Paths of a Social Innovation : Exchange Networks of Knowledge in Life-long Learning
Author(s):
Caroline Le Boucher (presenting / submitting)
Conference:
ECER 2014
Format:
Paper

Session Information

ERG SES H 05, Lifelong Learning and Education

Paper Session

Time:
2014-09-02
11:00-12:30
Room:
FPCEUP - 241
Chair:
Sofia Castanheira Pais

Contribution

The role of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) is particularly relevant in light of the current trends in learning innovation. The MOOCs have the wind in their sails as the international actors of education and learning are turning their focus on them. Users can both learn and teach freely with partners around the world through a variety of courses adapted to their needs.

As such, the questions surrounding their relevance and benefits in life-long learning are increasingly important and reveal burning issue in their current politics: how can they fund such unstable developments in pedagogical, social and technical trends ? Our Speech will deal with the development of innovative learning devices, particularly their durability and adaptability. Furthermore, inclusion is the first challenge posed against the democratisation of access to culture and knowledge. The reforms and progress in education are not benefiting all, excluding the most disadvantaged social groups.

European programs such as Grundtvig support life-long leaning and adult education to overcoming the economic crises and to develop the knowledge-based economy. It is clear that this open-ended and informal process cannot be imposed upon classical institutions. The actors involved in developing and maintaining these educational and learning systems include civilian and non-profit societies, however these emerging communities appear to be poorly structured and ephemeral. The same project following different paths, for example, depending on the type of people engaged, territories of actions and the area of study. Will have different consequences?We could therefore consider that such an experiment reveals a dynamic of innovation situated between appropriation and formalisation. The aim of this study is to answer these questions : How does an innovative learning system emerge? How are novel practices transmitted ? How much adjustment would allow to expand the life span of the learning innovation?

Social innovation provides a potential alternative model for democratizing knowledge and education. As such, it aims to transform social relations and empower individuals. Generally speaking, researchers agree that social innovation, the development of new ways of doing things, is triggered by social need (Cloutier, 2003) : a gap between their ideal and reality, a desire for a better life. The definition will include furthermore the ways to implement innovations where different actors, especially users, jointly participate in defining the objectives and methods of the social innovation. According to Chambon, David and Develey (1982), the innovative nature is related to a discontinuity in the practices. Alter (2002) defines innovation as an inventive practice in everyday practices that spreads through their institutionalization and normalisation. "Institutions favor the innovative process but, at the same time, innovation implies changes affecting institutions" (González-López, 2011), what Gabher (1992) calls "embeddedness dilemma". As a result, the success of a learning innovation can be deduced not only from the ownership process but also from the institutional and surrounding reactions. The concept of territory is used here as both social space, physical space and social relations, as well as a "living-in" space, that connotes existential experiences (Di Méo, 2001).

In relation to the life-long learning system in inclusive society, social innovation is studied to understand the success of innovative learning systems due to ownership by many different people, and specifically the ones classical educational institutions don't affect: an innovative practice which has been disseminated in the area of popular education. In the socio-technical approach, the concept of "dispositif" (Albero, 2010 ; Foucault, 1975) or apparatus, offers us key elements of the diffusion of learning innovations (such as rules, roles, social values or scientific theories), but also several configurations displaying tensions and synergies between these keys elements within a territory.

Method

The area of study is limited to innovation practices in popular education. The criteria for selecting the experiment's subjects are :being externalised from classical education institutions, the application of innovative educational practices that have spread, an organized actor-network, presence in different Regions, long-lastingness and evolution through user participation. The research ground is the "Réseaux d'Echanges Réciproques de Savoirs", or Networks of Reciprocal Exchange of Knowledge (NREK) ; that is, groups which reciprocally exchange knowledge for free. They share different kinds of knowledge about history, computing, or cooking and all propose an exchange of this knowledge (a skill for a skill). They're connected by a intermediary and multi scale work groups exist by subject or by region. It may sound new, but it began with a pedagogical experiment created in school by a primary teacher in the seventies. She instituted cooperation between teachers, students and parents in the suburbs. Today, the system has grown to include over four hundred NREK operating worldwide -mainly operating in France, they are also present in other countries such as Belgium, Italy, Canada or Burundi. Our methodological approach relates to the grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) used as a qualitative analysis method. This inductive approach is not a tabula rasa, however we will begin with these general issues : How could this experiment have lasted so long? Where, with whom and how has it been adapted? What key components have been unable to maintain or to undermine this kind of innovation. What are the main difficulties the system has overcome? Through new data coding, the categories have been builf progressively, building upon previously established hypothesis (Paillé, 1994). Firstly, the important aspects of building and developing the Networks were highlighted. The actors, methods, values, rules, projects, controversies and goals were established in administrative documents. The collected data allow us to trace the history of the national NREK through periods of growth and decline alike. After qualitative thematic analysis (Paillé & Mucchielli, 2006) using Nvivo software, open coding helped to redefine the first categories of data and theirs proprieties. 21 semi-stuctured interviews were held with people engaged in the national movements where key elements of the dual process of learning innovation were tested under the main previous assumptions. Later, a second wave of interviews was carried out with the instigators and heads of RERS in the same regional territory.

Expected Outcomes

The achieved results should show that this innovation is carried out by an inventor with a continuously strong commitment. This is a necessary requirement, but not the sole consideration, to ensure long-lasting social innovation. The discourse of actors and this movement's history emphasize the actors' role in ensuring the engagement of participants. There are such meaningful social values that members who give their all to achievement of a life-long learning activities. It is clear that both social values and one's personal history are components of success in social innovation. On the other hand, our studie indicates that social values and strong commitment are essential, they can also disrupt the balance of the device causing a crisis to emerge, the idea being that the key elements of success in social innovation must be considered in relation to the others. There must be synergy between values and the activity of the formal organization. The most important results highlighted reciprocity as a value, an educational principle and as a key practice. Our final point is on the inventive rearrangement of reciprocal exchange due to the local territory which include exchanges. The institutionalization of popular education in the field of local sociocultural action has an important role to play in their functioning. These kinds of exchanges meet social needs: they developed as a tool for social insertion and to establishment closer relationships. However, there are many social workers who also use there innovations for purpose beyond education : those serving better social integration. Whilst some people may combat social exclusion by exchanging the role of student for that of teacher in their area of knowledge, others believe that such an exchange is to demanding and wears workers down, meeting in person is sufficient. For some, alternative exchange experiments are sufficient to rebuild socio-economic development.

References

Albero, B. (2010a). De l’idéel au véçu  : le dispositif confronté à ses pratiques. In Albero, Brigitte & Poteaux, Ncole (Éd.), Enjeux et dilemmes de l’autonomie, une expérience d’autoformation à l’université, étude de cas (p. 67‑94). Paris : Editions MSH. Albero, B. (2010b). La formation en tant que dispositif:du terme au concept. In Charlier, B. & Henri, F. La technologie de l’éducation:recherches, pratiques et perspectives (p. 47‑59). Paris: PUF. Alter, N. (2002). Les logiques de l’innovation: approche pluridisciplinaire. Paris: La Découverte. Castoriadis, C. (1975). L’institution imaginaire de la société. Paris: Seuil. Chambon, J.-L., David, A., & Devevey, J.-M. (1982). Les innovations sociales. Paris: PUF. Cloutier, J. (2003). Qu’est-ce que l’innovation sociale? Montréal: CRISES. Di Méo, G., Pitte, Jean-Robert. (2001). Géographie sociale et territoires. Paris: Nathan Université. Dumoulin Kervran, D., & Pépin-Lehalleur, M. (2012). Agir-en-réseau: modéle d’action ou catégorie d’analyse ? Rennes : PUR. Eneau, J. (2005). La part d’autrui dans la formation de soi : Autonomie, Autoformation et Réciprocité en Contexte Organisationnel. Paris: L’Harmattan. Foucault, M. (1975). Surveiller et punir. Paris: Gallimard. Giddens, A. (2005). La constitution de la société : Eléments de la théorie de la structuration. Paris: PUF. Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for qualitative research. Chicago: Aldine Publisching Compagny. Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for qualitative research. Chicago: Aldine Publisching Compagny. González-López, M. (2011). The Institutions-Innovation Dilemma: the Case of Coastal Fisheries. Journal of technology management & innovation, 6, 3, 184‑195. Linard, M. (2002). Conception de dispositifs et changement de paradigme en formation. Education Permanente, 152, 143‑155. Paillé, P. (1994). L’analyse par théorisation ancrée. Cahiers de recherche sociologique, 23, 147‑181. Paillé, P., & Mucchielli, A. (2006). L’analyse qualitative en sciences humaines et sociales. Paris: Armand Colin.

Author Information

Caroline Le Boucher (presenting / submitting)
Université Rennes 2
Educational Sciences
Rennes

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