8/9/2019 Invisible Learning by Laura Vidal (Popular Anthropology)

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Global Education!"#$%$&'()*(+,"$"-.)/"012(,)*003)!"%$4()50,6+')7489+1$0"by Laura Vidal

Edited by Danielle M. KuehnelProofread by Kamden Summers 2010 Laura Vidal

Few have recognized the need forconstant evolution in educationwhile pointing clearly at the core of

its main ideals as the American philoso-pher John Dewey did. This is seen in hisMy Pedagogic Creed, published 1897, atime in which many ideas emerged, try-ing to enrich the philosophical, ideologi-cal, and social arena in the United States.What I would like to point out specicallyabout Deweys ideas is his recognition of

experience as one of the main bases ofeducation- ideas that are still strugglingto be recognized inside formal educa-tion. According to this philosopher andhis critiques of classical ways of teachingeducation, is a process of living and nota preparation for future living (Dewey1897).

In this same spirit, researchers, educators,and theoreticians in education have triedto bring the values of experiences to thevalidation of learning and knowledge.As some examples, we could mentiontheories and explorations on UbiquitousLearning (Cope and Kalantzakis 2009),

Expanded Learning (Freire 2008), and

Accidental Learning (Conner 2008), con-cepts which will be explored further in alater column. These concepts receive dif-ferent names and put to work dierentstrategies. Among those, the notion ofinvisible learning tries to be part of thestudy of experience in learning throughthe online participation of dierent ac-tors, coming not only from academia, butalso from students and regular Internetusers. Thus, this new notion, coming from

the big log of informal learning, is beingconstructed, discussed and shared thanksto new media as I write these lines andyou read them.

The invisible-learning community sharesideas around the necessity to understand,value, and take the most of what happensnot only inside school, but also outside.As they have demonstrated with the bigboom of new technologies and new me-dia (like Blogger, Twitter, or Facebook, toname a few of the most popular ones),more and more questions about newways of learning can be added. With ini-tiatives like these, theories and strategies

like those of Deweys are kept alive andactive with an

exciting ele-ment: We canalso be a partof the evolu-tion and theuse of theseideas. Withthe crisis offormal edu-cation andthe unequalaccess toschool suf-

fered by animmense partof the worldpopulation,discussionsaround alter-native waysof learning,like this one,become apart of whatwould reallybe innova-tive in prac-tice for most

teaching processes. Popular phrases likethe school of life and the value of experience have been used in common conversations for years; is it then nally timeto make it part of what we call a goodeducation? Would some strategies basedon the value of the experience ease thefrustration that comes with the impos-sibility of fullling educational programsthat only few can follow? This is a way topoint out the opportunities in the big ad

venture of knowledge occurring outsidethe box of the long cherished academiaCould this make us more aware of thelearning feature that comes with movement and interaction in this world?

With the advances of technology, thesequestions are in front of us more thanever. The learners are not only those in-side a classroom, but also each and everyhuman being interacting with his or heenvironment. An interaction expandednow more than ever in a vast world thatthrough new technologies (and mostlythe Web 2.0), communicates and recognizes itself as diverse and alike at the same

time. If you want to see a new concept beborn and grow and have ideas to sharethen go ahead and participate. Knowledge of any kind will be welcome. Interactions among researchers, students andcurious people are always the beginningof wonderful ideas and also tend to leavea footprint in each participants learningprocess.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Conner, Marcia. 2008. Informal Learning.

. Accessed January 2010.

Cope, Bill, and Kalantzis, Mary. 2009. Ubiqui-

tous Learning. Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press.

Dewey, John. 1897. My Pedagogic Creed

School Journal 54: 77-80. . Accessed Janu

ary 2010.

Freire, Juan. 2009. Universities and Web 2.0:

Institutional Challenges. In User Generated

Content: Regulatory Dimensions. V. Mad

huri, ed. Pp. 111-121. Hyderabad: The Icfai

University Press. [This article was originally

published in 2008 in eLearning Papers No 8.

Reprinted with permission. . Accessed January 2010.

American educator and philosopher John Dewey, featured on a1968 U.S. Postal Stamp.Image courtesy Sebjarod/public domain

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