Barron, B., Martin, C. K., & Roberts, E. (2007). Sparking self-sustained learning: report on a design experiment to build technological fluency and bridge divides. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 17(1), 75–105. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-006-9002-4

“In order to go beyond traditional assessments of learning we assessed two aspects of students ‘learning ecologies’: their use of a variety of learning resources and the extent to which they share their knowledge about technology with others”

“we are working to understand learning across life spaces of home, school, community and through distributed resources offered by the Internet (see Fig. 1). This conceptualization of learning broadens the unit of analysis to include the total set of contexts, comprised of configurations of activities, material resources, and relationships found in physical or virtual spaces that provide opportunities for learning”

“…standards for technological fluency [put forth in 1999 National Research Council (NRC) report Being Fluent with Information Technology] … articulate the importance of integrating knowledge with the ability to engage in the forms of collaboration, problem solving, and discourse … These learning goals require educators to design classroom-based experiences that differ fundamentally from traditional pedagogical approaches that emphasize lecture, discrete lessons, and factual recall”

“relationship between access to learning resources and breadth of experience [suggests] that there is much to be understood about how learning resources are distributed and accessed.”

On the need for further research on learning ecologies:  “These data suggest the need to broaden our methods for assessing the generativeness of a learning environment. A learning ecologies model draws attention to between-context interdependencies and highlights how little we know about processes of interest development in relation to experience. It would be productive to understand more about how the creation of new and self-regulated activity contexts for learning can be triggered by formal (and informal) learning opportunities. To address these questions, research that utilizes a broader set of methodologies is needed. For example, assessments of students’ social networks and longer term ethnographic studies would help us to better understand the development and dynamics of students’ learning ecologies that span local and distributed resources and that are shaped by the self as well as by others. Each life context has unique features that afford different kinds of learning. The configuration of tools, activities, and relationships that students have access to at home, school, through the community, through peer groups, and through distributed resources might be the basis for a deeper assessment of students’ learning ecologies than was carried out here.”
— Mentions a need for research/focus on TEACHER’S learning ecologies as well.

Barron, B. (2006). Configurations of Learning Settings and Networks: Implications of a Learning Ecology Perspective. Human Development, 49(4), 229–231. http://doi.org/10.1159/000094370

Barron’s response to Allan Collins commentary on her paper “Self-Sustained Learning as Catalysts for Development, published in this issue of Human Development.”

“Collins directs his attention to the design implications of a learning ecology perspective. He suggests that self-directed learners will be the winners in the 21st century economy and agrees that we should help learners develop knowledge in areas of deep interest to them”

Collins draws on ” ideas expressed by Ivan Illich, in his well-known and controversial book Deschooling Society published in 1971… Beyond the four core ideas Collins points to (networks of skill exchanges, peer matching, reference services in educational objects, and reference services to educators-at-large), Illich takes issue with the opaqueness of the technologies that surround us or, as he puts it, the ‘impenetrability of modern junk’ (p. 82). [Illich] suggests technologies be built with educational qualities that invite deconstruction and understanding. Similarly he wants public places (such as the railway yard and the fire station) to be opened up so that they become places for learning”

Barron’s reaction to Collins drawing on Illich: “Perhaps Illich’s proposal to abolish schools is farther than Collins would go, but it is not entirely clear in his essay. It is farther than I would go. The cases I outlined in the paper were meant to be illustrative of the varied settings, activities, and resources that sparked an interest and led to secondary processes of learning…it is also critical to understand the implications of the variation in the time sequence of learning and the robustness, continuity and depth of the resources that each learner had access to in the settings in which they participated. For example, … more opportunities to capitalize on resources,…the persistence and stability of his home setting”

“Schools, with all of their imperfections, are in a unique position to seed interest and initiate growth in a child’s learning ecology…the capacity of children to learn on their own is facilitated by their ability to read and to productively engage other people in common activity…school is a critical space for developing these capacities and thus a critical resource for advancing social justice.”

“The purpose of articulating a learning ecology framework is to help us think about the dynamics of learning across developmental time and within and between settings. The framework provides a means to understand individual differences in the emergence and trajectories of engaged learning activities.”

Long-term goal:  lay the groundwork for a policy-relevant empirical research agenda that might advance our understanding of how to better support self-sustained learning for all learners

  • Continue to clearly articulate the social, relational, and material qualities of learning environments
  • Understand the powerful learning processes that can emerge once learners become deeply engaged
    • Need detailed accounts of the transactional relationships between ever-changing learners and their ever-changing life spaces.
    • Understand more about the role of redundancy, overlap, and variety across settings in sustaining learning
  • Develop design principles for resources that can lead to deeper understanding of content as well as connect a learner with a larger community

Notes to self:
Focus on learning activities/tasks thats students like and enjoy — things that they seek out more information about — “self-sustained interest”
Find Cremin’s ‘Towards an Ecology of Education’. (1976)