Key components of learning ecologies: A Delphi assessment

Abstract

The educational landscape has changed in recent years, requiring reflection about new pedagogical methods and theories. There are three important perspectives as drivers of pedagogical reflection: lifelong and life‐wide learning, the idea of learning as a social construct in which internal elements and changing external factors converge, and the recognition of technology as a resource that can promote ubiquitous and expanded learning. Learning ecology has been proposed as a conceptual and empirical framework, but its still emergent nature along with its multidimensionality and complexity require further exploration. The Delphi study we present as part of a broader research project aims to identify the components of learning ecologies. Three panel rounds with international experts were carried out, after which two important dimensions emerged in the structure of learning ecologies. The first is related to intrinsic “learning dispositions,” which is made up of three categories: the subject's ideas about learning, their motivations and expectations. The second dimension, called “learning processes,” comprises four components: relationships, resources, actions and context. The identification of the components of learning ecologies and their influence on formal, non‐formal and informal training processes will provide guidance for educational policies and help to better organize training programmes.

Attitudes towards the Use of ICT in Costa Rican University Students: The Influence of Sex, Academic Performance, and Training in Technology

“…The learning opportunities in the digital age are ever greater, wider, and more accessible. It is in such a changing context as this that a metamorphosis in learning can be produced [18] and which shapes the metaphor of learning ecologies as a perspective to analyze complex, dynamic, interconnected systems of creating, sharing, and acquiring knowledge [49,50].…”

El estudio de caso en la investigación de las ecologías de aprendizaje del docente universitario

“…A pesar de que este concepto está despertando un gran interés, las EdA se consideran todavía una línea de investigación emergente que se encuentra en estado embrionario dado el carácter complejo, multidimensional y poliédrico del constructo (González-Sanmamed, Muñoz-Carril, & Santos-Caamaño, 2019). Barron (2004) establece que las EdA son "el conjunto de contextos hallados en espacios físicos o virtuales que proporcionan oportunidades de aprendizaje.…”

Aprendizaje Profesional Docente a Través De La Autoformación: Un Análisis Cualitativo De Las Ecologías De Aprendizaje

“…Esto convierte a la metáfora ecológica en una opción adecuada para seguir interpretando y analizando los procesos de aprendizaje y actualización profesional del profesorado, respetando todas las formas en las que pueden ocurrir (Looi, 2001). Asimismo, el empleo de la tradición de investigación de Estudio de Caso se hace ineludible dado el carácter incipiente, complejo, multidimensional y poliédrico del constructo ecológico, inabordable por una aproximación cuantitativa (González-Sanmamed, Muñoz-Carril, & Santos-Caamaño, 2019).…”