Hacia una comprensión del mundo social virtual en la configuración de espacios de aprendizaje informal

Sanchez Burgos, Felipe and Rodríguez-Paniagua, Augusto (2022) Hacia una comprensión del mundo social virtual en la configuración de espacios de aprendizaje informal. Foro de Educación, 20 (1). ISSN 1698-7802

Abstract

The omnipresence of digital technologies and the Internet as a means of daily interaction leads to ask ourselves about the ways in which people build an unique way of relating to them and the impact that this relationship can have on informal learning processes; under the assumption that a central aspect to this is the ability to spontaneously experience and sustain instances of cognitive conflict. Given that between the individual and the digital world a two-way relationship is established, where the former is both an agent of production of privileged spaces of interaction and a passive recipient of an informational bombardment, we consider that to the extent that strategies are not developed to navigate more effectively in Internet and social networks the possibilities of developing new learning is reduced. Contemporary research on the impact that Internet and social media browsing has on various informal learning processes is discussed, its results are presented, as well as limitations in their approaches. As a result, the concept of psychogeography is proposed as a useful conceptual tool when theorizing about the various learning trajectories that young people can develop when relating to digital spaces. We conclude by pointing out the pedagogical challenge of fostering the development of strategies that help explore the digital world beyond the spaces with which one is familiar and recognize the infinity of space still to be known.