Unit information: Informal Learning in Communities in 2018/19

Unit name	Informal Learning in Communities
Unit code	EDUCM0067
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Dr. Sue Timmis
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	School of Education
Faculty	Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Description including Unit Aims

Learning does not just happen in schools and universities: it is a central part of how individuals adapt and change throughout their lives; it is a key feature of how societies and groups develop over time; it is an element of everyday life in workplaces and families. Indeed, learning outside the formal education environment makes up the vast majority of an individual’s learning over their life-course. Learning in informal communities – whether these are children’s online communities, teenagers’ peer networks, local activist groups, or informal professional networks – can be understood through multiple theoretical perspectives ranging from situated learning theory (in social psychology), to microsociality (in sociology), to participatory theory (in media literacy). These perspectives require us to pay attention to the different social, cognitive and cultural resources that individuals may need for, bring to or gain from participation in these informal learning communities, and the implications of this differential access for social justice.

Anyone with an interest in education needs to have a good understanding of the dynamics and features of these life-long and life-wide informal learning communities because they provide the context for and can shape and influence students’ expectations of learning in schools, colleges and universities. More than this, studying learning in these settings can also open up creative, challenging and novel ways of reflecting on the practices and purposes of formal education.

The aims of this unit are therefore:

1. to introduce students to the rich and diverse landscape of learning in communities beyond formal education
2. to enable students to examine the diversity of social, cultural and material resources that shape learning in different communities and the implications of such different resources for questions of social justice
3. to support students to engage with the key literature and theoretical resources in the field and to interrogate and problematize concepts of ‘learning’ and ‘community’.
4. to create opportunities for students to study the dynamics of informal learning in communities such as online communities, communities of practice and/or communities of place.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate a deep understanding of the diverse landscape of learning in communities beyond formal education
2. Critically interrogate the social, cultural and material resources that shape learning in different communities and their implications for formal education and equity.
3. Mobilise a range of theoretical perspectives to interrogate and problematize concepts of ‘learning’ and ‘community’.
4. Use appropriate research methods for inquiry into informal learning in communities such as online communities, communities of practice and communities of place.

Teaching Information

The unit includes a variety of teaching and learning methods, including: lectures, tutorials, presentations and workshops, small group activities, group presentations and collaborative research. The use of digital technologies is integral to the work of the unit, with students expected to use the University VLE as standard for all administrative matters, as well as using other social and audio visual media to support their work. The unit also includes an experiential learning component designed to support students to reflect collaboratively on the issues raised in the course. In this activity, students work together over the course of the programme on a collaborative inquiry into an informal learning community selected in collaboration between the group and course tutors.

Assessment Information

Formative assessment:

Students will be invited to present and receive individual and group feedback on their ongoing inquiry throughout the first three sessions of the unit, with opportunities for both peer and tutor feedback.

Summative assessment:

For this unit students are required to submit two pieces of written work. Both pieces of work are assessed and will receive individual feedback and a numerical grade. These two grades will create an overall weighted grade used to determine the overall unit grade.

Part One (1,500 words) Weighted at 30%

Students will be asked to produce an individual critical reflective analysis of the informal learning resources and practices that were mobilized by themselves and members of their team in their collaborative inquiry project (ILO 2&4)

Part Two (2,500 words) Weighted at 70%

Students will be asked to produce a case study of a learning community. They will be expected to draw on the literature and theory introduced during the study to develop a critically reflexive account of the dynamics of the learning community and exploring its implications for questions of social justice and/or formal education. (ILO 1,2,3)

Reading and References

Biesta, G., Field,J., Hodkinson, P., Macleod, F.J., & Goodson, I.F. (2011) Improving Learning Through the Lifecourse: Learning Lives. Abingdon: Routledge.

Colley, H et al (2003) Informality and Formality in Learning, report for the Learning and Skills research Centre, https://kar.kent.ac.uk/4647/3/Informality%20and%20Formality%20in%20Learning.pdf

Delanty, G. (2003). Community. London: Routledge

Ecclestone, K., Biesta, G., & Hughes, M. (Eds.). (2009). Transitions and learning through the lifecourse. Routledge.

Holland, D., Lachicotte, W., Skinner, D., & Cain, C. (1998). Identity and agency in cultural worlds. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

Holzman, L. (2009). Vygotsky at work and play. Routledge.

Hughes, J., Jewson, N., & Unwin, L. (Eds.). (2013). Communities of practice: Critical perspectives. Routledge.

Illich, I (1972) Deschooling Society

Jenkins, H (2010) Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture, Macarthur Foundation Occasional Paper, https://www.macfound.org/media/article_pdfs/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF

Joseph, M. (2002). Against the romance of community. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press

Sefton-Green, J (2003) Informal Learning, a Literature Review, Bristol: Futurelab

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge university press

Wenger, E., White, N., Smith, J., (2010) Learning in Communities, in U Ehlers and D Schneckenberg (eds) Changing Cultures in Higher Education, Springer pp257-283 (check we have this in the library)