Learning in conference 4.-5.7.2006

Technically it's easy, in a few places already. You have your flaptop or mobile phone and you have access to internet. Fine. You start your process after a moment of inspiration. Everything goes all right, technically and psychologically. But socially you may arrange harmful situation for example when sitting with your friends in a local pub and starting your learning process there.

The problem is that others are not used to your ubiquitous learning. They feel they've been left out. When working, you should be at your work place. When learning, you should be at school. You just can't forget the others without consequences.

So, you should pay attention to cultural differences and social context when considering the possibilities and challenges of learning. Even the best available connections, technics, learning material or web architecture can't help if there's no space for learning, culturally or socially.

Step by step -ideology has been important when attempting make the life long learning principles true. The focus has been in skills. More holistic perspective is ecological. A learner - or a potential learner - is not individual atoms neither just part of the learning group but also part of her/his family, neighbourhood, village, net of friends or colleagues. After opening the computer and starting a web course this learner is perhaps alone but before she/he has got to that step she/he has taken many social or cultural steps, which can be much harder than the course itself. Sometimes they can be easy and natural steps, too, one part of the unavoidable personal growth.