Towards a Concept of "Spatially Enabled Learning"

Abstract

Communication and information exchange is increasingly web2.0 mediated, networked and complex. The use and integration of a spatial reference to information, i.e. geomedia, has been gaining importance. As a consequence, these changes and the potential of spatial representations to contextualize learning content account for an increasing relevance of geomedia in education. Based on these devlopments a concept of Spatially Enabled Learning makes use of web-based mapping to support interaction and communication in educational contexts via social geocommunication. It links social media with individual spatial representations. The purpose is to make learners capable to be ‘produsers’ (producer-users) of information with a spatial reference. This is supposed to be helpful in education and everyday life with regard to spatial citizenship, i.e. reflective and participatory practice. The idea of spatially enabled learning focuses on the vision to enhance both learning and teaching processes, as well as to contribute to a more global understanding through linking learning processes with spatial representations. This contribution discusses two main topics: a) the role of space & spatial representations in everyday life and in learning processes, and b) conceptual tools needed for that. The concept of social geocommunication mirrors the shift from stand-alone web mapping applications to collaborative web mapping applications and finally towards social web mapping applications. In this context there is a variety of recent tools that already cover the prerequisites of spatially enabled learning. This paper provides a rudimentary conceptual framework to integrate existing tools and learning.

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