Learners in a Changing Learning Landscape

most studies aimed at improving learning focus on the instructor and the parameters of the learning environment, rather than the learner. On the other hand it was felt that ibstpi’s interest was too focused on the online learner and that broader qu- tions needed to be asked, placing the learner in the context of a hugely complex learning landscape that is only partially determined by the formal education context and deliberate processes of learning. Based on the above consideration, and while inspired by ibstpi’s initiative, the Learning Development Institute proposed to run a dedicated workshop in conju- tion with a Presidential Panel Session to be hosted by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) at its annual convention in October 2005 in Orlando, Florida. This brought together ten individuals who initially started collaborating online. The majority of them then met face to face in Orlando at the workshop. They subsequently shared their ideas with the wider audience of attendees at the Presidential Panel Session that followed the next day. And they then took another two years to reflect further on the issues that had emerged, producing the chapters of this book.

This book is about questions. Today's learners face constant change. Adaptive learner expertise is key to their survival on a learning journey that lasts a lifetime. This requires new thinking of all actors in the learning environment. The fundamental process through which this book was created is an extended in-depth dialogue among researchers, lifelong learners, educators, and thinkers.

"Working on this book was a very special kind of experience," says John Bransford (University of Washington), a contributing author to the book and renowned researcher on how people learn. While participating in the dialogue "we were all helped to ‘walk our talk’ and use technology to improve everything we did… I'm convinced that the conversations will not end with this book. Through technology-based dialogue facilitated by the magic touch of the editors’ leadership, I'm sure that all of us―authors and readers of this volume―will continue to learn from one another. This is the way that collaborative science should work."