Extreme Learners
Extreme Learners
An extreme learner is a trailblazer of the new learning landscape
Featured by KQED in "What makes an 'Extreme Learner'?"
For them, it’s not about an exam score or degree—the process is the product. Extreme learners are powered by technology. They harness a fast-expanding world of knowledge that is increasingly at their fingertips. They know that learning now can be done anywhere at anytime.
Extreme learners are renegades who take charge of their own education. They apply novel feedback mechanisms and optimize their learning experiences. They have learned how to learn. And you can, too.
Extreme learners defy traditional definitions of teacher and student. They design their own curricula from online courses, get their hands dirty at community laboratories and hackerspaces, and seek out mentors. They help others learn, participating in an active learning exchange. They are teachers as much as they are learners.
That’s why we initiated a project to examine the stories of extreme learners, to gain insight into their motivations, challenges, methodologies, and secrets to success.
In 2014, we created Extreme Learners, an online portal at extremelearners.iftf.org for extreme learners of all ages and types to share their stores. Visit the site to hear from extreme learners, find resources for your own learning journey, and learn how to share your story. You may also join the conversation and see what extreme learners are sharing at #extremelearner.
Help us inspire and empower extreme learners!
Extreme Learners and the Future of Learning
The Extreme Learners research project is part of our Future of Learning Program, which seeks to understand and imagine how new technologies, new ecologies, and new practices are disrupting how we learn, what we learn, and where we learn. View our 2013 map, From Educational Institutions to Learning Flows, for a look at the combination of drivers affecting these changes.
Milton Chen, a 2013 Future for Good Fellow, gives a concise overview of the changing learning ecology in this short video:
More Information
- Visit extremelearners.iftf.org
- For more information on IFTF’s Future of Learning program, contact Sara Skvirsky at SSkvirsky@iftf.org.
- To view IFTF's education- and learning-related projects, check out a selection of our publicly-available research.