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Articulating Personal Pedagogies Through Learning Ecologies

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The Future of Ubiquitous Learning

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Educational Technology ((LNET))

Abstract

The digital revolution enabled by social and ubiquitous technologies is constantly transforming macro- and microlevels of society including industry, organizations, and government as well as ways in which we communicate, we work, and we carry on our daily lives. Education is therefore also being challenged to respond to evolving societal demands by supporting the development of competent and engaged citizens. In this context, individuals’ capability to get involved and exploit the affordances of networked environments for learning and development may condition their opportunities to cope with societal and labor demands. In this chapter, the metaphor of learning ecologies is proposed to provide a framework from which to analyze interactions between individuals and their environment, and the way their experiences across different contexts throughout life promote and shape learning processes. Learning ecologies allow us to explore frontier pedagogies connecting formal, non-formal, and informal educational contexts, acting as personal strategies that may orchestrate lifelong, life-wide, and life-deep learning. We start by defining and framing learning ecologies, providing the theoretical roots, and reviewing some recent studies in the field. Next, we propose constructs and models but also strategies and tools that may be of help to enhance and support personal ecologies for learning. Finally, the concept of personal pedagogies is proposed to refer to a set of autonomy and agency skills and attitudes that can be dynamically integrated by individuals to support an ecology for self-development and personal learning. We articulate from this perspective several trends in the area of self-directed learning located in the technological and pedagogical intersection: MOOCs, current awareness, e-portfolios, and social networks.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education, Téléunivesité, 5800, rue Saint-Denis, bureau 1105, Montréal, QC, H2S 3L5, Canada

    Marcelo F. Maina

  2. Department of Psychology and Education, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Rambla del Poblenou, 156, 08018, Barcelona, Spain

    Iolanda García González

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Correspondence to Marcelo F. Maina .

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  1. Facultat de Pedagogia, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Begoña Gros

  2. Athabasca University, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    Kinshuk

  3. Department of Psychology and Education, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

    Marcelo Maina

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Maina, M.F., González, I.G. (2016). Articulating Personal Pedagogies Through Learning Ecologies. In: Gros, B., Kinshuk, ., Maina, M. (eds) The Future of Ubiquitous Learning. Lecture Notes in Educational Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-47724-3_5

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