Informal Learning: Contributions of Technology in a Digital Society

Abstract

We live in a complex society, with multiple questions and challenges. Since computers and the Internet invaded our lives, our way of communicating and relating has changed drastically. The digital revolution is causing continuous changes in different contexts, and education is one of them. Nowadays, knowledge has expiration date, for this reason citizens have to assume that training is not a one-time activity that takes place at a certain time, but that life consists of a continuous learning. This fact, perhaps, in the case of teachers, has a greater importance, because they not only have the need to learn, but also the responsibility to teach in a changing environment. Different educational institutions must respond to the new challenges posed by the information society, but this formal education is not enough. According to González-Sanmamed, Sangrà, Souto-Seijo, Santos, and Estévez (2018), learning does not take place linearly or in specific spaces; nor can it be limited to the closed parameters of the formal training proposals. Nowadays, there are many possibilities to train and learn. For this reason, informal training models are becoming increasingly important, in addition to the classical formal training models.