e-Learning Ecologies MOOC’s Updates

Informal and Ubiquitous Learning in Museums

Visitors to museums often enter the doors motivated by their curiositiy and specific interests to seek out knowledge in an informal manner. Informal learning, by definition, is that which is voluntary and self-directed, driven by curiosity, exploration, and the sharing of insights with others. Similar to ubiquitous learning, informal learning can happen anytime, anywhere, and anyhow. 

There are mechanisms within the museum learning ecology that can prevent ubiquitous learning from occuring. Many times this is due to the epistemic and authortative design of learning delivery content and mechanism often present in the museum environment. Museum content and delivery systems, while moving away from its traditional forms in many places, still presents information that is didactic in nature through the "curatorial voice" -- a one-way authority in information disemination. I propose that in order to engage visigtors and embrace the advantages of ubiquitous learning, museums and similar institutions should provide additional delivery modes (affordances) through e-learning that removes (or at least mitigates) both the spatio-temporal constraints and didactic pedagogy.

New learning social spaces like affinity groups could be adopted, where visitors of all age and experiences can share impressions and insights and build knowldge together. This type of learning might best be described as life-wide learning. 

An e-learning delivery mechanism that aligns with ubiquitous learning concpets might be digital/mobile platform that visitors can use within the physical space or outside of the physical space. Instead of a digital version of curatorail copy (the equivalent of an e-book), it could instead invite interaction between visitors and encouage idea sharing and divergent thinking. In essence a social media space for exploration and continued learning. Anyone can be an initiatior, and integrate new media, interviews, playlists (a grouping of favorite works of art for instance), objects, data, gamifaction, and images into the discussion to build not only the collective knowledge, but the collective curiosity.