Performativity of Materials in Learning: The Learning-Whole in Action

Abstract

Contemporary educational practices have been calling for pedagogical models that foreground flexibility, agency, ubiquity, and connectedness in learning. These models have, in turn, been stimulating redevelopments of educational infrastructure –with physical contours reconfigured into novel complex learning spaces at universities, schools, museums, and libraries. Understanding the complexity of these innovative learning spaces requires an acknowledgement of the material and digital as interconnected. A ‘physical’ learning space is likely to involve a range of technologies and in addition to paying attention to these ‘technologies’ one must understand and account for their physical sites of use as well. This paper discusses the influence of materiality in learning, using an analytical approach that situates learning activity as an emergent process. Drawing on theories that foreground socio-materiality in learning and on the relational perspective offered by networked learning, we call for a deeper understanding of the interplay between the physical (material and digital), conceptual, and social aspects of learning, and their combined influence on emergent activity. The paper argues that in order to successfully design for innovative learning, educators need to develop their capacity to trace the intricate connections between people, ideas, digital and material tools, and tasks –to see the learning-whole in action.

Key Factors in the Success of Virtualization of Teaching in Spanish Universities During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…For training processes, the incorporation of technology allowed the possibility of studying at a distance, the creation of digital educational platforms, the digitization of their content (even changing the way in which they were taught) and the way of providing their services (Morales-Salas, Infante-Moro, & Gallardo-Pérez, 2019Ponce & Alfaro, 2020;Rosales-Almendra & Becerra, 2020). Digital platforms such as Moodle, Canvas or Sakai appeared, which made it possible to dispense with face-to-face infrastructure to carry out the training process; tools based on word processing appeared (Carvalho & Yeoman, 2021;Faria-Ferreira, Ferreira, & Marques, 2021), multimedia techniques (Borrero-Ojuelos & Bermejo-Berros, 2021; Cebrián-De-La-Serna, Gallego-Arrufat, & Cebrián-Robles, 2021), along with serious games (Juan-Lázaro & Area-Moreira, 2021) , augmented reality (Álvarez Marín, Velázquez-Iturbide, & Campos-Villarroel, 2021;Pérez, Robles, & Osuna, 2021), robotics (Carro, Sancristobal, & Plaza, 2021;González-González, Holz, Moro, García, & Franco, 2021) and digital boards, among others, which offered a new way of presenting content (Lorente- Ruiz, Despujol, & Castañeda, 2021;Pacheco-Cortés & Infante-Moro, 2020;Ruiz, Cebrián, & Cebrián, 2021); tools for video calls and virtual meetings appeared that provided a new way of imparting training beyond face-to-face Rojo, Alatorre, & P, 2020); and all of this thanks to the evolution of technologies and the appearance of the Internet, which has allowed us to achieve online and distance teaching-training.…”

Towards a framework for interdisciplinary collaborative online learning spaces

“…Sociomateriality as a theoretical framing offers an opportunity to consider highly complex and embedded concepts within the online learning space such as socio-cultural, human and non-human entanglements and power-communication dynamics. Engaging with and designing for such concepts in the online learning space has proven to be challenging (Carvalho & Yeoman, 2021;Klimek & Klimek, 2021) but necessary if one seeks a learning space that not only prepares students for the world of work but also to be responsible and responsive global citizens.…”

“…The significant interplay between the social and material has long been ignored within learning in general and online learning in particular to the detriment of the student as a future professional (Carvalho & Yeoman, 2021). Sociomateriality provides an opening in the learning space to engage with the socio-eco-cultural setting by being context-specific and context-sensitive.…”

Durch Reflexion zu mehr sozialem Miteinander

“…Zur Erinnerung: Diese richtet den Blick sowohl auf die konkrete Lernsituation als auch auf den weiteren Kontext, in dem diese Situation stattfindet. Angewandt auf die Verbindung von Lernen und Technologien und speziell der Online-Lehre hilft sie zu bedenken, dass das Lernen an sich nicht online stattfindet, sondern weiterhin körperlich und individuell situiert erfolgt(Carvalho und Yeoman 2021; Goodyear, Carvalho, und Yeoman 2021;Fawns, Aitken, und Jones 2019). Zudem verdeutlicht sie, dass der formale Kontext des Lernens -die Lehrveranstaltung -sowohl durch institutionelle Rahmenbedingungen geprägt ist als auch von einer Lehrperson gestaltet wird; beide beeinflussen, wie und womit in der Online-Lehre gearbeitet werden kann(Castañeda und Selwyn 2018).Auch, wenn die Verantwortung und der Erfolg im Lernen beim Individuum liegen, vermag die Perspektive des situierten Lernens zu verdeutlichen, inwiefern das Planungshandeln einer Lehrperson individuelle Lernprozesse beeinflussen kann.…”

“…In seiner Arbeit zur Kultur der Digitalität schreibt(Stalder 2016, 17) hierzu, dass Medien als Technologien zu verstehen sind, die erleichtern, eine «bestimmte Art von Verbindung zwischen Menschen und zu Objekten zu schaffen.» 6 Der Sozio-Materialismus untersucht die Verbindung von Menschen und Dingen; er erforscht, wie beide sich gegenseitig im Kontakt miteinander verändern(Carvalho und Yeoman 2021;Fenwick 2015).…”