social media

Twitch as a learning environment: community

Even though Twitch is used for many more interests than gaming, if you play video games, it is likely you know this livestreaming platform. In this blog post I will look at Twitch as a learning environment. Even though Twitch does not always has to be a learning environment and might not even be designed…

Read more

The TikTok ban: what might be lost?

Amidts growing concerns surrounding the safety of TikTok, calls for its ban have emerged not only the U.S., but also in the Netherlands. The primary fear is that TikTok may share the data it collects from users worldwide, including U.S. and European citizens, with the Chinese governement, potentially enabling spying activities. Consequently, these concerns have…

Read more

TikTok as a learning environment: Collaboration

Though TikTok is mostly know for catchy songs and dancing, in this series of blog posts, I want to look at TikTok as a learning environment. This should not be misunderstood as an argument that TikTok is always and in every instance a learning environment. Instead I’m using a lens of learning and development to look at TikTok and how this digital platform might shape learning and behaviour.

Read more

New tools, new learning, new brain?

Around 15 years ago on a conference, Tim O’Reilly argued a shift had happened in how ‘the web’ worked. A shift from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0. Web 2.0 did not only change the infrastructure of the web to make it the way that we know it today, but scholars have also argued it has changed the way we learn.

Read more
Teenager, learning, school, smartphone, interest, education, formal

Will digital media outrun the school?

On Monday the 2nd of December 2019 Dutch news outlets, such as Trouw and NOS, had shocking headlines: according to research by Qompas Dutch students’ (12-18) interest in school courses is decreasing as well as their grades. Though not a research result, the director of Qompas, Boris Eustatia, suggests a possible cause: that education can no longer keep up with the fast world of smartphones in which young people live.

Read more