Lio Lecture 3
Situated learning
19-09-19
Why situated learning?
It is a coherent framework to understand underlying constructs.
Point of departure
• The traditional perspective on learning revolves around producing and transferring abstract
knowledge (knowledge not bound to a specific time and place)
A transactional perspective that sees the exchange of knowledge as the exchange of
information; also described using the acquisition metaphor (cognitive in nature)
• Here, knowledge is context-independent (does not matter who and where you are. Like the laws of
nature)
The alternative
• Situated learning (SL) sees learning as the development of one’s identity through participation in
practice
Always context dependent Has been referred to as the participation metaphor.
• SL focuses on the way in which learning unfolds in and through action
In what you do together
Knowledge is provisional (it can never be seen as a solid truth, truth is different from
contexts) and socially constructed
[A sense of] Community
• The primary form of social organization home to (a particular set of) practice(s)
The idea of a community is the basis of the SL theory
Communities use artifacts
E.g. your family, when being part of a family you need to adapt the requested values etc,
your identity is changed and you become part of the community and the community takes
you in.
The associated values, norms and relationships
• Participation produces a community appropriate identity
Practice
• Practice refers to the practicing of a particular profession (job, craft)
Any type of practitioner (e.g. technicians)
• Practice is inherently social and takes place within a historical context
Always social, because you do it together, or you belong to people who do the same job
independently.
Historical context: it came about in a very specific way. You need to study how it used to be,
to know how it came to be.
Why? Because you are a part of the profession.
It provides us with a framework that we can use to understand why we do the things we
need to (dependent on participation!)
• Consists of / makes use of:
Tools, language (artefacts), relations, customs, assumptions and values
Hammer, chalk + Specific vocabulaire/language you use when you are a member of practice
(overlaps largely with culture).
Compare w/ culture
, • One can reproduce, adapt, transform or reject practices (the extent to which you adapt, reproduce
etc. consequences for participation, or: defines extent of participation)
Participation, 1
• The center/core of SL => participation drives the development of practice(s) and identity(ies)
• Participation is more than carrying out a particular set of activities (together)
It denotes an active engagement with practice that allows one to find one’s place in a
community. The more you get into it, the more you are accepted. Versus the more distance
you keep, the more alien you become.
Differences between participating in and/or with.
• To participate is to negotiate meaning with others
Participation needn’t be harmonious!
• The extent to which one participates in, has mastered (a community’s) practice determines one’s
role/position within it.
Internalizing, believing in it, think you believe in it defines your position (peripheral, in the
center, being tolerated, but not deemed essentially, etc.)
Marginal/starting in the periphery like a stagiaire.
Marginal: participants who are kept at the periphery of the community
Peripheral: newcomers permitted to participate to a limited extent in simple, relatively
discrete tasks and relationships
Full: old-timers who participate at the core of the community
Identity
• To learn is also to develop an understanding of who we are (or need to be, can be) in order to be
accepted in / by a community
Shapes your identity
Also professional identity
Having an identity in the community helps you to feel good for working somewhere 40 hours
• Two processes: identity regulation and work
You have multiple identities (work, home, friends, etc.), you are not just one person because
you are part of different social groups
Regulatie is het reguleren van het gedrag van individuen afkomstig van organisatiemiddelen
(e.g. promotie policies) en de reactie van het individu daarop: deelnemen of weerstand.
Communities/work try to change your identity (e.g. taking courses/trainings to make you fit
in more with the organization)
Identity work: Try to reconcile the different demands between you and the organization
• (!) One cannot function within a community if one cannot ‘assume’ the identity required for
participation in the associated practices (i.e. not just ‘going through the motions’)
You might feel not being one of them
Community
• Communities are only one manifestation of SL
Collectivities, networks and so on also exist (groups within groups)
You perpetuate yourself with certain people, but you do not need to meet on a daily basis
• It is the shape of the practice (its topography) that determines its social configuration
How often people meet, shows if you are dealing
Situated learning
19-09-19
Why situated learning?
It is a coherent framework to understand underlying constructs.
Point of departure
• The traditional perspective on learning revolves around producing and transferring abstract
knowledge (knowledge not bound to a specific time and place)
A transactional perspective that sees the exchange of knowledge as the exchange of
information; also described using the acquisition metaphor (cognitive in nature)
• Here, knowledge is context-independent (does not matter who and where you are. Like the laws of
nature)
The alternative
• Situated learning (SL) sees learning as the development of one’s identity through participation in
practice
Always context dependent Has been referred to as the participation metaphor.
• SL focuses on the way in which learning unfolds in and through action
In what you do together
Knowledge is provisional (it can never be seen as a solid truth, truth is different from
contexts) and socially constructed
[A sense of] Community
• The primary form of social organization home to (a particular set of) practice(s)
The idea of a community is the basis of the SL theory
Communities use artifacts
E.g. your family, when being part of a family you need to adapt the requested values etc,
your identity is changed and you become part of the community and the community takes
you in.
The associated values, norms and relationships
• Participation produces a community appropriate identity
Practice
• Practice refers to the practicing of a particular profession (job, craft)
Any type of practitioner (e.g. technicians)
• Practice is inherently social and takes place within a historical context
Always social, because you do it together, or you belong to people who do the same job
independently.
Historical context: it came about in a very specific way. You need to study how it used to be,
to know how it came to be.
Why? Because you are a part of the profession.
It provides us with a framework that we can use to understand why we do the things we
need to (dependent on participation!)
• Consists of / makes use of:
Tools, language (artefacts), relations, customs, assumptions and values
Hammer, chalk + Specific vocabulaire/language you use when you are a member of practice
(overlaps largely with culture).
Compare w/ culture
, • One can reproduce, adapt, transform or reject practices (the extent to which you adapt, reproduce
etc. consequences for participation, or: defines extent of participation)
Participation, 1
• The center/core of SL => participation drives the development of practice(s) and identity(ies)
• Participation is more than carrying out a particular set of activities (together)
It denotes an active engagement with practice that allows one to find one’s place in a
community. The more you get into it, the more you are accepted. Versus the more distance
you keep, the more alien you become.
Differences between participating in and/or with.
• To participate is to negotiate meaning with others
Participation needn’t be harmonious!
• The extent to which one participates in, has mastered (a community’s) practice determines one’s
role/position within it.
Internalizing, believing in it, think you believe in it defines your position (peripheral, in the
center, being tolerated, but not deemed essentially, etc.)
Marginal/starting in the periphery like a stagiaire.
Marginal: participants who are kept at the periphery of the community
Peripheral: newcomers permitted to participate to a limited extent in simple, relatively
discrete tasks and relationships
Full: old-timers who participate at the core of the community
Identity
• To learn is also to develop an understanding of who we are (or need to be, can be) in order to be
accepted in / by a community
Shapes your identity
Also professional identity
Having an identity in the community helps you to feel good for working somewhere 40 hours
• Two processes: identity regulation and work
You have multiple identities (work, home, friends, etc.), you are not just one person because
you are part of different social groups
Regulatie is het reguleren van het gedrag van individuen afkomstig van organisatiemiddelen
(e.g. promotie policies) en de reactie van het individu daarop: deelnemen of weerstand.
Communities/work try to change your identity (e.g. taking courses/trainings to make you fit
in more with the organization)
Identity work: Try to reconcile the different demands between you and the organization
• (!) One cannot function within a community if one cannot ‘assume’ the identity required for
participation in the associated practices (i.e. not just ‘going through the motions’)
You might feel not being one of them
Community
• Communities are only one manifestation of SL
Collectivities, networks and so on also exist (groups within groups)
You perpetuate yourself with certain people, but you do not need to meet on a daily basis
• It is the shape of the practice (its topography) that determines its social configuration
How often people meet, shows if you are dealing
