Lifewide Learning in Postdigital Societies

1. Why did you choose this topic?

Digitalization has transformed us and the world around us. At a click of a button we enter a virtual space which widens in an exponential manner our mediated reach. This impacts our feelings, our knowledge, makes us who we are and, of course, massively impacts the world around us. Thus, understanding the internet's potential for the education of world citizens who may build a cohesive global society is crucial. We were eager to find out what culturalities emerge at the crossroads of education and globalization in our hyperconnected reality.

2. What new perspectives does your book offer?

Our volume liberates the concept of learning from the shackles of formal education: learning is ubiquitous, it's serious and also playful, it's conscious and unconscious, it happens via organized programmes and social media scrolling. This book engages with a dynamic sense of culture and sees it as still useful for identifying momentary states in a complex reality in perpetual motion. By doing this, we establish a contextual basis for understanding the impact of social media and digitality on identities, and their cohesion or fragmentation.

3. What makes your topic relevant for current research debates?

We offer an interdisciplinary perspective on the connection between digitalization and education, bringing scientific discussion far beyond the usual exchange on e-learning. We centre the term lifewide which helps to grasp the impact of digitalization on the accelerated dynamic of cultural change. We propose a renewed understanding of interculturality which may stimulate further researchers to critically evaluate their understanding of culture and interculture, and its impact.

4. Choose one person you would like to discuss your book with!

Let's dream and discuss with Nelson Mandela about the Internet as a common space in which humanity connects and transforms. Considering his commitment to equality, the importance he gave to understanding diverse perspectives, and his view on education as empowerment, it would be inspiring to hear his perspective on the different contributions of the authors that, in their distinct ways, showcase the potential of digitalization towards utopia.

5. Your book summary in one sentence:

Learning has left the confines of the classroom and is now also to be found on your phone. (LOL)