Learning in Informal Settings

Course Description

Learning is increasingly recognized as distributed across many kinds of environments with classroom learning occupying a small percentage of time across the lifespan. There is a need to theorize what makes non-school learning environments powerful and to understand how we can catalyze cross-setting learning. These questions have gained urgency with evidence accumulating about the benefits of extracurricular learning coupled with disparities in access to opportunities linked to family affluence. In addition, rapidly changing technologies are providing novel opportunities for personalized learning and there is an important opportunity for innovation in the design of hybrid forms of curriculum-based learning that span virtual and co-located settings. This course focuses on these issues by considering how learning arrangements are differentially organized in schools and non-school settings, with a focus on non-school settings. Readings will include reports of place-based studies that work to identify social practices and processes of learning (e.g., peer, family, mentor interactions within museums, after school clubs, community art centers, and Internet cafes). We will also consider person-based studies of interest that capture learning across time and setting. We will draw on socio-cultural theories as a conceptual framework for understanding learning within and across settings but we will also read and discuss work carried out by sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists, and educators. In addition to becoming familiar with some of the scholarship in this area, you will learn by getting out of the classroom and experiencing a learning environment of your choice (broadly defined - it could be an online community, any after-school space, athletic field or gym, museum, classroom, theater, nature center, or other \"pre-approved\" location). Student assessment includes a series of guided weekly reflections that culminate in a comprehensive report and presentation. As a part of this final report, you will propose recommendations on ways to make your chosen environment more generative and productive for learning based on what you have learned in class. Students will also lead a class meeting as a part of a small team.

Code

EDP 314

Credits

3

Subject

Educational Psychology

Programs That Include This Course

• Bachelor's Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies
• Bachelor's Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies
• Bachelor's Bachelor of Science in Leadership and Learning Innovation
• Minor Minor in Educational Psychology