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KEYNOTE
ADDRESS
The Fifth IASTED International Conference on
WEB-BASED EDUCATION
~WBE 2006~
January
23-25, 2006
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
"Web-Based
Learning Communities: Improving Tools and Methods"
Dr.
Piet Kommers
University of
Twente, The
Netherlands
Interactive learning tools have brought us at the point
of acknowledging learners' responsibility for 'learning
to learn'. Meta-cognitive skills become urgent now when
students have access to highly specialized WWW-resources
and communication devices that allow teams to build cognitive
synergy like in designing, medical diagnosis and problem
solving. It seems that schools have opened their windows
for learning competences that are needed to compete in the
new knowledge economies. Factual memorization has recently
been revalued for explaining how working, playing and learning
can go together. Speed and flexibility are complementary
and need to be trained before novices can survive in the
competitive battles of ICT industries, especially as it
come to small and medium enterprises. In Fontys Academy
in the Netherlands it is recognized that professional training
cannot longer rely on institutional and fixed curricula.
Learning Communities are the groups of learners that are
fully conscious of being responsible for the learning climate
where taking risk and self-regulation are key values. In
the domain of vocational learning a smooth and dynamic interplay
between conceptual, contextual and competence-orientation
is critical. Mobile devices are seen as necessary in order
to find the right person at the right time. Learning partners
are not necessarily peer students; many potential sparring
partners are in job-situations, unemployed or retired. The
Web allows us to find exactly a certain learning coach if
the essential qualifications are listed and validated in
the "yellow pages" for the learning communities.
Teachers will continuously stimulate learners to join groups
of learners, regardless test pressure or certification.
 Dr.
Piet Kommers is Associate Professor at the University
of Twente http://users.edte.utwente.nl/kommers/
and part time Lector at the Fontys Academy in The Netherlands.
His specialties are advanced learning tools like Concept
Mapping, Virtual Reality and Mobile Learning. His research
and teaching stretches from teacher education via European
Joint Research Projects to international projects under
the auspices of UNESCO. His recent publications are on learner's
preconceptions and representations that express pre-intuitive
ideas before actual learning may start: Cognitive
Support for Learning; Imagining the Unknown. He is editor
in several research journals and organizes conferences in
Mobile Learning 'IADIS
International Conference on Mobile Learning 2005' and
E-societies 'IADIS
International Conference e-Society 2005'. Based upon
his earlier research into cognitive styles and ergonomics
he recently initiated experiments in consolidation for memory
enhancements through sleeping stages. The central hypothesis
to be tested is that various levels of attention and consciousness
need to be taken into account for optimizing learners' long
term integration of new into prior knowledge. In this key-note
he will articulate the need for WWW-based Communities in
order to anchor social development, job-based training and
life-long learning. The key notion is that expertise manifests
between rather than in individuals; Essential learning takes
place in team work. The WWW and subsequent tools for sharing
and restructuring experiences need to be tailored to envisaged
learning. Experiential modeling and existential awareness
rather than test-driven training are crucial in sustainable
learning. Interactive examples will be demonstrated, leading
to the essential question if and how we going to manage
to benefit from contructionism without suffering from "empty"
curricula and study skills without in-depth knowledge and
understanding
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