The Hybridity and Heterogeneity of Spaces: Muslim Students Navigate Learning Experience in a Digitalized Indonesia

• In Event: Student agency and adaptation: artificial intelligence, social media, and diverse learning spaces

Proposal

As the understanding of the interconnectivity of digital and physical spaces grows, the hybridity and heterogeneity of these learning environments, particularly in the context of Islamic education, remain largely unexplored. This study, developed to fill this research gap, aims to contribute significantly to the academic discourse. By extending Massey’s theory of space (2011) to the digitalized Islamic education, with Indonesia as a case study, we hope to shed new light on this complex intersection. In Massey's view, space is not a neutral entity but a dynamic product of interactions, from the global to the local. Massey underlined the impossibility of space being self-isolated from its local, national, and global contexts and influences. In other words, space is interconnected, sociohistorical, cultural, and political. She also highlighted the influences of people constructing the realities of space, which, given the diversity of people, made space a sphere where the coexistence of multiplicity was continuously negotiated. As such, she perceived space as continuously developed, bringing together the unexpected and the unplanned. Space is continuously evolving, corresponding to changes. In that sense, space is heretic, heterogeneous, unsettled, and co-constitutive with identities.

Taking such a conception into the context of learning, it can be argued that learning space—where learning takes place—is continuously constructed, heterogeneous, and interconnected. Let us discuss school as an example. Given their social function as institutionalized education, as indicated in Wexler (2009), schools might be considered a proper example of physical learning space. Schools are generally characterized by (a) the presence of, and the power dynamic between, students and teachers; (b) the construction and the implementation of curriculum; (c) the providence of textbooks and teaching-aid tools; (d) the multi-level and multidimensional chains of policies; and (e) the availability of classroom and learning facilities. The push-and-pull between the above aspects appears to construct a school’s dynamic heterogeneous realities.

However, as Thomas (2010) argued, learning space is not only physical—which is socio-spatial—but also virtual. For Gilbert & Paulin (2016), in contrast to school classrooms, digital learning spaces offer a personal and personalized learning experience. Students can be more decisive in deciding their learning plan in the digital space, from content to schedule, from approach to sources. Similar to physical learning space, digital space is arguably heterogeneous and continuously evolving. Numerous actors construct the learning realities and provide what seems to be limitless content despite their different powers and capital. In this digitalized world, learners’ frequent search for content alongside their learning habits will influence their digital bubbles, forming their learning space. Wardak et al. (2022) argued that students can continuously reconstruct their learning space as they develop different interests and preferences.

Although digital learning spaces have a unique element that distinguishes them from physical and conventional ones, as discussed by Rehm & Notten (2016), I agree with Thomas (2010), who stated that the boundaries between physical and digital learning spaces are blurring. For Costa et al. (2018), the increasing dependability on technology has contributed to offline and online space integration. As such, the term ‘blended or hybrid learning’ is becoming more common in school settings, highlighting the simultaneous offline-online learning experiences (see, for instance in Goodyear 2020). With such hybridity of the learning spaces, the heterogeneity and the continuous construction of the spaces should be understood by putting together (a) what is perceived as the ‘default’ multiplicity of physical and virtual spaces, (b) the implication of inseparability of both, (c) the agency of students experience learning in and through such a hybrid learning space, and (d) the technological literacy and usage preference.

However, speaking of Islamic education in Indonesia, it appears that, firstly, the current discourse tends to overemphasize (the roles of) Islamic schools. Moreover, schools are often oversimplified in terms of their types and affiliation or ownership (Tan 2011; Anzar 2003; Ardianto 2022; Hasan 2012; Bryner 2011; Jamhari and Asrori 2022), perceiving them as homogeneous. Secondly, studies (see, for instance SETARA Institute 2016; Stadlbauer 2021; Vitullo 2021) have addressed the role of the internet as a space where Islam is increasingly learned and taught. However, such a discussion is often made in isolation from the context of Islamic schools and, therefore, fails to examine a more holistic picture. As a result, the internet is frequently blamed for spreading radicalization, as can be seen in (Hui 2010; Lim 2005; Thai News Service Group 2015; Abubakar and Nabil 2018), as if (a) the content is homogenously containing radical ideas of Islam and (b) students cannot make meaning of the information received. While I agree that radicalization has taken place in and through the internet, oversimplifying the internet for radicalization could result in fragmented and misleading views of how learning is transforming.

Therefore, given the heterogeneity and hybridity of space, a critical reading of how Islam is learned should, firstly, see schools as spaces where diverse Islamic understandings co-exist and are always in conversation. Digital space, on the other hand, should not be perceived as similarly experienced by all students, as Gibson (2001) argued. Subsequently, although the internet appears to have all the information that seems exposable, accessing it equally is another issue. Secondly, digital space as a sphere of heterogeneity should not only be seen as the co-existence and contestation of diverse Islamic narratives in virtual realities but also as the idea that a single Islamic narrative can be understood differently as it is subject to reinterpretation and reinvention, as discussed in a broader sense by Muller & Perret-Clermont (1999). Understanding the hybridity and heterogeneity of space will help us understand how the learning experience is transforming and how students navigate themselves in and through offline and online learning spaces simultaneously.

Author

• Irfan Latifulloh Sarhindi, Department of Education, University of Oxford