Stewart Hase

Heutagogy: A Holistic Framework for Creating Twenty-First-Century Self-determined Learners

Heutagogy, a form of self-determined learning, is a holistic, learner-centered approach to learning and teaching, in formal and informal situations. The theory is grounded in humanistic and constructivist principles and brings together numerous threads of early learning theories into a composite picture of learning that is suitable for and much needed in today’s educational systems. With its learner-centered approach, heutagogy shifts the focus from the teacher back to the learner and learning. This chapter discusses the principles, processes, and design of heutagogic learning environments with a specific emphasis on digital technologies.

Heutagogy, Technology, and Lifelong Learning for Professional and Part-Time Learners

A variety of economic, social, political, and technological factors have come together to create a perfect storm of change in higher education: skyrocketing educational costs, the demand for skill- and competency-based education, the rise of the knowledge economy. People are now lifelong learners, learning their profession throughout life, in chunks and when they need it. Added to that, the explosive advancement of technology in the last decade has made learning readily accessible at any time, everywhere, and in any form. The convergence of these factors has left higher education institutions scrambling and institutional, teacher, and learner roles in a state of flux. Heutagogy, also called self-determined learning, offers a teaching and learning framework for navigating the oncoming storm. The theory draws on established learning theories – humanism, constructivism, andragogy, transformative learning, and complexity theory – and the latest neuroscience to create a composite map for institutional leaders, teachers, and learners alike to apply to professional and lifelong learning. This chapter explores the tenets of heutagogy and how a heutagogical learning approach can be supported using the latest technological developments and be implemented in pedagogically meaningful ways in order to develop learners who are able to excel in today’s complex, global workforce.

Practicing the Practice: The Heutagogy Community of Practice

Founded in 2013, the Heutagogy Community of Practice aims to promote awareness of and to enact the learning principles that are its topical focus: heutagogy, or self-determined learning. Similar to Communities of Practice, heutagogy shares common theoretical underpinnings in the ideas of emergence, self-organizing systems, human agency, and constructivism. The Heutagogy Community of Practice was founded for the purpose of bringing together those interested in the theory and practice of heutagogy. The Heutagogy Community of Practice has since expanded to become a springboard for the development of international conferences, publications, and numerous formal and informal collaborations among its members. This chapter presents a description of the evolution of the Heutagogy Community of Practice, while demonstrating the ways in which the Community has maximized the benefits of social media tools (such as WordPress, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook) to connect its members and promote open knowledge-building and sharing.