Bridging the Divide Between Formal and Informal Contexts Through Distributed Teaching and Learning Systems

• In Event: Exploring the Affordances of Informal Learning Environments

Abstract

This paper addresses the complexities of moving across teaching and learning contexts in everyday life, both in formal settings such as school but also informal settings, and between physical and virtual spaces through a framework we call distributed teaching and learning systems (DTALS). Using a comparative case study of two different examples, we argue that DTALS is a way of describing an expansive conception of the roles and identities of teachers across many different contexts and of learners as they move between these sites. DTALS opens up new ways of thinking about the relationships between these contexts, about learners’ journeys across these contexts, and how these pathways can be intentionally designed by teachers of all sorts.

Authors

• Jeffrey B. Holmes, Arizona State University

• Earl Aguilera, Arizona State University - Tempe

• Kelly M Tran, Arizona State University - Tempe