Heutagogy, technology, and lifelong learning for professional and part-time learners

Abstract

A variety of economic, social, political, and technological factors have come together to create a perfect storm of change in higher education: Skyrocketing educational costs, the demand for skill- and competency-based education, the rise of the knowledge economy. People are now lifelong learners, learning their profession throughout life, in chunks and when they need it. Added to that, the explosive advancement of technology in the last decade has made learning readily accessible at any time, everywhere, and in any form. The convergence of these factors has left higher education institutions scrambling and institutional, teacher, and learner roles in a state of flux. Heutagogy, also called self-determined learning, offers a teaching and learning framework for navigating the oncoming storm. The theory draws on established learning theories - humanism, constructivism, andragogy, transformative learning, and complexity theory - and the latest neuroscience to create a composite map for institutional leaders, teachers, and learners alike to apply to professional and lifelong learning. This chapter explores the tenets of heutagogy and how a heutagogical learning approach can be supported using the latest technological developments and be implemented in pedagogically meaningful ways in order to develop learners who are able to excel in today’s complex, global workforce.