University of Ciego de Ávila Máximo Gómez Báez
|
ISSN: 2309-8333
|
RNPS: 2411
|13(1) |2025|
This is an Open Access article under the license CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)
Estrategia y Gestión Universitaria EGU
Scientific and technological
research article
How to cite:
Miranda-Moreno, V. M.,
Plaza Zúñiga, J., & Barón-Velandia, B.
(2025). New Practices in Higher Education:
Three Case Studies at Corporación
Universitaria Minuto de Dios – UNIMINUTO.
Estrategia y Gestión Universitaria
, 13(1),
e8857.
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15361268
Received: 17/03/2025
Accepted: 23/04/2025
Published: 06/06/2025
Corresponding author:
bbaron@uniminuto.edu
Conflict of interest:
the authors declare
that they have no conflict of interest,
which may have influenced the results
obtained or the proposed interpretations
.
New Practices in Higher Education:
Three Case Studies at Corporación
Universitaria Minuto de Dios –
UNIMINUTO
Nuevas Prácticas en la Educación
Superior: Tres Estudios de Caso en la
Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios
– UNIMINUTO
Novas Práticas no Ensino Superior: Três
Estudos de Caso na Corporación
Universitaria Minuto de Dios –
UNIMINUTO
Abstract
Introduction: the issues and transformations faced by formal
education allow us to examine and redefine the meaning of
"teaching" and "learning," and to include the concept of
expanded education in classroom didactics. Objective: to
highlight the existing gap between expanded education and
traditional teaching methods. Method: a historical-
hermeneutic perspective was applied, employing case studies
and participant observation, as well as information collection
tools (expert interviews, documentary review, and audiovisual
analysis of experiences). Three cases from the Minuto de Dios
University Corporation – UNIMINUTO were selected, where
expanded education is recognized as a transformative
pedagogical practice in higher education. Results: indicate
that one of the key factors in teaching processes is
acknowledging the space and manner of education, in order
to perceive the individual and group pedagogical environment,
and to reflect on how learners think, learn, and identify with
their surroundings. Conclusion: expanded education is a key
tool for legitimizing learning as a dynamic and collaborative
process, capable of adapting to the current needs of an
evolving society.
Keywords: education, expanded education, invisible
education, teaching-learning, educational practices
Resumen
Introducción: los problemas y transformaciones que ha
enfrentado la educación formal permite examinar y redefinir
el significado de “enseñar” y “aprender”, e incluir el concepto
de educación expandida en las didácticas del aula. Objetivo:
evidenciar la distancia existente entre la educación expandida
y los métodos tradicionales de enseñanza.
Viviana Marcela Miranda-Moreno
1
Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios –
UNIMINUTO
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1126-3952
viviana.miranda@uniminuto.edu
Colombia
Jeannette Plaza Zúñiga
2
Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios –
UNIMINUTO
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5829-8872
jeannette.plaza@uniminuto.edu
Colombia
Benjamín Barón-Velandia
3
Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios –
UNIMINUTO
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4968-6336
bbaron@uniminuto.edu
Colombia
Estrategia y Gestión Universitaria
|
ISSN
: 2309-8333
|
RNPS:
2411
13(1) | January-June |2025|
| Viviana Marcela Miranda-Moreno | Jeannette Plaza Zúñiga | Benjamín Barón-Velandia |
Método:
se aplicó la perspectiva histórico-hermenéutica, recurriendo al estudio
de caso y observación participante, así como herramientas de recolección de
información (entrevistas a expertos, consulta documental y audiovisual de las
experiencias). Se tomaron tres casos de la Corporación Universitaria Minuto de
Dios – UNIMINUTO, en los que se reconoce la educación expandida como práctica
pedagógica transformadora de la educación superior.
Resultados:
indican que
uno de los factores determinantes de los procesos de enseñanza consiste en
reconocer el espacio y la manera de educar, a fin de percibir el ambiente
pedagógico individual y grupal, y reflexionar sobre la forma en que piensan,
aprenden y se identifican con su entorno.
Conclusión:
la educación expandida es
una herramienta clave para legitimar el aprendizaje como un proceso dinámico y
colaborativo, capaz de adaptarse a las necesidades actuales de la sociedad
cambiante.
Palabras clave:
educación, educación expandida, educación invisible, enseñanza
aprendizaje, prácticas educativas
Resumo
Introdução: os problemas e transformações enfrentados pela educação formal
permitem examinar e redefinir o significado de "ensinar" e "aprender", além de
incluir o conceito de educação expandida nas didáticas de sala de aula. Objetivo:
evidenciar a distância existente entre a educação expandida e os métodos
tradicionais de ensino. Método: aplicou-se a perspectiva histórico-hermenêutica,
recorrendo ao estudo de caso e observação participante, bem como ferramentas
de coleta de informação (entrevistas com especialistas, consulta documental e
análise audiovisual das experiências). Foram selecionados três casos da
Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios – UNIMINUTO, nos quais a educação
expandida é reconhecida como uma prática pedagógica transformadora no ensino
superior. Resultados: indicam que um dos fatores determinantes dos processos de
ensino consiste em reconhecer o espaço e a forma de educar, a fim de perceber o
ambiente pedagógico individual e coletivo, e refletir sobre a maneira como os
alunos pensam, aprendem e se identificam com seu entorno. Conclusão: a
educação expandida é uma ferramenta fundamental para legitimar a
aprendizagem como um processo dinâmico e colaborativo, capaz de se adaptar às
necessidades atuais de uma sociedade em constante transformação.
Palavras-chave:
educação, educação expandida, educação invisível, ensino-
aprendizagem, práticas educacionais
| Viviana Marcela Miranda-Moreno | Jeannette Plaza Zúñiga | Benjamín Barón-Velandia |
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Introduction
Formal and non-formal educational practices associated with expanded
education are characterized by reducing the distances between formal and informal
education, drawing on theoretical and practical references from digital culture,
promoting interdisciplinary and multigenerational dynamics, advocating for an open
approach to citizenship, and emphasizing participatory and experiential
methodologies over curricular reductions (Uribe, 2019; Simac et al., 2021; Souto
-
O
tero, 2021; Kalenda & Kočvarová, 2022; Essomba et al., 2022; Jackson, 2023;
Gómez Cano et al., 2024; Sánchez Castillo et al., 2024; Barrera et al., 2024). Through
educational practices, knowledge is acquired in various everyday contexts, where
information is received and internalized inadvertently or unconsciously through some
physical, sensory, or social stimulus; this type of learning is referred to as “invisible
education.”
E
xpanded education broadens the horizons of formal education through
learning practices both inside and outside the classroom. Consequently, this
approach is more natural and freer, devoid of hierarchies or structured
constructions. This perspective does not dismiss or invalidate traditional education;
rather, it suggests an alternative means of acquiring knowledge.
The guiding research question is: What are the expanded communication and
education practices present in higher education? This question led to the diagnosis,
identification, and categorization of expanded education practices present in two
programs at UNIMINUTO (the Master's in Communication and Education in Culture
and the Specialization in Educational Communication, the latter of which examined
the first case called “Open Classrooms”), and at the Center for Education for
Development, Bogotá Virtual and Distance Headquarters (from which two cases were
taken: Digital Citizenship and ExpresArte).
Expanded education is linked to the work of Paulo Freire in the 1970s, the
analyses conducted by Jesús Martín-Barbero (1989) and Mario Kaplún (1983) in the
1980s, and the compilation by Roberto Aparici in 2010, which highlights the
developments that digital technologies have generated in educational matters such
as participation, dialogue, and social learning (important issues for the construction
of new citizenships).
Countries pursuing transformations governed by innovative conceptions,
based on ideas and thoughts that have been successfully implemented in other
nations, foster social and economic progress (Herrera-Pérez & Ochoa-Londoño, 2022;
López González, 2023; Cardeño Portela et al., 2023). Thus, communication (and
currently Information and Communication Technologies – ICT) has often been
considered the medium for disseminating educational content.
Additionally, regarding experiential learning experiences, Muyolema (2022)
emphasizes the importance of active methodologies that integrate everyday life with
academic life, generating a real level of training. Accordingly, the pedagogical
experience is incorporated into experiential learning, creating a learner-centered
environment where individuals are interdependent in their education and develop
an awareness of the historical realities they inhabit (Ossa & Barón, 2024). In this
way, school is conceived as a place for interaction and storytelling.
| Viviana Marcela Miranda-Moreno | Jeannette Plaza Zúñiga | Benjamín Barón-Velandia |
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Beyond this approach, there is the method of invisible teaching or learning.
Velásquez (2022) posits that relationships are established between content learning
in the classroom and the more overwhelming learnings of this era, which have led
students to become adept at developing digital competencies, rapidly outpacing
educators. Students utilized virtual environments more effectively to socialize,
share, produce content, paint, and play; they transferred video game strategies into
classroom settings, proposing activities, platforms, and magazines from which,
perhaps, some of us continue to learn today (Velásquez, 2022).
ZEMOS98 (2012) exemplifies an expansive pedagogy applied to various
contexts such as the pandemic, where practices are reinvented to address global
problems using acquired knowledge (Advisory, 2021). Cultural mediation during the
pandemic reflects how teaching is increasingly aligning with both formal and
informal education, as was already occurring in expanded education.
The emerging question is: What challenges lie ahead in mediating between
institutions, organizations, or movements? In light of this uncertainty and the current
pedagogical challenges, we propose that innovation is the method for representing
expanded education. Through new knowledge, we socialize a contemporary and
expanded learning experience, yielding tangible results throughout the process. This
redefines the role of the teacher as a guide, orienting practices and experiences,
while the student, through their investigative nature, reconstructs meaningful
knowledge of the world.
The teacher's role as the sole bearer of knowledge is diminishing. The
distinction between what is learned as a self-taught individual and what is learned
in school is fading. Amid resistance and tension, the outside world enters the school
through digital networks, media, and collectives that generate content and redefine
access to knowledge. In response to disinterest in reading and difficulties with the
mother tongue, alternative formats supported by ICT are promoted, which are more
appealing and relatable to young people (Hernández-Domínguez et al., 2022).
In the Anglo-Saxon context, which is less known in Latin America and
characterized by a more instrumental focus, Media Literacy has developed. Notable
authors in this field include Henry Jenkins and David Buckingham.
In 2009, during the ZEMOS98 Festival (2012) in Seville, the concept of
expanded education was introduced, defined as the exploration of boundaries
transcending traditional education. The festival emphasized learning as a social
construction. The increasing adoption of digital technologies, the internet, and
devices like smartphones has created a conducive environment for open virtual
settings, where new subjects connect globally through shared interests. These
changes promote interactions in digital spaces, where content serves as a pretext
for managing self-directed online learning communities.
This situation contrasts with formal education, whose structural elements
include curricula, guidelines, pedagogical approaches, specific knowledge, and
articulating axes that underpin teaching and learning—a sequence that does not
allow for disruptions in its premises and does not recognize knowledge without an
educational goal as valid.
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ZEMOS98 investigates alternative learning methods and their transmission,
promoting critical citizenship through communication technologies. Their pluralistic
approach to expanded education employs innovative didactics, such as the game
Commonspoly, which encourages reflection on common goods to build a better
world.
Both approaches share an expanded vision of education and an openness to
media-technological phenomena. However, while expanded education transcends
and sometimes transgresses the boundaries of schooling, digital mediation creates
formative spaces where the borders with formal education blur.
Methods and materials
This research was conducted in three stages. The first involved outlining the
investigative strategy. The second identified the population. Finally, the information
collected was systematized and analyzed according to an epistemological
perspective with a didactic and pedagogical focus. Although ideal types, approaches,
and theories do not exist in reality in an absolute manner, the classification
presented in Table 1 illustrates how each perspective differs from others based on
the questions or topics of interest to academic communities, thereby marking paths
or strategies and techniques necessary to seek current innovation.
Table 1
Epistemological approaches
ITEMS
APPROACH
THEORETICAL
(speculative)
RATIONALIST
(empirical-
analytical,
scientific,
"quantitative")
NATURALIST
(historical-
hermeneutic,
ethnographic,
"qualitative")
TRANSFORMATIVE
(socio-critical,
emancipatory,
"qualitative")
SYMBIOTIC
(seminal,
sacralized,
"epistemic")
Graphical
representation
People and
their
worldview.
Recommended
generator
Draft of
dissertation.
Problem-
justification
questions.
Ethnographic
description.
Autobiographical
narrative.
Exercise in
cosmic
communication.
| Viviana Marcela Miranda-Moreno | Jeannette Plaza Zúñiga | Benjamín Barón-Velandia |
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Source: Epistemological approaches (Plaza & Campuzano, 2022).
It is imperative that pedagogical research is oriented toward liberating
Most frequent
uses
Philosophy, law,
mathematics,
artistic creations
resulting from
research.
Natural
sciences.
Social sciences.
Human
sciences.
Community work.
Psychotherapy.
Sacred
encounters.
Purpose
To develop
constructs or
artistic/theoretical
objects that allow
for creative,
coherent, and
reasoned
interpretations of
reality.
To establish
the
relationship
between two
or more
variables
through
hypothesis
validation or
invalidation
for
generalization
purposes.
To achieve a
comprehensive
view of the
study topic,
often holistic.
To support
changes in
marginalized or
vulnerable
populations.
To synchronize
individually and
collectively with
the existing.
Type or
strategy
Socratic inquiry or
maieutics.
Discourse analysis
(Q-Analysis).
Critical discourse
analysis. Rigorous
participatory
methodology
(complexity
theory)
Experimental
and quasi-
experimental
designs.
Participant
observation.
Qualitative
case studies.
Historical
recovery.
Description.
Systematization
of experiences.
Cartographies.
Communicative or
educational
participatory
action research.
Autobiographical
narratives.
Respecting the
process.
Dialogue of
knowledges.
Inter-historical
exercises.
Information
collection tools
Comparative
matrices.
Timelines.
Complex graphics.
Standardized
tests.
Surveys
(closed-ended
questions).
Checklists.
Grids.
Field journals.
Unstructured
interviews.
In-depth
interviews.
Participatory
diagnostics.
In-depth
interviews.
Participatory
action plans.
Turning the gaze
inward.
Narrative
comprehension.
Privileged
themes and
populations
Discourses.
Works.
Texts-authors by
periods or places
of production.
Random
sampling.
Groups or
individuals of
interest with
the possibility
of safe
interaction.
Local groups with
medium- or long-
term access.
Decolonial
themes.
Indigenous
inspirations.
Information
analysis
Categorizations.
Inductive,
deductive, or
abductive choices.
Regressive,
present, or
prospective
choices.
Verifications.
Parametric
statistical
classifications.
Composition of
categories of
analysis.
Permanent
complementation
between theory
and practice.
Complementary
contrast
between
intuition and
practice.
| Viviana Marcela Miranda-Moreno | Jeannette Plaza Zúñiga | Benjamín Barón-Velandia |
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approaches that employ complex matrices. These tools allow for alternative
intersections that facilitate inclusive educational processes. Rooted in everyday
creativity, pedagogy transitions from mere repetitive technique to a facilitator of
vital experiences.
The study adopts a historical-hermeneutic approach (Habermas, 1988) to
holistically understand relevant educational cases within expanded education. The
research prioritizes critical reflection, enhancing the awareness of both teachers
and students regarding their practices, fostering new levels of understanding and
transformation.
Investigative Strategy
Montes de Oca (2022) suggests integrating qualitative, quantitative, and
hybrid methods in research on university entrepreneurship, evidencing scientific
production and impact (H index). This raises the question: What aspects of
entrepreneurship generate knowledge for researchers? The pandemic necessitated
methodological transformations that include fieldwork, result analysis, and
documentation of experiences as 'portraits' of alternative educational practices to
deepen the understanding of the phenomenon and its impact on education.
Target Population
The sampling is determined by selection criteria: the authors' access to two
groups of programs where they serve as teaching researchers (the Master's in
Communication and Education in Culture and the Specialization in Educational
Communication, from the Faculty of Communication Sciences). From this, the case
study “Open Classrooms” emerged. The other two cases (ExpresArte and Digital
Citizens) come from the CED of UNIMINUTO Bogotá, Virtual and Distance, with which
the authors relate ongoing teaching and social outreach from the graduate programs.
Sample
The study adopts a historical-hermeneutic approach with intentional
sampling, selecting cases according to specific criteria. This methodology allows for
the exploration of original contributions to expanded, ubiquitous, and invisible
education in formal contexts—areas that have been scarcely researched previously.
The sample was selected through judgment sampling (Martínez, 2012), based
on the knowledge and direct participation of the researchers in alternative
pedagogies. This ensured viability and credibility for the three studied cases: Open
Classrooms, ExpresArte, and Digital Citizens, where the authors served as
instructors.
Results and discussion
The following presents the results of the case studies, subsequently
classifying the information based on the categories of analysis corresponding to
different ways of conceiving educational themes grounded in pedagogy.
Case 1. Open Classrooms: Cabildo de Cota
| Viviana Marcela Miranda-Moreno | Jeannette Plaza Zúñiga | Benjamín Barón-Velandia |
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Open Classrooms, understood within the programs of the Specialization in
Educational Communication and the Master's in Communication and Education in
Culture, constitute visits to territories where local knowledge is produced and shared
with students and teachers, allowing for recognition of knowledge and plurality in
communication methods. Thus, communication is not limited to media, and
education is not confined to schooling. Open training spaces imply alternative, non-
authoritarian forms of education (Red de Comunicación Popular, 2021).
The Master's in Communication and Education proposes reconfiguring school
communication action toward a horizontal and multidirectional model that highlights
diverse cultures and knowledge, constructing an ecology of knowledge where
multiple narratives converge (Santos, 2006). From a cultural perspective, it
promotes critical interculturality (Walsh, 2010) that integrates traditional and
emerging knowledge through performative languages and relational pedagogies,
surpassing the traditional transmissive model and the hegemonic alphabetic text
(Martín-Barbero, 2006).
The Universidad de la Tierra Orlando Fals Borda, Potocine, the Center for
Historical Memory, the Corridor of Resistance, the Muisca Council of Suba, and the
Muisca Reserve of Cota have been some of the territories for the Open Classrooms.
Professors from the programs participated, and from these experiences, students
created field diaries, podcasts, and graduation projects, including master's theses.
Internships were conducted in Mexico, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, and
Colombia.
In one of the open classrooms held in the Muisca Reserve of Cota, industrial
designer Estiven Castro Muisca presented his company “Somos Mhuyscas,”
showcasing lines, figures, and symbols woven into tapestries, shawls, hats, and other
elements. A former principal introduced games designed to teach Muisca culture,
and to conclude, the mayor Lourdes led a healing session with a rope and tobacco
blowing in a Chunzúa, a sacred place for the event's closure.
The facilitator of the open classroom was the elder Alfonso Fonseca Balcero,
who, through his ancestral research on the native language and customs, fostered
interaction to demonstrate the importance of language use and its role in recognizing
oneself as indigenous in the inhabited territory. Due to the pandemic, the open
classroom was held virtually via YouTube, generating knowledge-sharing spaces
based on local wisdom and experiences.
The activities developed in this project included interviews, dialogues
among participants sharing life stories, and spaces for exchanging knowledge through
experiences, anecdotes, and cultural insights.
One impact on the pedagogical processes generated by these actions was the
recognition of the space and manner of education. The open classroom enabled
participants to perceive both individual and collective pedagogical environments.
Furthermore, this experience led participants to question and reflect on how they
think, learn, and identify their roots.
Another activity involved recreating the process of making chicha in an
educational laboratory. This experience allowed for appreciation of both the
| Viviana Marcela Miranda-Moreno | Jeannette Plaza Zúñiga | Benjamín Barón-Velandia |
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traditionally transmitted oral knowledge and the cultural meanings implicit in each
stage: the cultivation and grinding of corn, the preparation of cuchuco, and the final
fermentation.
Knowledge holders like Alfonso Fonseca embody the transmission of
ancestral cultural heritage, serving as community pillars by integrating formal and
informal education. Their practice constitutes expanded education: they preserve
traditions and knowledge through intergenerational teaching, ensuring cultural
continuity.
Case 2. Digital Citizenship
In 2017, UNIMINUTO Bogotá Virtual and Distance implemented a project for
virtual social practices, allowing students to fulfill their social responsibility through
asynchronous ICT tools. This mission-driven initiative utilizes digital networks to
address contemporary issues such as solidarity economy, gender, coexistence, and
the environment, fostering civic awareness through online educational activities.
The program featured participation from experts such as Julie Andrea Duarte
(Rare Diseases), Yisel Aguirre (Psychology), Héctor Zabala (Solidarity Foundation),
Andrea Nontoa (Occupational Health), and Alex Rodríguez (Efficacy Organization),
along with various organizations (Ecological Foundation Bacatá, Hogar La Última
Milla, etc.). A total of 38 webinars, 38 interviews, 30 challenges, 50 exchange
workshops, and 19 educational pages were developed.
Each activity demonstrated enthusiastic interaction among students,
teachers, and the digital community. Additionally, it prompted reflection on the
various issues currently affecting society and potential solutions from an otherness
perspective, emphasizing the values and importance of teamwork. This project
enabled students and teachers to create and lead processes of social construction,
where their disciplinary and transdisciplinary skills were put to the test.
Digital networks proved to be pedagogical tools for social change, reaching
remote communities through playful strategies. The project illustrated how these
networks transform realities, especially for users with limited technological
proficiency. Cyberspace transcends its communicative function: it teaches,
facilitates autonomous learning, and resolves conflicts. This reaffirms the value of
expanded and informal education, allowing knowledge acquisition without
spatiotemporal restrictions, adapting to individual rhythms.
Case 3. ExpresArte
This pedagogical strategy from the Center of Education for Development
(CED) aimed to develop skills in children and youth through education, art, and
creativity. It targeted vulnerable populations (socioeconomic levels 0-3) affected by
violence, drug addiction, and poverty in Bogotá, using art as a tool for expression
and coexistence, promoting critical thinking and productive use of free time among
participants aged 5 to 12.
The activities developed in the ExpresArte project, alongside partner
foundations and organizations such as Fundación Egipto con Futuro (Egipto
neighborhood), Oasis (Lucero neighborhood in Ciudad Bolívar), Coprogreso
UNIMINUTO (Usaquén locality), and Fundación Búsqueda y Rescate (Suba locality),
| Viviana Marcela Miranda-Moreno | Jeannette Plaza Zúñiga | Benjamín Barón-Velandia |
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highlighted the importance of dance, audiovisual creation, music, and visual arts in
strengthening interpersonal relationships, teamwork, and self-esteem.
Among other activities, the workshop “Art as a Way of Life” contributed to
improving and reinforcing values in the children from Fundación Egipto con Futuro
for artistic vocational projection. Additionally, a Creative Cooking workshop
encouraged children to think creatively to solve problems and work in teams.
Furthermore, an Art Therapy workshop proposed an intervention based on the
implementation of painting (and other visual arts) to contribute to coexistence
within the Foundation.
The outcome of these workshops was the establishment of an emotional and
reflective space where each child expressed themselves through art and interacted
with others, improving their communication and strengthening their social bonds.
The program included psychosocial support on values and coexistence at
Coprogreso UNIMINUTO, along with intergenerational dance workshops ("Move with
Coprogreso") to promote physical activity and integration. Concurrently, “creative
arts” sessions were implemented with children from San Cristóbal Norte, developing
motor skills through the creation of traditional crafts.
Another foundation that participated in the project was Oasis. Together,
they developed a workshop titled “I Relate to Others and Learn Values for
Coexistence” using traditional games. This activity strengthened the cognitive and
social skills of children and their way of relating to their parents.
Various foundations implemented artistic workshops with specific
approaches: Búsqueda y Rescate: Playful activities for children from socioeconomic
strata 1-2 in Suba, focused on values; Performance, Luz y Color: Art and music for
coexistence and assertive communication; Amigo Ángel: Dance, theater, and music
as tools for conflict resolution; Por un Mañana Mejor: Visual arts and body expression
for self-recognition; Social Artística: Dance and body work to foster group
interaction.
The critical analysis revealed that key pedagogical elements for reducing
conflicts and improving social skills include: (a) expanded education (which
integrates formal and informal approaches) and (b) collective strategies that
transcend playful activities, generating exchanges of knowledge and community
recognition. The results demonstrated the need to address local issues from
innovative perspectives, combining traditional and alternative education (Rodríguez
et al., 2021).
Table 2 presents the characteristics of each case study, linked to expanded
education or invisible/ubiquitous learning.
Table 2
Categories and case studies
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CASES
ITEMS
Open Classrooms Digital Citizenship ExpresArte
Conception of
knowledge
Territories (not classrooms) are
understood as places of knowledge
and experience production that
recognize other knowledge(s) –
wisdom(s) – and plurality in their
production and communication.
Knowledge is associated
with the experiences of
teachers, students, and
the digital community.
Seeks to understand
unprecedented social
problems and needs.
Positive changes are
generated in the territory in
question.
Relationship
between teachers or
authors and
students
There are exchanges in Abya Yala
between teachers, students, and
experts from different places in the
Popular Communication Network.
Topics are addressed
with experts.
Exchanges of knowledge
and guidance from
participating foundations
take place.
Space management
Scheduled visits to reservations,
peripheral neighborhoods, musical or
social protest collectives, and
community experiences.
Students recognize that
networks are not only
spaces for leisure but
also for social
transformation.
Emotional and reflective
spaces are created in the
neighborhoods.
Time management
Planning, execution, recording,
interpretation, and incorporation can
take three months.
Asynchronous. Two semesters.
Habits and
practices of
students.
Novel practices and places for
students.
Search for possible
solutions from otherness.
Students interested in art.
Didactic,
experimental
mechanisms and
resources
Ethnographic preparation, field
diaries, analysis, reports, and degree
project. UNIMINUTO provides
transportation. Games, rituals, and
conferences are incorporated.
Ludic strategies typical of
virtual environments are
used: fan pages,
webinars, interviews,
challenges, and
knowledge exchange
workshops.
Plastic arts and the use of
corporality as an element
of expression and self-
recognition. Workshops
and artistic exhibitions.
Collective
development
The lived experience allows students
to elaborate field diaries, podcasts
that are returned to the communities,
and others generate their degree
works or master's theses.
Students and professors,
from the recognition of
values, discover the
importance of teamwork.
Collective work.
Prior knowledge
Cartographic location in educational
communication and ethnographic
preparation.
The courses emphasize
previous elements on the
solidarity economy,
gender issues,
coexistence, and the
environment, among
other topics.
Work with children and
adolescents on: occupation
of free time, exploration of
their talents and skills to
form reflectively,
analytically, and critically.
Didactics
Talks, through the exchange of
knowledge, generate new knowledge.
Use of ICT in the
interaction between
participants.
Art and culture become a
teaching scenario.
Source: Authors' own elaboration (2022).
Conceiving the construction of knowledge solely from the classroom confines
the pedagogical discipline to a technical interest, seeking efficiency and
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effectiveness. However, there are relevant decolonial pedagogies and reflections in
the Global South, where educational practices become vital and complex transitions
between cultures. These practices allow us to speak of pedagogy as a creative source
linked to technique, incorporating popular knowledge, indigenous knowledge, and
novel practices that this research recorded and analyzed.
Faced with the dilemma of education and pedagogy, anti-hegemonic
discourses resort to the term “education” to characterize encounters with
information or situations that mark individuals. What do discussions about pedagogy
focus on? Are they concerned with alternative proposals, with other pedagogies? Has
pedagogy died as a discipline, as a reflection of educational practice? Are there only
regulations that account for the need for control, demands for competencies, and
learning outcomes, as a return or stability in the mechanization of didactic strategies
carried out in classrooms? In light of these questions, pedagogy appears to be trapped
by bureaucratic impositions that do not respond to the criticisms faced by
educational systems, nor to the boredom of students, much less to social crises.
Table 3 presents similarities and differences that contribute to the discussion
motivated by proposals and some related pedagogical trends.
Table 3
Discussion by categories
CATEGORIES
ITEMS
EXPANDED
EDUCATION
INVISIBLE
EDUCATION
UBIQUITOUS
EDUCATION
PEDAGOGY AND
COMMUNICATION
Authors
Freire (1989). Education
as a higher subsystem
must be an
emancipatory practice.
Cobo Romaní and
Moravec (2011).
Invisible learning.
Towards a new
ecology of
education.
Burbules (2012).
“Ubiquitous learning
and the future of
teaching.”
Zuluaga (1999). Pedagogy
and history.
Muñoz and Amador (2018).
Communication-Education.
Barbero (2003). Education
from communication.
Kaplún (2002). A pedagogy
of communication.
Conception of
knowledge
Learning is understood
based on different
experiences that are not
detached from life,
without disregarding
scientific or specific
learning.
Interaction and the
exchange of
knowledge are
made visible as an
alternative way of
acquiring
knowledge.
Continuous learning
is encouraged,
teaching how to use
available resources
to access content.
Pedagogy goes from being a
way of disciplining and
transmitting knowledge to a
way of transforming
impoverished realities or
instructing for work.
Relationship
between teachers
or authors and
students
There is a broad
conception of teaching-
learning. The
relationship between
participants is not
asymmetrical. The
intentions and needs of
the learners are taken
into account. Teachers
are understood as
advisors who contribute
knowledge in terms of
guidance.
The educator
continues to teach
from complex and
analogical
thinking,
responding to
problems. In this
way, they make
technology
invisible and only
sometimes use it
as a channel, not
as a medium.
Each person learns
in different ways.
Regardless of what
phase of life the
individual is in, we
all learn
continuously.
The concept of 'educational
fact,' proposed by the History
of Pedagogical Practices
group in Colombia, replaces
the teaching-learning
dichotomy. This approach
promotes inclusive
classrooms where teachers
and students exchange
learning and teaching roles.
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Space
management
Allows for reconfiguring
learning practices in
education, creating new
learning spaces.
Knowledge is
acquired in
different everyday
contexts;
information is even
unconsciously
received and
internalized
through physical,
sensory, or social
stimuli.
Students can
receive knowledge
and content
anywhere they can
take a computer.
It is present in pedagogies
based on the notion of
laissez-faire (Vincent de
Gournay) and Active School
(Dewey, Claparède, and
Ferrière), according to which
students move in various
places, including the
surroundings of the school.
Habits and
practices of
students
Students combine theory
and practice.
This co-creation of
knowledge begins
to shape the
identity of each
subject.
Collaboration favors
motivation.
It begins with distance
education, which dates back
to the 18th century as
“correspondence education.”
One of the challenges
students have faced is the
lack of individual reading and
writing habits and practices.
Didactic,
experimental
mechanisms, and
resources
Web 2.0 is an alternative
movement that rethinks
critical approaches to
school.
Interdisciplinary
dynamics are
promoted, with a
public, civic, and
marginal
character, and
participatory and
experiential
approaches are
advocated for over
curricular ones.
Technologies, social
networks, the
internet, study
groups, among
other ways of
grouping together,
physically or
virtually, create
collectives of social
knowledge.
Distance education programs
currently have master's and
doctoral levels that include
high-quality didactic
materials.
Collective
development
There are training
spaces outside of
school. Learning does
not depend solely on
pedagogical
intermediation embodied
by the teacher.
There are means
of social and
individual
empowerment
through
knowledge shared
in alternative
networks.
It facilitates the
adaptation and
evolution of
communities.
Because it is an individual
effort, distance education can
lack mutual enrichment.
However, technologies have
mitigated this situation with
devices that support
synchronous or
asynchronous collective
work.
Didactics
Pedagogical tools are
sought to enhance and
strengthen the
interaction between
teaching functions.
New questions are
raised, and
attempts are made
to break
paradigms.
Diversity and
flexibility in
dynamics are
promoted.
The acquisition of knowledge
through edu-communicative
actions is promoted.
Prior knowledge
Education takes place
primarily in everyday life.
Learning takes
into account
practice and
experience.
What is taught is
intertwined with
what is learned
during life. Prior
knowledge, skills,
and individual
competencies
become important.
Source: Authors' own elaboration.
In Table 3, it is observed that pedagogical approaches have shifted, aligning
with the notion of expanded education. For instance, the Educator City program,
initiated in Spain, aims to establish connections with local governance structures.
This suggests that new pedagogical practices seek a path where the educator meets
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the learner in a symmetrical manner (Miranda, 2022). Thus, the term expanded
education supports the idea that education transcends the school and resonates with
other technological communication scenarios. As Uribe (2019) suggests, expanded
education seeps through the cracks of institutions, spreads through the fissures of
the formal and bureaucratic, bypasses conventional sequences of operational
objectives, inflexible schedules, isolated spaces, or fragmented disciplinary
knowledge; it is a porous concept that draws on references beyond the educational
and pedagogical realm.
Conclusions
The expanded education approach integrates elements that have already
been addressed by pedagogical theories, although these do not always emphasize
flooding classrooms with everyday practices. Institutional regulations governing
traditional education seem more interested in controlling the work of teachers and
students than in the learning processes themselves. For this reason, we consider it
pertinent to investigate and deeply identify what it means to teach and learn,
focusing on expanded education as a core axis. To achieve this objective, we
compiled transformative pedagogical strategies to co-create critical and reflective
individuals, without relying on formal education. Essentially, these strategies
legitimize learning as a space for teaching and knowledge exchange.
Expanded education moves away from conventional pedagogy, where
students become mere information reproducers. This new approach abandons the
emphasis on institutions, breaks hierarchical relationships between students and
teachers, facilitates mutual teaching, and fosters critical thinking.
The research demonstrated how resources for expanded and invisible
education were implemented in three projects at UNIMINUTO. The three studied
cases illustrate the transformation of students' habits in practices related to the
interaction between teachers and their links to learning.
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| Viviana Marcela Miranda-Moreno | Jeannette Plaza Zúñiga | Benjamín Barón-Velandia |
About the main author
Viviana Marcela Miranda
-Moreno:
Master's Degree in Formulation and Evaluation of
Technological Projects from UNIR, Spain. Master's Degree in Education and
Communication in Culture from UNIMINUTO. Specialist in Educational
Communication. Social communicator
and journalist. Research professor in: open
classrooms, expanded education, education and communication, spiritual practices,
and teaching processes.
Declaration of author responsibility
Viviana Marcela Miranda
-Moreno 1:
Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal
analysis, Research, Methodology, Resources, Software, Supervision,
Validation/Verification, Visualization, Writing/original draft and Writing, review and
editing.
Jeannette Plaza Zú
ñiga 2:
Conceptualization, Formal Analysis, Research,
Methodology, Validation/Verification, Visualization, Review, Writing and Editing
.
Benjamín Barón
-Velandia 3:
Methodology, Validation/Verification, Visualization,
Review, Writing and Editing.
Financing:
This research was carried out using our own resources.
Special Acknowledgments:
