Prosumer Learners and Digital Arts Pedagogy
Learners are the subject of the educational endeavor, and include the “teachers” and everyone from the very young to seniors. With instant and 24/7 connections to the world via technologies, the transformed educational eco-system has given rise to prosumer learners who are both producers and consumers. Technology has expanded the diversity and range of possible learning contexts, enabled the provision of life-long learning opportunities, assisted in catering for learners with different academic abilities and behavioral needs, while resetting the traditional classroom-based schooling and herd-driven consumer culture with a life-wide participatory culture. Today’s digital arts pedagogy and technology-enhanced curriculum should be more prosumer friendly – liberating teachers and learners from the constraints of school practices (e.g., rigid timetables, fixed rows of desks and chairs) while facilitating learners to become more adaptable and flexible, able to negotiate, navigate and manipulate the oceans of knowledge that is fluid, multi-faceted and open to interpretation.