Learning and Cognition Programme 2010-2014

Abstract

The Learning and Cognition Programme (L&C) at the Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies (CELSTEC) at the Open Universiteit in the Netherlands will run for a five-year period from 2010 through 2014. It employs research, laboratories (following the principles of open innovation), and solutions activities with regard to flexible environments for the acquisition of complex cognitive skills, solving complex information problems and expertise development in the context of lifelong learning. This document presents a framework and sets boundaries for research projects, laboratories, and solutions within this Programme. With regard to research, the Programme is a successor of the Programmes Instructional Design for Open Tasks, Environments and Communities (ID-OTEC 2004-2008) and Instructional Design for Competency-based Learning in Post-Secondary Higher Education (1999-2003) which have achieved national and international recognition in the scientific community. The ID-OTEC Programme was ranked second of twenty research programmes in the national ‘research assessment pedagogy and education science 2002-2005’ (Quality Assurance Netherlands Universities), with highest scores for quality and viability.The Programme has three themes, namely Flexible Environments for the Acquisition of Complex Cognitive Skills, Solving Complex Information Problems and Development of Domain-specific Expertise. Each theme has unique questions that are guided by the assumption that the ultimate goal of lifelong learning is to arrive at flexible learning, in which learners have constructed cognitive schemata that allow for transfer of skills, knowledge, and attitudes to a variety of settings, and sustainable learning, in which learners are responsible for regulating and maintaining their own further learning by making decisions that stimulate the construction of flexible cognitive schemata and transfer. Questions for Research, Laboratory and Solutions are guided by three goals: Sustainability, Flexibility, and Responsibility. The ultimate goal of design of lifelong learning is sustainable learning; learners or groups of learners can regulate and maintain their own learning such that they can shoulder at least part of the responsibility for creating their own learning environment based on arrangements of learning tasks and learning assessments, and that learners or groups of learners can use the knowledge, skills, and attitudes resulting from learning situations in a flexible way.