; Zimmerman, 2002).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Personal Learning Environment: A concept, a group of techniques and a variety of tools to (1) gather information, explore and develop relationships between pieces of information; (2) facilitate the access to and the aggregation, the configuration and the management of the individual’s learning experiences. A PLE is an activity-based learning environment, user-managed and learner-centred; it is an open system, interconnected with other PLEs and with other external services.
Learning Management System: Organisation-centred learning space where online interaction takes place between learners and teachers
Lifelong Learners: Self-regulated learners, characterized as demonstrating perseverance, initiative, and adaptive abilities. Self-regulation relates to an ability to recognize a need for further learning as well as to be proactive in gaining access to and accomplishing learning.
Social Semantic Web: As a result of the merging of Social Web, the web of social relations and collective intelligence, and the Semantic web, the web of data, it consists in explicit and semantically rich knowledge representations created by social interactions on the Web.
Adult Education: All forms of non-vocational adult learning, whether of a formal, non-formal or informal nature.
Adaptivity: In adaptive learning systems, it provides increased user’s efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction by greater correspondence between learner’s needs and goals and the characteristics of the system.
Lifelong Learning: A holistic vision of learning in different contexts (formal, non-formal and informal) and throughout life, based on the evolution of provider-driven education toward personalised learning and aiming at improving knowledge, skills and competencies within a personal, civic, social and/or employment-related outlook.
Informal Learning: Unstructured learning that allows persons to acquire attitudes, values, skills and knowledge from daily experience, within the individual’s environment (i.e., family, friends, peer groups, etc.).
Formal Learning: Hierarchically structured, chronologically graded educational system running from primary through to tertiary institutions.