Situated learning!

I had no idea about the meaning of situated learning, the term itself seemed really unfamiliar to me until I was asked to read and draw some conclusions about the topic. Lave and Wenger helped me to have a better understanding of this way of approaching learning defining it as: “learning that takes place in the same context in which it is applied.” (Lave and Wenger 1991).  I absolutely agree with the idea that learning is related to a certain context or situation because it is there, in a community of practice, where an acquisition of knowledge and skills from experts occurs. It is there where knowledge is to be acquired. 

This knowledge is acquired when people are in engagement with social interactions, in collaboration with people who share a profession, that is to say in a community of practice. As Mark Tennant states:” New knowledge and learning are properly conceived as being located in communities of practice (Tennant 1997: 77).

As stated above, learning is situated in social interactions, consequently, if we want to acquire this authentic knowledge and skills, we definitely have to get involved in these social interactions, participating in daily life, observing, imitating, interacting, and learning from experience. Lave and Wenger states this better when they point out that: “A person’s intentions to learn are engaged and the meaning of learning is configured through the process of becoming a full participant in a socio-cultural practice. This social process, includes, indeed it subsumes, the learning of knowledgeable skills. (Lave and Wenger 1991: 29).

Now, how could situated learning play a role in my receiving institution and what potential benefits may it bring to it? First of all, I think teachers could learn a lot from each others’ experiences. New teachers, for instance, can acquire the necessary knowledge and skills by observing and imitating, by sharing information with time teachers or teacher who have more experience doing the same job, which could be called “a community of practice” It would bring some benefits to the institution like having qualified teachers to do the job.

On the other hand, I think students could also learn from each other by observation, imitation by interaction with their classmates and by sharing experiences. For example, they could learn new skills; improve their skills and so on by observing, imitating, interacting and sharing experiences with each other. They could learn, for instance, learning strategies observing or listening to how a partner learns particular aspects of the language. It would definitely bring a lot of benefits for students since they would considerably improve their learning skills.

In sum, knowledge and skills are acquired through social interaction, through actively participating in a community of practice where we learn from observing others, from interacting with others, from imitating others, from sharing our experiences with people who share our same profession, that is to say, in the context of our daily activities.

References

Smith, M. K. (2003, 2009) 'Communities of practice', the encyclopedia of informal education, Retrieved from www.infed.org/biblio/communities_of_practice.htm.