Modernizing Learning: Building the Future Learning Ecosystem

2019; Schatz, S.; Vogel-Walcutt, J.

The future learning ecosystem–a holistic, lifelong, personalized learning paradigm–represents a contrast to the Industrial Age model of time-focused, one-size-fits-all learning. It promises to substantively change the way we learn, moving away from old models of disconnected experiences to a connected continuum of lifelong learning, personalized, driven by data, and delivered across diverse locations, media, and periods of time.

Modernizing Learning: Building the Future Learning Ecosystem examines the pivot our systems and society need to make to enable these lifelong, experiential, interconnected learning journeys, and it outlines a blueprint across technology, learning science, policy, and organizational factors for achieving this vision. This blueprint responds to external demands, such as the pace of global change and increased need for technical expertise, while simultaneously considering the new opportunities enabled by emerging technologies and our growing understanding of neuroscience and human cognition.

The book is the outcome of a multi-year study recently completed by the ADL Initiative. More than 85 stakeholders from across communities contributed, bringing perspectives from K–12 educators to military trainers and from technology specialists to government leaders. This publication provides a snapshot of the progress made to date, incorporating real-world case studies and published research to provide a basis for the blueprint. Then it outlines what we need to build for tomorrow as well as what this near-future system will enable our children, workforce, society, and military personnel to achieve.

Book chapters address topics such as lifelong learning, learning systems interoperability, analytics and visualizations, personalization, learning engineers, distributed learning instructional theory, self-regulated learning, competency-based learning, culture change, and strategic planning.

Translations: French translation by Canadian ADL and National Defence; Polish translation by NATO DEEP Programme; Ukrainian translation by Ukrainian ADL, National Defence University of Ukraine, and NATO DEEP Programme