ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the way most people think about learning is wrong. It suggests that the old learning paradigm needs to be replaced by a new one that links learners to environment in which learning takes place. In vocational/professional education, while there is greater attention paid to general lessons learnt from practice, assumption is that students will be able to acquire and use facts and ideas derived largely from the codified knowledge of disciplines to solve practical problems when they face them. The chapter aims to survey developments in knowledge which involve a convergence of five intellectual areas and suggest that this conception of knowledge and education needs to change. These are: new concepts of knowledge and knowledge management; advances in neuroscience; developments in cognitive sciences; developments in learning theory; and revival of some philosophical arguments. The most obvious implication is that teaching, learning and research in universities and vocational colleges should have close ties with world of practice.
