susana2008

COMUNIDADES DE APRENDIZAJE: IDENTIDAD Y PARTICIPACIÓN
SISTEMA DE UNIVERSIDAD VIRTUAL DE LA UNIVERSIDAD DE GUADALAJARA
LOURDES BUENO
1
THEME: EDUCATIVE INNOVATION
LEARNING COMMUNITIES: IDENTITY AND PARTICIPATION
AUTHOR: LOURDES BUENO
INTRODUCTION
This is a brief summary of the research that I am conducting on Learning
Communities, in collaboration with the CESU of the National Autonomous
University of Mexico, the Aula Mentor program which has generously shared its
field experiences, the UNED of Spain, and of course, the Virtual University of the
University of Guadalajara. In the analysis of the relevance of educational systems,
one concern is absolutely fundamental: the certainty that up to now the problems of
coverage have not been solved, not to mention the problems of quality, and the
fact that significant sectors of the population have been left without any possibility
of continuing their education1. Institutions have drawn education away from its
social purpose; those who enter the classroom are forced to check their culture
and lifestyle at the door; the actors are faced with a very limited array of options.
These shortcomings have effectively relegated a significant percentage of the
population from both public and private education, and thus a considerable sector
of society finds itself staring at closed doors. This in turn has isolated universities
from society at large and from their social purpose.
For a long time it was thought that the only valid way to develop individuals and
society was through institutionalized education. But why did it take us so long to
realize that we could come up with alternatives that would restore education’s
social purpose and focus its aim once again on human development, and
therefore, on society’s development? Giddens has said, “Because certain social
1 Second chance schools. Oportunity Program, Italy 2006
COMUNIDADES DE APRENDIZAJE: IDENTIDAD Y PARTICIPACIÓN
SISTEMA DE UNIVERSIDAD VIRTUAL DE LA UNIVERSIDAD DE GUADALAJARA
LOURDES BUENO
2
forces appear unalterable, and thus inevitable, and since the actors have very few
options open to them, on the assumption that they will behave rationally, this
implying an alignment with the reigning ideology or the system of interests, the
result has been a fundamentally flawed design: only responses arising from the
system itself are defined as valid.... whether they are relevant for the inclusive
development of society or not.
A NEW PARADIGM:
Recalling Ivan Illich2, we remember that it was in the 1970’s when society’s role as
an educational agent came to the fore. And it was precisely in this framework that
Distance Education managed to position itself as one of the most vigorous
educational modes, offering methodology, strategies, diversified learning settings,
student participation in their own learning process: the interactions that emerge
from the new kind of social relationship are leading to a new paradigm in the form
of a unifying social process, new lifestyles that are more participatory and
democratic and that through this educational mode have opened a space for a reencounter
with society3. It is for this reason that the Virtual University System, in
this research study presents evidence on: The social factors and institutional
elements that come together to build learning communities; the conditions under
which the educational process unfolds with the inclusion of TIC’s; the influence of
subject-centered education as a generator of personal development, and therefore,
the recovery by communities of their processes of education and development; the
new role that universities must take on in order to offer strategies that support
educational processes that are more relevant and equitable to the needs of
2 Illich, I. (1988) Alternativas II Joaquín Mortiz / Planeta, México/Barcelona; and Illich, Ivan (1978)
Toward a history of needs Random House, New York.
3 Bueno, L. La exclusión de la esperanza: un sistema educativo desertor. University of Guadalajara. 2004
COMUNIDADES DE APRENDIZAJE: IDENTIDAD Y PARTICIPACIÓN
SISTEMA DE UNIVERSIDAD VIRTUAL DE LA UNIVERSIDAD DE GUADALAJARA
LOURDES BUENO
3
different sectors of society; This is the role that learning communities play toward
the knowledge society.
LEARNING COMMUNITIES: Community, a life space4
I look at communities as the social nucleus of learning, by way of: strategies for
horizontal participation, communication in dialogue, mutual practice and
commitment, elements for the creation of both individual and community learning.
Whether these communities form inside formal institutions or not, whether they
occur in classrooms or virtual spaces, is immaterial. It merely gives them different
modes of being and expressing themselves; it is a diversity that, from the
perspective of this analysis, is nothing more than variations on the same process.
Learning communities do not form around a work method imposed from outside;
they grow out of a transformation that the community desires and builds because
the community members believe in it.5 A learning community, when it fulfills its
purpose, gets people involved in the detection and assessment of their needs: they
discover their own interests and aspirations to acquire new knowledge, skills and
abilities; they develop healthy interpersonal relations, as well as new and better
roles in their community and in society at large. A learning community provokes
people and gets them to face their needs and to undertake their own development
through individual and group cooperation, by identifying and applying existing
educational resources6.
RESEARCH PRINCIPLES: