{"id":105,"date":"2023-02-23T11:18:01","date_gmt":"2023-02-23T09:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uwasa.fi\/opettajanblogi\/?p=105"},"modified":"2023-02-23T11:18:01","modified_gmt":"2023-02-23T09:18:01","slug":"who-are-the-learners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uwasa.fi\/opettajanblogi\/2023\/02\/23\/who-are-the-learners\/","title":{"rendered":"Who are the learners?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post has been written by Anu Koskela (<\/em>firstname.lastname@uwasa.fi<\/em><\/a>). She is currently working as the University of Vaasa Digivisio 2030 Change coordinator. Before joining the University of Vaasa, she worked as an academic in the UK, in the field of linguistics. Her specialist area is lexical semantics (the study of word meaning) and she is the author of a number of <\/em>papers and book chapters<\/em><\/a> on the ways in which words can have multiple meanings and ambiguous relationships with other words. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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Lately I\u2019ve been thinking about the nuances of the meaning of learner <\/em>and its Finnish equivalent oppija<\/em>. I come across these terms frequently in my involvement with the Digivisio 2030 project<\/a>. In Digivisio 2030, Finnish universities (incl. universities of applied sciences) are working together to build an \u201cecosystem of learning for the future\u201d. The key aim is to meet future needs of society by making it easier for people to engage in continuous or lifelong learning, i.e., maintain and develop their skills and knowledge by making use of courses and learning content from different Finnish higher education institutions.<\/p>\n

In all the Digivisio communications and materials, the intended users of the open learning platform being developed are always referred to as learners <\/em>(in Finnish, oppijat<\/em>), rather than students <\/em>(Fin. opiskelijat<\/em>) (see e.g. the project description of their vision for the future of learning<\/a>). The project also often points to learner-centricity<\/em> (oppijakeskeisyys<\/em>) as one of its guiding principles \u2013 again, rather than student-centricity <\/em>(or opiskelijakeskeisyys<\/em>). For example: \u201cThe aim of the joint Digivisio of all Finnish higher education institutions is to make Finland a model country for learner-centered<\/u> and flexible learning by 2030\u201d (source<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Although learner <\/em>and student<\/em> can in certain contexts be used almost interchangeably, in the context of Digivisio, learner <\/em>and learner-centricity <\/em>(and naturally also the Finnish oppija <\/em>and oppijakeskeisyys<\/em>) are used deliberately instead of student <\/em>and student-centricity<\/em> \u2013 and with nuances of meaning that that differ somewhat from how the terms are used in everyday language or elsewhere in educational discourse.<\/p>\n

Learners<\/h2>\n

Learner<\/em> and oppija <\/em>generally refer to someone who is learning (i.e., acquiring knowledge or skills), whereas a student (or opiskelija) is someone enrolled at an educational institution or on a particular course with the intention of learning.[1] In everyday language, we might not immediately think of learner <\/em>as a superordinate of student <\/em>in quite the same way as, say, dog <\/em>functions as a superordinate of spaniel <\/em>or vehicle <\/em>as a superordinate of car<\/em>. For instance, superordinate and subordinate terms commonly occur together in phrases of the type spaniels and other dogs, <\/em>or vehicles, including cars<\/em>. In contrast, phrasings such as students and other learners <\/em>and learners, including students <\/em>are not common in everyday language, but can be found in the discourse of education studies or educational administration. And this is of course the type of usage we also find when the Digivisio materials refer to learners\/oppijat<\/em>.[2]<\/p>\n

More specifically, given Digivisio\u2019s focus on fostering lifelong learning, learner <\/em>and the Finnish oppija<\/em> are intended to be understood as inclusive superordinate terms that include those we might call students\/opiskelijat <\/em>(in an HE context, most readily understood to be full-time degree students), but importantly also other adult lifelong learners engaged in studying and learning with different motivations, goals, etc. This broader, inclusive usage of learner\/oppija<\/em> is therefore intended as a means of widening the perspective beyond those we traditionally consider (or who might self-identify) as students\/opiskelija<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So who are the learners, then \u2013 specifically when referring to the potential users of the Digivisio open learning platform? A brief explanation can be found in the What does a learner look like?<\/a> video, but to provide a more concrete understanding of the notion of learner\/oppija<\/em>, the Digivisio project has also produced a report on the envisaged user groups of the open learning platform (full report in Finnish: Korkeakoulujen oppijaymm\u00e4rrys: K\u00e4ytt\u00e4j\u00e4ryhm\u00e4t ja persoonat<\/a> [requires Eduuni login to access]).<\/p>\n

The report identifies five core user groups:<\/p>\n