Learn, Teach and Share - Participation in Expanded Educational Communities: Madrid Pikler Seminar as a Practice of Continuing Education between Childhood Professionals

Oct 15, 2026

This article analyzes an expanded learning experience mediated through public digital space, focusing on an active collective of educators working with young children. It examines how a Madrid Pikler seminar evolved from discussion and analysis meetings into open, connected activities using social web tools that enable participants to create, share, debate, and recover knowledge before, during, and after sessions. The work interprets participation trajectories and the community-of-practice protocols that support continuing education.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

I. Introduction

Technologies, mediation, and participatory processes

Digital symbolic conversion and knowledge production

Educational reform, digital media and connected learning

Action research and continuing professional practice

Communities of practice and peripheral participation

Learn, Teach and Share, Participation in Expanded Educational Communities: Madrid Pikler Seminar as a Practice of Continuing Education between Childhood Professionals Javier González-Patiño [javier.gonzalezpatino@uam.es](javier.gonzalezpatino@uam.es) Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain Abstract This article analyzes an expanded learning experience, expanded in the sense that this experience is mediated by public digital space, in which a very active collective of educators that work with young children strive to improve their professional practice incorporating the pedagogical approaches of Emmi Pikler . Although, initially, the format of this seminar was based on discussion and analysis meetings, a few years back the author and researcher joined to suggest open and connected activities, promoting the use of standard tools of the social web that enable participants to create knowledge before, during and after the sessions; as well as disseminate, debate and recover it afterwards. The interpretation and analysis of this experience showcase the diversity and evolution of the trajectories of participation that take place within this community of practice, and the design of its functional elements and protocols intend to inspire an expanded approach in other learning scenarios . Keywords Community of practice; connected learning; public digital space; legitimate peripheral participation; learning trajectories; digital media and learning ; participatory culture . J.González-Patiño Digital Education Review-Number 33, June 2018-[http://greav.ub.edu/der/](http://greav.ub.edu/der/ 203)[ 203](http://greav.ub.edu/der/ 203) I. Introduction The uses and practices of technologies applied to learning that emerge in the form of different semiotic mediation styles as result of participatory-communicative processes involve complex interactive transformations of spaces (González-Patiño, 2011) . From a systematic standpoint, and taking into consideration digital space, both public and private, media and technology enable certain mutual inclusions, which could be symbolically snatched from this virtual space, as long asthe possibilities and decisions the participants and agents involved allow it (educational ideologies, legal limitations, conventions, institutions, community, etc.) . Both in contexts related to learning and knowledge as well as other less regulated contexts where people enjoy the necessary autonomy to build and display their social and cultural identity. This possibility of symbolic conversion of the digital that enables appropriations and inclusions of geolocalized spaces (work, home, school, etc.), due to the development of computer and communication technologies, gives way to another peculiarity specific to the field work of the present investigation: it becomes, with certain frequency, the scenario for reflective practices and knowledge production (Gee, 2013) . Complementary to the studies that explore institutionalized and recognizable contexts through an easily identifiable location, this study is situated in the intersection of these places, in an exercise of collaborative, participatory and transformative approaches that offer a large part of the total data . Although part of the debate in public opinion on educational reform stemming from the impact of technology is centered on learning and evaluating with certain narrow mindedness (issues such asthe adaptation and personalization of teaching), academics and experts propose the creation of emerging areas of interest that could articulate research and the creation of transdisciplinary knowledge, such as Digital Media and Learning (Gee, 2010) or Connected Learning (Ito et al., 2013), that allow us to consider technological developments as included and situated in a society in deep and accelerated transformation . It would be hard to imagine a better historical moment toaspire to educational change for social justice than the present one, of media

FAQs

How does the seminar function as continuing education for childhood professionals?

The seminar targets improvement of professional practice in regulated learning settings while legitimizing learning activity through identity and peripheral participation dynamics typical of communities of practice.

What role does public digital space play in the seminar?

Public digital space mediates the experience, enabling educators to use social web tools to create knowledge before, during, and after sessions, and to disseminate, debate, and recover it afterwards.

How has the seminar format evolved over time?

Initially based on discussion and analysis meetings, it later expanded through open and connected activities proposed by the author and researcher, using standard tools of the social web to support participatory learning.

Oct 15, 2026

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