How Youth Construct Learning Trajectories in the Digital Age?

Pasqueline Dantas Scaico and Ruy José Guerra Barretto de Queiroz

Center for Informatics (CIn), Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil

Keywords: Youth, Digital Learning, Learning Trajectories.

Abstract: People living with decentralization of knowledge and high connectivity. Digital media has changed how we

learn and the settings in which learning occurs. Nowadays, we have the opportunity to experience many

different experiences through the media and social networks, especially youngers. Although formal spaces

are still the main reference for the learning process, the relevance of non-formal and informal spaces cannot

be ignored, as well as the amount of learning that is being learned and the nature of this learning. This paper

presents an ongoing research which will seek to understand how young people recognize and construct their

learning trajectories through digital spaces and what metrics are valid to outline how knowledge moves

between these spaces. The research method is qualitative in nature and will be supported in longitudinal

studies, which will be the basis for interpreting models capable of representing such paths.

1 INTRODUCTION

The education model as we know it has been facing

the great challenge of developing new skills so that

young people may be able to establish a new

relationship with knowledge, increasingly affected

by the pace of change and the pervasive use of

technology. Being able to continually update what

we know and what we can do, will be something

essential in the future. To ensure the arc of lifelong

learning it is necessary to revisit the concept of

learning.

The type of learning that will define the 21st

century is not only associated with the knowledge

we acquire but also with the contexts of learning,

due to the necessity to better understand in which

settings learning has occurred. Contexts allow

people to develop a meaning for things, understand

the relationship between school content and the

world as well as engage with the learning process. In

this scenario, the use of technology has been

responsible for the construction of a new culture. In

digital world, people learn to observe and

experiment, learn what they are willing to learn, are

guided by their passions and recognize the collective

as an important resource to the process of producing

new knowledge (Thomas and Brown, 2011). People

take greater control of their learning process alone

when they are motivated by interests and when they

have the resources needed to enable them achieve

their goals. The existence of these conditions

provides an environment so that they can develop

their intelligence (Gee, 2013).

The digital era has been marked by

decentralization of knowledge and high

connectivity. Technology has changed the equation

of what it is learned, how we learn it and the settings

in which it occurs. Young people end up engaging in

a special way with different kinds of learning

through participation in communities of practice,

social networks, the use of games and other media.

Thus, although the school is still the main reference

of the learning process, the relevance of these other

areas cannot be ignored, as well as the nature of

what young people are learning. In digital spaces

young people are free to imagine, create and take

part in flow experiences which put them in contact

with states of frustration and epiphany, important

factors for engagement and self-regulation.

Trying to understand what learning represents in

these new spaces, what is its nature and how it

manifests itself, many scholars have been trying to

understand the principles behind the process of

learning in the digital age as well as the cultural and

behavioral aspects that emerge from this intense

interaction of young people with technology.

Ethnographic studies of M. Ito, set in the universe of

social networks, suggest genres of participation. At

first, young people seek to discover the meaning of

being with other people, later on they try to

Dantas Scaico P. and Guerra Barretto de Queiroz R..

How Youth Construct Learning Trajectories in the Digital Age?.

DOI: 10.5220/0004953700870092

In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU-2014), pages 87-92

ISBN: 978-989-758-022-2

 2014 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)

understand the environment they are using, and

finally they experience how to use the resources that

the environment provides so that the process of

exploitation gets deeper (Ito, 2010). Young people’s

practices and behaviors in this new culture show that

they are able to develop multiple identities from

different domains, especially when they are in

situations that allow them to exploit opportunities

and deal productively with failure. Similar to the

attitude of a scientist before the failure of a

hypothesis, it is essential that the learner has

available space for experimentation and hypothesis

testing with a chance to receive feedback on the

spot, and, thereafter, she may reflect, share, create,

rework and retest. And in this kind of knowledge

production that Seely Brown calls tinkering, the

learner is able to develop multiple identities in the

spirit of "I am what I create".

When young people use technology, they take

control of what they learn and develop a natural

process to progress in this way. This reflects a

process of paradigm break, in which the idea that

learning occurs predominantly in pre-defined space

and time is being replaced by another one, which

recognizes the existence of a fluid process that

occurs in multiple places, times and circumstances

which invite people to explore, learn and develop

yourself. The diversity of digital spaces constitutes a

network capable of enhancing the intellectual

development of people and a complement to formal

education. Although many things about culture,

practices and behaviors of young people in the world

of technology are being unveiled, we still know a

little about how young people create learning cycles

and routes between spaces mediated by technology.

In this research, we try to understand how young

people construct their learning paths from the digital

spaces they use and which metrics are valid to

outline how knowledge moves between these

settings. Studies of this kind are complex, especially

because they require the researcher is immersed in

the culture and daily life of the research subjects.

This article presents the objectives of a program of

research that has been initiated in Brazil, as well as

its methodological design. As outcome we hope to

create a narrative that shows how young people

construct their learning trajectories, in which it is

possible to identify the main stimuli that cause some

young people follow some paths (and discard others)

remain engaged and develop different degrees of

reasoning skills and cognition to achieve their goals.

We also intend to identify elements that can be used

to measure how knowledge moves from an area of

learning to another and to help young people to

recognize their trajectories.

The paper is organized as follows: Section 2

presents the theoretical background underlying the

research. Then, Section 3 presents related works and

the research questions that will be addressed in the

study. Section 4 presents the research methodology

that will be used. Finally, Section 5 discusses the

relevance of this study.

2 CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND

The 21st century is marked by the influence of

technology in the educational field so that the

learning theories have been revisited. Most theories

were developed in a time when knowledge

production was slower and when people did not live

with such high connectivity. Learning was not

considered as a process that took place out of

people.

But according to Siemens (2004), the creator of

Connectivism, a learning theory for the digital age,

learning is a continuous process that takes place in

different spaces and it is governed by the divergence

of views, the ability to create connections between

several sources of knowledge and where the ability

to access new information is more important than

the current stock of knowledge. In this theory,

learning is the process of creating networks, where

nodes can be people (experts, teachers, classmates

and communities), but also the technology itself.

Here, the role of the educator is to create learning

ecologies, form communities and leave students free

to explore this environment.

Converging with this idea, new methodological

concepts have been shifted from the use of

technology as a way to reduce the costs of delivering

content to another one which aims to establish a

network of connections between knowledge,

context, people and different types of media, making

this network work as an enhancer feature and also as

a facilitator of situated learning - which is that one

which occurs when someone is able to understand

the concept and establish meanings to it (Gee, 2010)

- and deep learning, that represents a state in which

the student is motivated to exert the necessary effort

to learn (Schunk et al., 2008).

The holistic view of Connectivism converges

with values and principles of Connected Learning

from Ito et al. (2013), which emphasizes the design

of learning ecologies as part of the instructional

design. The Connected Learning approach

recognizes the power of technology to scale,

diversify, increase engagement and expand the range

CSEDU2014-6thInternationalConferenceonComputerSupportedEducation

of learning experiences.

Realizing the importance of networking in the

construction of the learning process, it is also

recognized that there are different spaces where

learning can rise up. The horizontality of knowledge

shall then be cut by experiences that arise within and

outside the school and allow the transit of learning

through the different areas young people occupy,

whether physical spaces - such as school,

community, church, or family - or virtual ones - like

social networks, blogs, YouTube and games. This

transversality has been kept in social relationships,

academic orientation and communication

infrastructure that turns learning into something

connected to the real world.

People are increasingly learning in different

settings. What we learn manifests itself through

formal spaces which follow a rigid curriculum, the

school for instance; through non-formal spaces

where, although there is the structure, there is no

obligation to follow a curriculum structure, being

considered then temporary environments and

situations, such as those related to dance, theater and

sport. Finally, through informal spaces that represent

contexts in which people engage by choice, in their

own time and pace. In these contexts the learners

make the schedule and decides the strategies they

will use to learn. They are in control of the process.

Several virtual spaces have been presented as

powerful learning environments. This tends to be the

case of videogames. Squire (2006) has conducted

investigations in this direction by studying the

universe of games as learning spaces as well as Gee

(2010) who studied the potential of the world of

videogames for literacy and situated learning.

Steinkuehler (2006) studied cognition and the

universe of multiplayer games and more recently she

has been conducting studies in programs outside the

school that show that skills such as interpretation,

synthesis and power of argument have emerged from

the contact of young people with the media

(Steinkuehler et al., 2012).

It has been clear that young people are going to

build learning trajectories by using multiple spaces.

In the educational context, learning trajectories

characterize the actions and the reflection process of

a person over a period of time. In this research, we

take the concept of learning trajectories defined by

Erstad et al. (2013), which refers to the ways a

person goes through different situations over time.

For us, exploitation of these situations which are

motivated and established by the use of technology

and media can initiate the development of

competencies useful for discovering of new

knowledge.

3 RELATED WORK

The discovery of learning paths is an area of

research that has been explored for quite some time.

The area of mathematics, for instance, has been able

to study sequences of activities and stimuli that are

effective for guiding children through their levels of

thinking and skills. The researches in this area have

guided the conduct of teachers and the reformulation

of pedagogical practices (Simon, 1995) (Simon et

al., 2010).

Nevertheless, in the case of technology usage,

young people have control over what they learn and

how they learn because they are free to make

choices based on what looks interesting to them.

Unlike formal education, which can have more

control over the development of such trajectories,

it’s a reverse path when this construction occurs in

the digital world. We do not define the paths that the

young people will take. They do. And, what do we

know about the connections that are established

when young people use media? How do the

knowledge and skills that have been developed

move between spaces that constitute young people’s

daily lives? How do they perceive their learning

process stood before the power of technology? How

do these experiences affect their learning in formal

education environments?

Some studies have been conducted in the attempt

to understand this dynamic. The studies of the

research group Connected Learning have

concentrated on non-formal learning spaces,

although one of its observations have lately turned to

the experimental school Quest to Learn (Salen et al.,

2011). Six case studies have been reported in recent

years and they have demonstrated the application of

the principles of Connected Learning approach to

learning spaces such as libraries, communities of

practice and programs aimed at integrating young

people with industry professionals (Connected

Learning n.d.).

The group has been able to investigate daily

practices that constitute the biggest stories arising

from online contexts. However, Ito et al. (2013)

emphasize that there are few studies that investigate

in a systemic way how the knowledge transfer

between formal education and other contexts that

connect people's lives occurs. As well as the

National Research Council (cited in Ito et al., 2013)

highlight, when it refers to the lack of studies of

systematic nature of these forms of learning

HowYouthConstructLearningTrajectoriesintheDigitalAge?

mediated by technology and the requirements that

have been put for learning to occur.

There is a great interest in exploring and

analyzing other types of learning beyond that one

which occurs mainly in schools because learning

does not end when young people leave the school

space. On the contrary, learning is extended and

encouraged when they make massive use of

technology to establish a relationship with the world

they live in.

In order to understand the concept of learning in

the 21st century it will be necessary to dive into

young people’s daily life, their attitudes and into the

new meanings that have been created. As

Eickelmann et al. (2013) said, it is necessary to

develop new conceptions of learning, considering

the different locations and contexts involved in this

process. Erstad et al. (2013), in turn, also claim that

the biggest challenge we have today is finding ways

to interpret the interconnections between the

different worlds that young people experience in

their daily lives. In the studies they have been

conducting with the Learning Lives approach, the

author and his colleagues have tried to illustrate

some circumstances that exemplify the existence of

connections and boundaries between young people’s

practice and the skills they transfer between spaces.

Sefton-Green (2013) also reinforces that we know

very little about how young people can circulate

through informal experiences as well as those that

happen at home or at school.

Thus, in the attempt to contribute with the

research on learning in the digital age, the research

that has been conducted intends to address the

following research questions:

Research question 1: How do young people

establish their learning trajectories when using

digital spaces?

Research question 2: What measures can be used

to model the way in which knowledge moves

between the spaces?

4 RESEARCH METODOLOGY

In order to identify attitudes, experiences and

meanings, the method of this research is qualitative

in nature. Thus, we assumed an interpretive

epistemological position In the belief that reality is

socially constructed, we assumed that knowledge

can only be understood from the point of view of

individuals who are directly involved with the study

of the phenomenon of interest.

4.1 Research Design

The case study will be used as a methodological

approach of investigation in this paper to offer a

deeper understanding of how and why certain

phenomena occur. A case study with multiple cases

will be used. In this research, the researchers will

accompany young Brazilians who are attending high

school and who have a daily intense contact with

media and technologies. The investigation will

examine the daily lives of individuals when they are

in their learning spaces to understand the

phenomenon of interest. Besides, it has the intention

of creating models that reproduce learning pathways

constructed by the subjects.

Since it is intended to identify patterns, ideas or

hypotheses to support the existing knowledge base,

the case study is exploratory. The study will be

conducted in a longitudinal way so that it will be

possible to analyze changes during the process of

data interpretation. The longitudinal design allows

the subject to be investigated several times. Thus,

the data can provide greater accuracy in the analyses

which are related to changes that may occur over

time.

One of the used techniques of data collection has

an observational nature. Questionnaires and

interviews will also be conducted, as well as

ethnographic methods. The research subjects will be

followed throughout the year. The process of

analyzing the information will happen through an

iterative cycle that alternates data collection and

interpretation. Several criteria will be used to select

the sample of subjects, which adds value to the

process of capturing meanings of the phenomenon

that has been studied.

4.2 Analysis and Synthesis of Data

In order to properly deal with the wealth of

information that will be collected, we will use

techniques from Grounded Theory as a means to

accomplish the analysis and synthesis of data. The

Grounded Theory is a suitable research method to

identify a recurring pattern of behavior in the

subjects of the research (Glaser, 1998). Thus this

method requires the researcher to let go of

preconceived ideas so that the focus is kept on the

construction of a theory and not in explaining other

existing ones.

However, in this ongoing work the researchers

have a base of theoretical assumptions (which were

mentioned in Section 2) as well as in hypotheses

(presented in Table 1). Nevertheless, even if our

CSEDU2014-6thInternationalConferenceonComputerSupportedEducation

objective of is the understanding of a particular case,

the use of Grounded Theory techniques is justified

by the interest in systematizing the process of data

analysis and, before the exploration potential of the

method, it is possible that in the end of the research

a narrative is constructed (as a "local theory")

capable of adding value to researches in this area.

Table 1: Research hypotheses.

Hypothesis 1: The situated learning occurs with the

existence of learning trajectories.

Hypothesis 2: When a process of knowledge

transference between learning spaces happens, the deep

learning is taking shape.

Hypothesis 3: Young people are able to recognize

what they are learning and when they are transferring

knowledge from one space to another.

Triangulation is one of the strategies that will be

used to enhance the internal validity of the study.

Triangulation schemes of multiple methods and

multiple sources will be adopted.

5 RELEVANCE

OF THE RESEARCH

The ability of young people to collaborate, to see the

technology as a resource to create meanings for

educational content and to develop skills so that they

may be able to solve problems, has motivated

researchers to understand the dimension of the

concept of learning in this century.

In order to understand the digital culture and

young people’s practices, we need a strong

immersion in their context so that we can understand

how the processes, experiences and decision making

are experienced and understood also in informal

learning environments. There are still not much

published research about new ways of learning

which consider ecological and connected approach.

Furthermore, the replication of studies in multiple

cultural, social and economic scenarios will

strengthen the knowledge base in this field. Such

studies conducted in countries like Brazil may

provide important findings.

In the global scenario, this study will be

important to increase the body of knowledge on the

pathways, decisions, skills and attitudes that young

people take when they are engaged in the learning

process. The research aims to identify evidences

which show how young people perceive their own

learning and how they transfer it between the spaces.

This student-focused measurement strategy also

shows to be a promising method in the field of

assessment of learning. The identification of patterns

and the perception of attitudes and meanings will

also be important to understand the relationship

between learning contexts elements.

Regarding the Brazilian scenario, the use of

technology in education is still very much driven by

the instrumental view or how to build something that

can make the learning process funnier, which is

configured in a superficial strategy almost always

doomed to failure. Most teachers who adopt the

technology do it sporadically through limited and

distant forms that allow the students’ understanding

as well as specific practices of everyday life and

school activities (Junqueira 2009). As Bonilla (2012:

77) has pointed out, despite the presence of

technology in schools, there is no strengthening of

digital culture, as it requires a strong immersion in

context so that processes, experiences and decision

making are widely experienced and understood,

making sense of the practices, either social or

pedagogical ones.

Thus, it is perceived that there is to some extent a

state of disregard. Whereas in Brazil technology has

been present in schools for almost 30 years, it is

necessary to advance research in this field, mainly

because it may be possible to see through

quantitative research that young people consume

technology outside the school in a very different

way than it occurs within school. However, more

investment needs to be made in qualitative research

that can influence education policies which value the

intellectual potential of young Brazilians. After

completing the literature review, the research is at

the stage when the first instruments of data

collection are planned as well as the selection of

samples of the participants.

ACKNOWLEGDEMENTS

The authors would like to thank National Counsel of

Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq),

which supports this research project (486307/2013-

1).

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CSEDU2014-6thInternationalConferenceonComputerSupportedEducation