​​​​Janine Baur

The term lifelong learner currently seems to be a popular catchphrase in educational circles. Nevertheless, I was directly impacted by the term when I worked at an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School, since the IB’s overall mission involves fostering lifelong learners. Throughout my graduate studies at MSU the term was used – and perhaps overused – as a way to emphasize the necessity of preparing students for fruitful lives. My respect for the phrase was genuinely deepened, however, while engaging in philosophical investigations in ED 800 Educational Inquiry. Through examinations of progressive educators such as renowned John Dewey to present-day advocates such as Deborah Meier and Nel Noddings, I was able to solidify my belief that the overall purpose of education is to promote social values and to encourage self-realization. In other words, the aim of teaching is to reveal the world of opportunities and encourage children to envision themselves fulfilling dreams.

To my own aims for lifelong learning, ED 800 introduced me to narrative inquiry as an approach to conduct research, analyze students’ outcomes, inform instruction, and reflect upon my own practice. With the best intentions, teachers devote themselves to making differences in their student’s lives. Towards that end, in the past I had informally considered how my choices impacted students’ outcomes. However, I had not taken the time in my pedagogical approach to systematically investigate my practice. Furthermore, as a mere teacher, I had not considered myself qualified to conduct academic research. Frankly, the thought of research was intimidating. Fortunately, ED 800 introduced me to narrative inquiry. Less intimidating than traditional research methods, narrative inquiry follows reflective practices regularly used by educators, but elevates practitioner reflection to a deeper, more meaningful and academic level. The storytelling method provides committed teachers with a relevant research method to strengthen their craft. In fact, I successfully used the journaling approach to conduct research for another graduate course in my program, and found the format extremely effective. Consequently as my career continues, I plan to incorporate a narrative journal writing process into my regular practice to gather data, analyze students’ progress, and reflect upon my methods.

EAD 860 Concept of the Learning Society was another course that deepened my understanding of the genuine meaning and application of lifelong learning. In particular, I came to recognize that every facet of a person’s life evolves around different prospects to gain and share knowledge. Subsequently, considering the span of an individual’s entire life, I have come to appreciate the concept of learning as it encompasses both traditional perceptions of formal schooling, as well as other avenues for people to gain knowledge well into adulthood. Working from the premise that education is a right – not a privilege – a genuine learning society should provide both formal and informal learning opportunities that are accessible for all members of society.

Two of my graduate courses in particular introduced me to non-traditional avenues for self-directed learning. CEP 840 Policies, Practices and Perspectives in Special Education, a course I discussed earlier, introduced me to the vast availability of free resources designed to enhance teachers’ instructional and assessment practices through self-directed inquiry. CEP 840 provided me with the opportunity to become familiar with The IRIS Center, for instance. The IRIS Center provides educators with unrestricted resources and learning modules covering a wide span of topics intended to improve students’ academic and social achievement, especially children with learning differences. Another course that was instrumental to my objectives as a lifelong learner was CEP 842 Content Area Instruction for Students with Mild Disabilities. CEP 842 encouraged me to seek out reputable avenues such as Diigo and Evernote to archive, organize, and share knowledge with other educators. During CEP 842, I created a digital archive of journal articles, websites, instructional and assessment strategies, and other documents to refer to in the future. Since initially creating the archive – and realizing the valuable power of tagging – I have added other resources to my collection as I continue to a build an ever-growing professional library of digital media.