LEARNING AND COLLABORATION VIA DIGITAL COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES IN ECOVILLAGES A Study on Learning in Ecovillage Communities of Practice and Affordances of Virtual Immersive Learning Environments

Abstract

Ecovillages are intentional residential communities aimed at improving human quality of life while protecting and regenerating the surrounding nature in order to create a more sustainable lifestyle based on cooperative culture and sharing (Dawson, 2006; GEN, n.d.b; Mychajluk, 2017). This study by drawing on Communities of Practice (Wenger, 1998) and Situated Learning Theory (Lave & Wenger, 1991) considers how learning is seen, planned and facilitated in ecovillage communities which are motivated to function as learning hubs (Dawson, 2006). Together with the identification of ecovillage type of learning, this study aims to explore the potential benefits that could be generated by the use of digital communication technologies with an emphasis on immersive technologies. Data for this study is collected through qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted with two members each of two ecovillages in Australia and analyzed by qualitative content analysis method. Guided by a research model; a mapping of CoP concepts and affective and educational affordances in Virtual Reality (Shin, 2017), this study identifies the necessary affordances for facilitating learning in ecovillages by means of immersive technologies. The study results imply that the potential is heavily dependent on the practices of communities which determine the need to facilitation of remote collaborative learning, on the availability of the technology, on the current knowledge on the use of communication technology and on ecovillagers concerns on the environmental and social impacts of using of high-tech.