Session Information
06 SES 10, At the Interface – Building New Relations Between Formal and Informal Learning (part 1)
Symposium, Continued in 06 SES 11
Contribution
This paper first considers two projects focusing on young people’s uses of social media tools to support informal and formal learning. Both employed mixed methods (surveys, focus groups, interviews) underpinned by socio-cultural learning theories (Vygotsky, 1978; Cole, 1996; Wertsch, 1998). The UK study (n=2611) suggests that learners are prolific consumers (most have social networking sites) but do not all exhibit sophisticated practices (e.g. critical engagement, media production). The USA study (n=326) suggests that participation in a youth-initiated Facebook application on environmental science increased engagement, knowledge of the focal topic and civic involvement. Next, we problematise ‘learning’ and ‘teaching’ across multiple contexts, focussing on the interface between formal/informal. We explore the interplay between school-led and learner-led activities, and who the ‘teachers’ and ‘learners’ are. We argue that whilst most young people are immersed in digital cultures, it is to varying degrees. The disconnects between in and out-of-school learning cannot simply be overcome by integrating social media tools into classrooms; learners also need further support from a range of ‘teachers’ and pedagogies must be informed by the social and intellectual practices that dominate popular youth cultures. We conclude by outlining the nature of intervention and support required to facilitate this.
Method
Search the ECER Programme
- Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
- Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
- Search for authors and in the respective field.
- For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
- If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.