What is contemporary education and what does it mean for the presentation of topics on the WirLernenOnline website? Eleven committed members of the WirLernenOnline community have now discussed this. The initiator was Jöran Muuß-Merholz from Jöran and his colleagues.
What do we mean by successful learning? This understanding has undergone a significant shift – away from characteristics such as “teacher-centered”, “systematic”, “alone”, “aimed at a fixed result” to attributes such as “learning centered”, “problem-oriented”, “in exchange”, “open-ended ”. The reality of life for students today is very different from that of previous generations. All of this has to be taken into account in the endeavor to design contemporary education digitally. Also at WirLernenOnline.
In essence, it is about developing new forms of learning and teaching and mapping them in such a way that they do justice to both the current, problem- and project-related understanding of learning and the realities of life of the learner. Perhaps the most fundamental question is: How do we all together achieve that the students: Inside see a meaning in what they (should) learn? The best way to achieve this is for the learners to recognize for themselves what significance certain learning content has for their everyday life and how it will influence their future. This also clarifies for the students which content they want to learn within a topic complex and why.
Let’s take the topic of “Berlin” as an example. The question today is: What are you most interested in? Maybe urban development? Problem-oriented questions that follow this could be: How will the population density develop? Does more living space have to be created in the future? Do rents have to be capped? How can car traffic be reduced? What do alternative, green forms of mobility look like? Are there experiences / findings from history that can be used for future urban planning? Then it would be discussed: What information do you need to get an idea? Are there other subjects that can provide additional information? In the end, what forms of presentation are available to optimally present the results?
For specialist portals such as WirLernenOnline This project-oriented approach for self-directed learning means one thing above all: Rigid subject structures are broken up and the contents of the various subjects are networked with one another. Because teaching topics are no longer conceived and prepared as limited to one subject. The new openness offers plenty of space for creativity and inspiration. Why not give it a try with “Spanish meets Art”? For the interdisciplinary networking of the learning content, the learning platforms must also provide space for experimentation in order to make modern project learning digitally possible in the first place.
In addition to the content, methods and materials play a major role in contemporary education. What do we mean by “material” anyway? Can old formats such as the “wall newspaper” be modified and modernized towards creative and media-variable presentation methods? And how do the materials and media used actually change the learning content itself?
An example in which the interdisciplinary provision and networking of learning content on WirLernenOnline The topic of “sustainability” has already been successful, and it touches upon natural science subjects such as physics and chemistry, but also geography and sociology. The WLO-Portals “Sustainability”, “Political Education”, “Media Education” and “OER” are further steps in this direction.
Do you have any other ideas? Do you want to develop WirLernenOnline in this direction together with us? Then get in touch with us. Help promote WirLernenOnline. For free education for everyone!
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