education – The Preschoolers Connect

Life-long learning, a term commonly used in academia based settings. However, according to a recent article by Harvard University, this is a skill employers are looking for in applicants.

Q: What exactly is life-long learning? How can we become life-long learners? What is its purpose? Why does this topic need attention?

A: The lifelong learning mindset is more than just about the need to learn; it’s about a desire to learn that lasts a lifetime.

Educators want their learners to succeed both in and out of the classroom. The idea is to make sure that once our children or students leave school, they no longer need us. In essence, our learners must become teachers and leaders. The point is that they never stop being learners. To be a successful lifelong learner, make a commitment early to expand your horizons by making room for new topics of inspiration in your life.

Lifelong learning is now recognized by educators, governing bodies, accreditation organizations, certification boards, employers, third-party payers, and the general public as one of the most important competencies a person can possess. Lifelong learning requires embracing opportunities to learn, accepting failure, and growing from it. To cultivate the habit of life-long learning, here are 10 points to remember:

1. Accept Responsibility for Your Own Learning

Everyone encounters obstacles along their journey. Life-long learners understand that obstacles can be used as opportunities to connect to their next destination. These make excellent, real world learning experiences, as obstacles are often personal to the individual experiencing them.

2. Create Your Own Learning Toolbox

What exactly do you need to learn? For some, this is a favorite playlist, podcast, or inspirational video. For others, their toolbox might include moments of meditation and a cup of coffee. For young children with attention disorders, a simple toy or fidget helps them focus in the moment. Whatever is needed, build your toolbox based on your learning needs.

3. Focus on the Journey, Not the Destination

This can be hard to do. We all want to succeed and fast! Often times, this causes anxiety and a slew of events that could be avoided if we just focus on the journey, rather than bulldozing to the next destination. There is strength in knowing when to shut tunnel vision off and look around at where you are currently. Our students are on a journey of learning in school that continues well beyond the physical and virtual classroom walls. A healthy positive lifelong learning mindset is the greatest gift we can give them to continue that journey with.

4. Turn Mistakes into Opportunities

We will all make mistakes. It is human nature to experiment. Along the journey, it is important to embrace failure and view it as another learning opportunity. “You either grow or you learn.”

5. Embrace Holistic Health and Education for Learning

Mind/body health leads to a willingness and desire to learn. When the whole student is healthy they feel good; this promotes positive action in learning and discovery. Holistic education is a comprehensive approach to teaching where educators seek to address the emotional, social, ethical, and academic needs of students in an integrated learning format. Students are taught to reflect on their actions and how they impact the global and local community, as well as how to learn from the community around them. Teachers often engage students in projects that apply critical-thinking skills toward solving real-world problems.

6. Create Time to Rest

The average college student only gets around six hours of sleep per night. Recent research on college students and sleep shows that insufficient sleep impacts our health, our moods, our GPA, and our safety. Sleep is critical at every stage of life, but it’s especially important for college students or those who are actively learning. Sleep is key to learning because it is during our sleep that our brain has time to consolidate new memories. So when people say if you want to learn something you should “sleep on it” they mean it literally.

7. Develop a Habit of Reading

First, set a specific reading goal for the year. Once you’re done setting your reading goal for the year, you’ll need a list to back it up. Write out a list of the amazing books you want to read. Set aside specific times everyday to read your assigned book for the week/month and any other articles you may have bookmarked. If you’re looking to create a consistent reading pattern, then setting out a particular number of pages per day would work perfectly.

8. Life-Long Learning Mindset

Lifelong learning is the ongoing education of the self. Because it’s on a continuum, this type of learning is self-motivated and often self-taught. It’s about turning the act of learning in a classroom into a daily mindset and habit for personal development. It’s about having a fierce desire to gain knowledge and skills whenever, wherever, and however.

9. Celebrate Your Successes

“These feelings—gratitude, compassion, and pride—are easier to generate than the willpower and self-denial that underpin traditional approaches to self-control and grit. And while willpower is quickly depleted, prosocial emotions actually become stronger the more we use them.”-David Desteno, Ph.D.

10. Do What You Love and Discover Your Ikigai (Reason for Being)

Ikigai (ee-key-guy) is a Japanese concept that combines the terms iki, meaning “alive” or “life,” and gai, meaning “benefit” or “worth.” When combined, these terms mean that which gives your life worth, meaning, or purpose.

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At the heart of the TPACK framework, is the complex interplay of three primary forms of knowledge: Content (CK), Pedagogy (PK), and Technology (TK). The TPACK approach goes beyond seeing these three knowledge bases in isolation. The TPACK framework goes further by emphasizing the kinds of knowledge that lie at the intersections between three primary forms: Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), Technological Content Knowledge (TCK), Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK), and Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK).

Effective technology integration for pedagogy around specific subject matter requires developing sensitivity to the dynamic, transactional relationship between these components of knowledge situated in unique contexts. Individual teachers, grade-level, school-specific factors, demographics, culture, and other factors ensure that every situation is unique, and no single combination of content, technology, and pedagogy will apply for every teacher, every course, or every view of teaching.

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May be an image of text that says 'Contexts Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK) Technological Knowledge (TK) Technological Content Knowledge (TCK) TPACK Pedagogical Knowledge (PK) Content Knowledge (CK) Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK)'

Content Knowledge (CK) – “Teachers’ knowledge about the subject matter to be learned or taught. The content to be covered in middle school science or history is different from the content to be covered in an undergraduate course on art appreciation or a graduate seminar on astrophysics… As Shulman (1986) noted, this knowledge would include knowledge of concepts, theories, ideas, organizational frameworks, knowledge of evidence and proof, as well as established practices and approaches toward developing such knowledge” (Koehler & Mishra, 2009).
Pedagogical Knowledge (PK) – “Teachers’ deep knowledge about the processes and practices or methods of teaching and learning. They encompass, among other things, overall educational purposes, values, and aims. This generic form of knowledge applies to understanding how students learn, general classroom management skills, lesson planning, and student assessment.” (Koehler & Mishra, 2009).
Technology Knowledge (TK) – Knowledge about certain ways of thinking about, and working with technology, tools and resources. and working with technology can apply to all technology tools and resources. This includes understanding information technology broadly enough to apply it productively at work and in everyday life, being able to recognize when information technology can assist or impede the achievement of a goal, and being able continually adapt to changes in information technology (Koehler & Mishra, 2009).
Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) – “Consistent with and similar to Shulman’s idea of knowledge of pedagogy that is applicable to the teaching of specific content. Central to Shulman’s conceptualization of PCK is the notion of the transformation of the subject matter for teaching. Specifically, according to Shulman (1986), this transformation occurs as the teacher interprets the subject matter, finds multiple ways to represent it, and adapts and tailors the instructional materials to alternative conceptions and students’ prior knowledge. PCK covers the core business of teaching, learning, curriculum, assessment and reporting, such as the conditions that promote learning and the links among curriculum, assessment, and pedagogy” (Koehler & Mishra, 2009).
Technological Content Knowledge (TCK) – “An understanding of the manner in which technology and content influence and constrain one another. Teachers need to master more than the subject matter they teach; they must also have a deep understanding of the manner in which the subject matter (or the kinds of representations that can be constructed) can be changed by the application of particular technologies. Teachers need to understand which specific technologies are best suited for addressing subject-matter learning in their domains and how the content dictates or perhaps even changes the technology—or vice versa” (Koehler & Mishra, 2009).
Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK) – “An understanding of how teaching and learning can change when particular technologies are used in particular ways. This includes knowing the pedagogical affordances and constraints of a range of technological tools as they relate to disciplinarily and developmentally appropriate pedagogical designs and strategies” (Koehler & Mishra, 2009).
Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) – “Underlying truly meaningful and deeply skilled teaching with technology, TPACK is different from knowledge of all three concepts individually. Instead, TPACK is the basis of effective teaching with technology, requiring an understanding of the representation of concepts using technologies; pedagogical techniques that use technologies in constructive ways to teach content; knowledge of what makes concepts difficult or easy to learn and how technology can help redress some of the problems that students face; knowledge of students’ prior knowledge and theories of epistemology; and knowledge of how technologies can be used to build on existing knowledge to develop new epistemologies or strengthen old ones” (Koehler & Mishra, 2009).