Learner Adaptivity: An Initial Conceptualisation
In an ever-changing world of the twenty-first century, learners need to be able to adapt. Adaptivity cuts across knowledge in various domains; it is a life skill as well as an attitude towards learning, work and life in general from childhood to adulthood
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Learner Adaptivity: An Initial Conceptualisation Elizabeth Koh, Helen Hong, and Jimmy Seah
Introduction In this world of increasing complexity, where change is a constant, an individual needs to adapt to changes. Adaptivity is important for an individual’s whole life, from childhood to adulthood. The Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills (ATC21S) project highlights adapting to change as essential knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, and ethics for learners to live in the world (Binkley et al., 2012). Similarly, the Ministry of Education, Singapore (MOE) has underlined that the twenty-first century learner should have the qualities of adaptability and resilience (MOE, 2010). This will help the learner to become a twenty-first century worker and thrive in the challenging work environment (MOE, 2009). Adaptivity is, thus, important in the current world. What exactly is adaptivity? Although adaptivity has been defined from various theoretical lenses, levels, and referent disciplines, this research aims to look at the adaptivity of the learner in handling change in his or her environment. We focus on learner adaptivity, which is simply defined as the individual’s capacity to adjust to the changing environment. Our research question is, ‘What is learner adaptivity?’ In this chapter, we review the concept of learner adaptivity. Adaptivity has been examined in many ways (as seen in the other chapters of the book). For instance, Shaari and Lee (2014) have examined it from the perspective of a relationship between schools and community agencies. In this research, the unit of analysis is the individual. We first examine the etymology of the root word of adaptivity. This is followed by the methodology of the review. A review of two major bodies of work: in formal education and at work, is performed. Based on the review, we provide a conceptualisation of learner adaptivity before concluding. E. Koh (*) • H. Hong • J. Seah National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore e-mail: [email protected] D. Hung et al. (eds.), Adaptivity as a Transformative Disposition: For Learning in the 21st Century, Springer Education Innovation Book Series, DOI 10.1007/978-981-4560-17-7_2, © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2014
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Adaptivity Etymology and Concept Map As a first step towards understanding adaptivity, we go back to examining the root word ‘adapt’ and its associated terms and concepts that have been used in various academic fields. The meaning of adapt is derived from the Latin apere, which means to bind or connect (Simonet, 2010). It can be traced, via Latin and French, to the verb adaptare, meaning to fit or to adjust to (Oxford English Dictionary, 2012; Savickas, 1997). The Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘adapt’ as the act of making a person or thing suitable or fit for a purpose, and to conform to distinct standards, requirements and conditions. From the root word ‘adapt’ emerged related terms in the form of adjectives (‘adaptive’ and ‘adap
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