Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
Rabat – In Morocco, for around fifteen years, a new mode of educational training has emerged overturning the traditional mode, including in the field of foreign languages. Indeed, to develop his skills the learner is required to train himself, the teacher only advises and guides him in his new role of facilitator or coach. As a result, the approach by skills, which has been adopted wholeheartedly in the university, secondary, and fundamental educational tracks, is an open door to self-learning.
It Is the socio-economic world that has given rise to the notion of competence because young people that established teachers trained were not sufficiently capable of integrating into the professional world. The competency-based approach responds to a concern for teaching efficiency, and greater correspondence between institutional learning to everyday and professional situations, through the appropriation of knowledge by the learner.
Competence is defined, in its broadest common sense, such as knowledge or ability recognized in a particular field, depending on whether it insists on knowledge, know-how, or even knowing how to be. For Hymes (1972), the communicative competence targeted currently through language learning does not allow only to decide on the grammaticality of a statement (on the basis of the grammatical competence it contains); but it adds appreciation of grammatical correction and the acceptability of statements by criteria of adequacy to the context and effectiveness of utterances as speech acts.
In fact, communicative competence includes three fundamental components, described in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2000), in this case, (i) the linguistic competence, (ii) sociolinguistic competence, and (iii) pragmatic competence. To install all these skills, the learner must not rely on his teacher but he must count on himself. Education in most countries of the world of which Morocco is part and parcel has implemented the new methodology of teaching by accompanying it with processes and ways to make this task easier and more accessible in the eyes of the student.
One lives in a constantly evolving work environment. Transformations are part of daily life whether one likes it or not! Thus, the best ally in these circumstances is one’s ability to learn in the flow of daily life in order to be able to continuously adapt. But what can one do to help managers and employees grow? If flexibility, efficiency, and adaptability were to be the keywords of everyone’s professional life, with busy schedules and ever-shorter deadlines, it would sometimes become almost impossible to find THE right time for THE training that will meet everyone’s needs. This is where independent learning becomes a more than interesting avenue!
What is unschooling?
Unschooling is a movement created in the 1960s by John Holt, an American teacher, researcher and writer who led actions for children’s rights and wrote numerous books devoted to the way children learn. According to Holt, children don’t need to be forced to learn; they do so naturally if they are given the freedom to follow their own interests, as well as access to multiple resources. Children are not forced to go to school, or to follow imposed curricula. They learn by living in their families and extended communities.
On the elucidation of the concept of ‘’unschooling’’, Patrick Farenga writes:
‘’Instead of working on children to make them do what we want them to do, why can’t we work with children to help them do what they want, and in that process develop the trust and relationship necessary so a child will eventually listen to you if you ask or tell them something that you think is important for them to know or do. Yes, this takes patience and lots of time on the adults’ part, but that’s what unschooling gives you: lots of time. You don’t have to run through the lesson plans and check off boxes that show accomplishments; you can teach through conversation, through your displays of integrity and patience, through playing fair, by having fun together. Direct instruction is just a piece of the picture, but In school, It Is the entire picture.’’
And he goes on to say:
“The thing is, many classroom teachers know they need to allow more freedom, play, and self-agency in their classes—even at the college level—but they don’t find any support for it and they are conditioned to move from one lesson plan to the next based on the dictates of the school schedule, so many quickly give up the fight to do such things in their classrooms and they just buckle down and get with the program.
Self-directed education in unschooling is thoroughly different: if a child finds an interest, such as learning to play the piano or computer programming and sticks with it, most people think that’s okay. But if they move from one interest to another, or burn through all the material about identifying birds in the library or online and then never look at bird books again, parents, and educators in particular, get worried and think unschooling is failing and they must focus the child on more academic matters. But the child is focusing, just not on the schedule and subjects you wish they would focus on, and having a multitude of interests is not necessarily a sign of ADD or hyperactivity or school phobia.’’
The term has been taken up and sometimes used In a roundabout way, by different people and organizations, to describe so-called gentler or alternative methods to imposed teaching, such as child-led learning or relaxed homeschooling. Some even use the term to describe gaps in the child’s education as in “partial unschooling” or “non-teaching” or even parental neglect! The books by John Holt and those more recent by Ontarian Pam Larrichia as well as the book entitled: An Education Without School by Thierry Pardo are good bases to read to grasp the educational philosophy behind ‘’unschooling’’.
Basically, unschooling is a process of “unschooling” of the parent (and sometimes of the child if he attended school). It is a process where the adult puts his own education and that of the “mainstream” of school and society into perspective, with the real needs of the child, his innate predispositions for learning and the most recent scientific knowledge on the ideal conditions for the intellectual, physical and emotional development of children! The adult places himself in the position of a companion rather than that of an authority figure; he considers himself the child’s equal rather than his superior. Note that this does not mean that the parent does not analyse their legal responsibilities of education, custody, and care towards the child, nor that there are no rules within the family; it simply means that the parent avoids coercive methods and accepts the child as he is, without the usual filters of societal expectations.
Understanding independent learning?
Ildikó Horváth defines autonomous learning in what follows:
“Autonomous learning is a complex and multi-faceted construct. According to Holec’s definition, it can be seen as the learners’ capacity to self-direct their own learning, which means taking responsibility for the decisions concerning the different aspects of the learning process. In self-directed learning, learners’ choices remain mainly on the learning management level, i.e. the behavioural level of learning, and it self-direction relates to the practical side of learning such as selecting learning materials, methods, the place and time of learning, the partners, etc. (Holec 1981:3). According to a more recent definition of autonomous learning, however, there is more to it than its pure management aspect. Autonomous learning, first of all, means critical thinking, planning and evaluating learning, and reflection, a conscious effort on the part of the learner to continuously monitor the learning process from beginning to end (Benson 2001:59– 60). This is the cognitive side of autonomous learning.’’
By autonomous learning, one means a training that allows everyone to take initiative and concrete actions. It is dynamic learning, with a personalized progression that follows the learner’s pace.
This is the concept:
– Just in time;
– Always accessible; and
– At your own pace…
Indeed, not everyone learns in the same way or at the same pace. However, whether one is a manager or an employee, it is important to regularly update one’s knowledge to stay up to date, efficient and motivated by one’s work.
Independent learning allows to keep one’s balance in the middle of the storm, but not only that! By providing the opportunity for managers and employees to have different experiences and acquire new knowledge. With independent learning, everyone can influence their own development. This allows them to be in a proactive posture. Training is no longer undergone, but chosen. Everyone naturally becomes more committed to becoming a better version of themselves.
In doing so, they become more confident, more efficient, more collaborative. They develop distinctive expertise that is useful for them, the organization and their peers. And who knows? This can help develop recognition within teams, and recognition is a source of commitment. In short, independent learning creates favorable conditions for nalyses t at work and professional advancement.
The place and role of the teacher
The role of the teacher has evolved: he is no longer limited to providing knowledge, he has become a guide, a mediator, a regulator, and a coach.
The teacher has a determining role in awakening motivation in the learner and therefore in building autonomy. It is his responsibility to conceptualize motivating activities, to build them, to implement them and finally to analyze the students’ results. The teacher is a real architect of school life. Even if autonomy presents itself as self-organization, it can be acquired through the organization of school life. The teacher must therefore conceive of one’s activities as tools that will allow him to organize himself in the conduct of his learning and in his behavior.
This means that the teacher gradually makes the student responsible, an actor of his learning by modulating his interventions according to his needs and by agreeing to lose absolute power over the class.
The more meaningful the activity is for the child, the more the teacher has benchmarks to analyze his successes and his difficulties. He will therefore be able to better direct his work independently. It is essential, indeed, that the student clearly perceives the meaning, the interest of the task proposed to him and that he understands what he is learning (verbalization of the teacher and/or student’s different moments: during the presentation of the task, during the completion of the task of self-assessment).
Sukriti Sen defines the teacher in the following words:
‘’Teachers play a very important role in a student’s life. As a teacher, one must bring out the best in students and inspire them to strive for greatness. Students are considered as the future of the nation and humankind, and a teacher is believed to be a credible guide for their advancement. Not only do they guide students in academics or extracurricular activities, but teachers are also responsible for shaping a child’s future, making him/her a better human being. A teacher imparts knowledge, good values, tradition, modern-day challenges and ways to resolve them within students. A good teacher is an asset to the students.’’
Every activity has a metacognitive dimension. The teacher must also be vigilant about the tools available to students because these contribute also to the exercise and development of autonomy. He also takes care of the material organization, spatial, temporal of the living environment which must be thought of in an evolving way with and for the students in depending on the needs, difficulties, problems, situations encountered on a daily basis.
The teacher will ensure a good alternation of the forms of work implemented which must be reflected and allow students to learn to work alone (small group work, etc.). He will design learning situations that must be part of learning units with reinvestment and transfer phases as well as evaluation times (including self-evaluation). The teacher will pay attention to the wording of instructions. It grants a positive status to error: errors serve as points of support for learning and have a formative dimension. Errors implement a pedagogy of success.
The teacher’s role is that of advisor. His interventions are measured and have a reassuring effect. The teacher will help the students to overcome the obstacles they encounter. Autonomy then takes on its full meaning. It’s not just about mastering knowledge, but also about an analysis of the constraints of the activity. Each child nalyses these and organizes his resolution based on the knowledge he has acquired. Depending on his choice, the student will be required to use certain tools that he can integrate into his working method.
The teacher must question his own pedagogical planning strategies and to ensure that every choice and every organization serves the progressive learning autonomy. Indeed, one can’t expect autonomy as be innate or spontaneous, or even as a prerequisite. It is the pedagogical variables that condition and guarantee autonomy. It’s a complex process that takes time and requires real teaching.
For the University of the People, teachers matter greatly in society:
‘’Teachers are the ultimate role models for students. The fact that students come into contact with many different types of teachers in their academic career means that more likely than not, there will be a teacher that speaks to them.
The teacher-student connection is invaluable for some students, who may otherwise not have that stability. Teachers will stay positive for their students even when things can seem grim. A great teacher always has compassion for their students, understanding of their students’ personal lives, and appreciation for their academic goals and achievements. Teachers are role models for children to be positive, always try harder, and reach for the stars.’’
What is digital learning?
Digital learning is quite simply the integration of digital technology into any training content. The term digital learning comes up frequently on search engines and with which it is now useful to become familiar if one is not already!
Whether deployed in small doses in addition to face-to-face teaching or in a fully dedicated educational formula, digital learning can take on different aspects at one’s convenience. It can thus fit together and complement existing training content to optimize it, make it more effective, or even facilitate exchanges between students and teachers.
Introducing digital education, Rosemarie Mcilwhan writes:
‘’Digital education is an umbrella term for any “education that is conducted at least partly in, with or through digital technologies. This is a deliberately broad definition that could encompass the use of technology in traditional classrooms, blended learning (which combines online and face-to-face instruction), and education that takes place entirely online.” (Allan, 2019)
In the 21st century, digital technologies are often an unseen part of daily life, from online banking, social media, and streaming services, to education or work-specific activities such as email, PowerPoint presentations, and PDF handouts. However, when it comes to more overtly digital technologies such as the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), or creation or use of digital media resources, or adoption of pedagogical approaches specifically related to digital education things can feel a bit more daunting.’’
Digital learning has continued to grow in recent years, linked both to the desire to better meet the needs of learners and to the democratization of new technologies, whether at home or in the workplace. Most if not all students have the ability to access a computer, a tablet, and of course their most valuable tool: their smartphone! Enough to facilitate the implementation of new technologies for the optimized development of educational skills.
For adults, a lot of educational content is now directly and entirely accessible online with the added bonus of being financially supported. Dozens of training organizations, platforms and other teaching centers have therefore developed specific online learning content in recent years while continuing to offer face-to-face courses in traditional form.
The health crisis experienced since spring 2020 with the closure of schools, colleges, high schools, and universities for several weeks has considerably accelerated the phenomenon of digitalization of learning. Constrained and forced at first, many establishments were able to bounce back and seize the opportunities that such a context could ultimately bring them.
The first to be affected were ultimately the students and teachers who had to resort to digital learning training in order not to jeopardize their learning process in conditions that were not always easy for everyone. An experience from which everyone was able to learn.
However, let’s not believe that digital technology, which is an integral part of our lives, remains easy for everyone. However, many people say they are still far from digital technology for various reasons: inability to access technology, lack of skills or information… A digital divide that remains and does not only concern seniors as it would be easy to think. There is still work to be done to get younger people, especially, to become familiar with these tools and the possibilities they can offer them.
Digital education: how does it work?
The trend in terms of digital version learning consists of being deployed in two distinct forms: e-learning, that is to say, distance teaching, or blended learning, which means mixed learning and which combines both face-to-face training and educational content distributed using digital e-learning tools.
Let’s take a closer look at these two approaches together.
– E-learning
The first option available is to implement the content of one’s training in an entirely digital manner. Distance learning centers generally offer a training course with video courses accessible online that students can follow at their own pace if the pace is not imposed on them.
On a dedicated platform, learners connect and watch video course modules of varying lengths. They have access to online exercises that can quickly be corrected and commented on by the teacher or even additional educational resources. An articulation that is organized according to the methodology of each establishment and its philosophy with a single objective in mind: to enable students to become more efficient, to advance in their training with monitoring of their progress.
One of the specificities of e-learning is its collaborative aspect: students discuss with the teacher the course they are following or any difficulties encountered but also exchange with each other via messaging or a discussion forum that one can set up using the different technologies available.
For online training to be effective it must be easy to access, and offer an ergonomic interface to ensure student access to courses, modules, and all the resources that one deems necessary so that they become autonomous in their training course.
– Blended learning
Blended learning, also called blended learning in digital training jargon, means that you offer your students a course combining traditional face-to-face teaching supplemented by a digital e-learning platform and specific content that completes or enhances the course. An educational formula that offers the advantage to learners of being able to manage their time at their convenience.
In 2020, the European Commission looked into the subject by publishing a study on the potential and challenges linked to this learning model. It emphasized the important points to take into consideration when considering the success of this combination of distance and face-to-face teaching. These include school supervision, legislative texts, the role and working conditions of teachers, the evaluation of learners, and the well-being of staff and students.
What are the challenges?
Three major challenges will face one establishment if one decides to implement such a learning method: the integration of digital technology, the proposal of new courses, and the development of critical and creative thinking.
– Integration of digital teaching
Integrating educational content therefore requires having a platform on which students and teachers can connect to share lessons, exercises, and all the resources necessary for acquiring skills.
For it to be successful, one’s integration must take into account several elements such as real-time feedback in order to be able to monitor student activity and their progress. The smoother the user experience of the platform, the more easily students access it and the higher their engagement rate remains. Whatever options are available one must keep in mind that one’s interface must remain personalized and faithful to one’s training objectives as well as learning culture.
– Proposal for new learning
Deciding to implement a new learning model also involves being a force of persuasion. Indeed, if one’s method is already well established, only face-to-face for example, offering digital learning will not be without difficulties with one’s educational community if it proves more or less resistant to change. It’s up to one to convince it by giving it all the information and presenting the advantages that e-learning and blended-learning training in English will bring to one’s establishment and students.
– Development of creativity and criticism
It will be much easier to organize digital learning if one already uses digital training support, which one can improve and make more relevant by adding specific content and new modules for students. On the other hand, if one does not use digital training support, it will be more complex to design and deliver digital teaching. But nothing is impossible – or almost nothing – in the digital world, so it’s up to one to think critically and be creative!
The benefits of digital learning
So, what are the benefits that teachers and students will be able to gain from a digital learning experience?
This model offers several advantages such as being able to study at one’s own pace, using a pleasant and familiar environment that one has the freedom to choose and configure according to one’s objectives.
Students will gain autonomy, and become independent and more responsible. Group work is made easier. Digital learning remains accessible to everyone, including learners who have limited time to devote to training such as people who already have a job or devote themselves full-time to their children at home.
Since the educational content is accessible to them 24 hours a day, the process remains flexible by offering the possibility of combining a professional activity with training to allow, for example, retraining with complete peace of mind.
An important point in this specific context: online training always remains less expensive than a face-to-face course and offers a fun aspect thanks to e-learning, serious games and other ramifications.
Reflecting on the benefits of digital learning, Eddie Playfair writes:
‘’ When asking what impact new learning technologies should have on education, the answers often fall along a linear spectrum. At one end of this spectrum is the commonly held idea that learning is learning and that new technologies are just new tools for an old activity. We must use these new tools effectively in our teaching, but the fundamental role of the teacher remains unchanged and implies the same ability to understand how learning occurs. At the other end is the view that digital technologies are radically transforming the nature and acquisition of knowledge and that we need to completely rethink our pedagogy to ensure that our students can benefit from this new world of educational opportunities, qualitatively speaking.’’
The role of digital technology in the learner empowerment process
The place and role of digital technology in schools, and particularly in the process of teaching/learning a foreign language is already the subject of a genuine institutional commitment, since digital tools offer a host of pedagogical advantages.
Here, one distinguishes between two possible uses of digital technology, both in and out of the classroom: playful use, which is characterized by an approach that is generally considered to be fun, recreational or entertaining; and the use of digital technology for practical purposes.
For Julié and Perrot ICTE (information and communication technology in education) can be of tremendous importance:
‘’ICTE can be an invaluable asset […] as it enables us to vary teaching materials to increase students’ exposure to the language; to empower learners’ action and reflection by developing their critical faculties, and break down the barriers between English lessons physical and temporal limits of the classroom.’’
In addition to being a motivating factor, the digital tools set up in schools and also those available to students at home, would be a practical asset in empowering learners, as they enable them to better manage their learning.
In order to qualify as autonomous, learners must be able to show the ability to take charge of their learning when learning is carried out outside of the presence of a teacher. There are many digital devices that enable students to manage their own learning more easily and offer the entire.
Conclusion: What if self-directed learning was the training of the future?
Studies show that people who engage in self-directed learning are generally more persistent. They also manage to adapt their learning to their work context. The success rate is often higher, not only in terms of achieving objectives, but also in terms of resilience. The ability to solve complex problems and to use critical thinking and, as such, creativity increases.
Finally, one finds that people who engage in self-directed learning are able to transfer their learning to their everyday lives, as well as to the people around them.
Students will not all become independent at the same rate, but according to age and skill level in a given subject. It is important to set the optimum conditions for student learning if one wants to encourage everyone to take more and more part in their own learning.
Independent learning cannot be achieved alone. Learning is an approach based on relationships between students, and between the student and the teacher. Students engage in learning activities as individuals interdependent on other individuals in the classroom and in society.
Autonomous learning has implications in the area of decision-making, as individuals are expected to analyze problems, think, make decisions, and act according to the goal they have set. To be able to take responsibility for their lives in a time of such rapid social change, students must never stop learning. As most aspects of everyday life are likely to change profoundly, independent learning should enable individuals to better adapt to the constraints imposed by work, family, and society. For example, changes in the field of work may require retraining, changing jobs, and lifelong learning, with new technology making the values, attitudes, and skills acquired during this essential common learning.
As with creativity and critical reasoning, independent learning is an important foundation for maintaining democracy and promoting social justice. Citizens must study the problems facing them autonomously and make rational decisions, based on an assessment of their own interests and those of society in general. They must then act according to these decisions, and not according to decisions that others have made for them supposedly for their own good. As guardians of the future, today’s youth need to acquire independent learning skills, which will empower them to act according to the principles of social justice and for the survival of our planet.
