Content vs. Context

Hi everbody. I think that this post may give a good discussion since society and education is under a turnover, as new technologies such as social software appear to be the most important cause of this changing paradigm. As Steve Hargadon wrote on his blog, school and most of all educational forms as we know them are based on reading and receiving content from the teacher. Unfortunately, "The Age of Authority" is still the present of many schools and universities.

But since new technologies emerged, like Ning or any other powerfull social software tool, we can create new learning contexts. Contexts described as "activity-rich, interaction-rich and culturally-rich learning environments that the use of technology is making possible and where new principles and practices apply" (Figueiredo, 2005). I see "The Age of Engagement" full of these rich learning contexts.

If you wan't to know more about Context and Learning, I recommend the reading of:

Figueiredo, A. D. & Afonso, A. P. (2005b). Context and Learning: A Philosophical Framework. In Figueiredo, A. D. & Afonso, A. P. (eds.). Managing Learning in Virtual Settings: The Role of Context. Information Science Publishing, Hershey, USA, pp. 1-22.

This chapter can be downloaded here.

It´s a very interesting chapter and I´m using it as a reference for my master thesis in e-Learning Pedagogy, about social software and learning contexts.

Best regards,

Nelson Jorge

Portugal