Place-Based Spaces for Networked Learning

“Networked learning research is clearly shifting its emphasis from ‘online’ towards the mixed-mode aspects of the digital and the physical, offline and online, and the meshed reality making the two inseparable. However, this has only now—with the publication of Place-based Spaces for Networked Learning—been captured and treated rigorously from a theoretical, analytical, and empirical perspective. This book will stand as a landmark and a turning point for research into networked learning, and I highly recommend it to researchers and practitioners.”

–Thomas Ryberg, Professor in the Department of Communication and Psychology at Aalborg University, Denmark, and Co-chair of the Networked Learning Conference

“The initial rush to understand and implement virtual environments for teaching and learning left consideration of place by the wayside. This book marks a turning point in re-establishing the importance of place as a central constituent of learning activity, focusing much needed attention on the traditions and effects of natural spaces, material objects, and built environments in relation to learning and the design of learning experiences.”

–Caroline Haythornthwaite, Professor, SLAIS, The iSchool at the University of British Columbia, Canada

“This is a timely and important book, given the impact of digital technologies and the ways in which they result in the boundaries of place being softened and extended. Learning in a networked society necessitates new distributions of activity across time, space, media, and people, and the well-known editors and authors of this volume are in an excellent position to critique this important issue.”

–Gráinne Conole, Professor of Education in the Institute for Education at Bath Spa University, UK

Lucila Carvalho is a Research Fellow in the Centre for Research on Learning and Innovation at the University of Sydney, Australia. Her Ph.D. combined research in design, learning technology and the sociology of knowledge. She has studied and carried out research in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Brazil. She has published and presented her work at various international conferences in the fields of education, sociology, systemic functional linguistics, design and software engineering.

Peter Goodyear is Professor of Education and Co-Director of the Centre for Research on Learning and Innovation at the University of Sydney, Australia. He has been carrying out research in the field of learning and technology since the early 1980s, working in the UK, Europe and Australia. He has published eight books and over 100 journal articles and book chapters.

Maarten de Laat is Professor of Professional Development in Social Networks at the Welten Institute of the Open University of the Netherlands. His research concentrates on exploring social learning strategies and networked relationships that facilitate learning and professional development. He has published and presented his research extensively in international research journals, books and conferences. He is co-chair of the biannual International Networked Learning Conference.