Defining the “Knowmads” of work and education in the 21st Century

May 20, 2013 - PRLog -- United Kingdom, 20 May 2013 - As industrial society gives way to a new era of the knowledge worker, is it time to reconsider the “one size fits all” universal model of education?

In a special issue of On the Horizon, guest editor John Moravec introduces the concept of “knowmads”, the new workers of the 21st century – creative, imaginative and innovative, who can work anywhere, at anytime with anybody.  Making a major contribution to the debate about the future of work, education and learning in the 21st century, this special issue is freely available to read at www.emeraldinsight.com/tk/oth until the 20 June 2013.

In “Knowmads: Borderless work and education,” thought leaders, academics and practitioners come together to explore the role of education in developing and supporting a new “knowmadic” society – suggesting a shift from a mono-cultural approach of learning to more radical, diverse ones that support an ecology of options for individual learners.

Contributing author Mokhtar Noriega writes, “By trusting our new knowmadic learners to lead the design process, we can spectacularly engage our learners in a cycle of improved learning design that has the potential to transform the engagement of our learners worldwide”.

The first three articles explore specific skills and institutional strategies to develop “new” workers that are successful in a borderless, knowmadic society.  The next three articles look at how technology can be used to better enhance learning in this context – both digitally and spatially.  The issue concludes with a practical example of how to facilitate “knowmadic learning” for professionals.

Guest editor John Moravec explains the urgency of the topic, “We run the risk of producing workers equipped for the needs of previous centuries, but not the kind that can apply their individual knowledge in contextually-varied modes to create value.  It is too late to ignore these trends, and we have to decide if we are going to catch up to the present, or leapfrog ahead and create future-relevant learning options today”.

This special issue is published as Volume 21 Issue 2 of On the Horizon.  Published by Emerald Group Publishing, the journal explores the issues that are emerging as technology changes the nature of education and learning within and among institutions, organizations, and across geo-political boundaries, as learning increasingly takes place outside of the traditional institutional environment. For more information, visit www.emeraldinsight.com/oth.htm

John Moravec is available for comment. To arrange an interview, please contact John at john@educationfutures.com

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