Distance Education in Transition - Master of Distance Education ...

Pedagogical Consequences of the Transformation of Information and Knowledge
may take many previously unknown forms. Some of these also serve the
acquisition of knowledge.
� Particular value will be placed in future pedagogical scenarios on communication
competence. This will be especially important in digital learning environments,
because communication will be compressed, accelerated and globalised and
because many new types of virtual communication will be offered that contribute to
the generation and acquisition of knowledge.
� Competence for collaboration is frequently identified in the worlds of private life
and work as the ability to work in a team. Independence from restrictions of
location and, in part, of time, enables and facilitates collaboration with partners and
groups in processes of knowledge acquisition that traverse borders. The production
of knowledge may be the result of a collective process here, e.g. in knowledge
building communities.
� Information competence will be the mark of all educated persons in the knowledge
society. They will have to be generally able to make intelligent use of globally
accessible electronic information facilities. This competence can and must also be
used to generate and acquire new knowledge.
� Competence in knowledge management will be a general cultural technique with
the help of which it will be possible to deal with problems in both our private and
professional lives. In addition it is also absolutely essential as an integral element of
the electronic generation and acquisition of knowledge.
This overview shows the great extent to which pedagogical processes overlap. The
importance of these competences is confirmed when we realise which competences
industry regards as desirable and necessary. In this field as well the "acquisition and
management of information", "communication" and "self-learning" have been regarded
as important criteria for some time (cf. e.g. Conference Board of Canada, 1991).
Orientation Towards New Models?
When pursuing the above goals we must not forget the fact that with the change and
conversion of knowledge not only our concepts of knowledge but also of "education"
will change. In the digital world the traditional concepts of knowledge, of the standard
patterns of behaviour for acquiring knowledge and of the corresponding models for
producers and bearers of knowledge will pale into insignificance. Manfred Faßler
(1994, p. 96) describes the new situation as follows: "An intensity of communication
opportunities based, supported and strengthened by computers has been reached that
seriously asks the question whether prevalent concepts of knowledge and education
enable conscious and reflected use of the multifaceted semiotic systems. Can common
learning forms and contents, selection decisions for certain responses, etc., react to
the open structures of regionally and globally distributed knowledge?". Norbert Bolz
(1997, p. 464) answered this question negatively by simply stating: "The educational
strategies of book-based culture have had their day.".
It is obvious that traditional and still common knowledge and education concepts will
have to be differently structured, even totally reconceived and interpreted. There is an
even more pressing reason for this in that the serious changes in the field of knowledge
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