The current public health emergency has raised a multiplicity of concerns, which together represent probably the greatest challenge of this century. After an unprecedented global call for social isolation to slow the spread of the Covid-19 Pandemic, around 1.37 billion students are at home.
Faced with this global challenge, parents were called to share the role of educators alongside their children’s teachers, while their homes were transformed into classrooms, sports pavilions, and recreational spaces. In this atypical and unexpected context, teachers urgently needed to adapt to this educational paradigm shift.
Therefore, this Public Health emergency brought the “learning everywhere” phenomenon that probably is here to stay. This phenomenon is currently in a process of upward and mind-boggling evolution, empowered by Information and Communication Technologies for Education, by technologies in the context of the Web (including social media, Web 2.0 tools) and by a kaleidoscope of mobile devices.
“Learning everywhere” as a phenomenon is rooted in a broader context of learning – eLearning; which is streamlined by technology and web-based learning (Weinberger, 2010), thus conceptualizing the confluence between a social phenomenon and technological advances.
“Learning everywhere” refers, therefore, to the student’s confidence in using the spectrum of information technology tools to learn and to be able to do it anywhere and anytime.
Therefore, the convergence between a social phenomenon and technological advances can be analyzed in the light of three perspectives: the technology perspective, the content perspective, and the methodology.
Within the perspective of technology, learning anywhere is promoted by a spectrum of information and communication technologies, including notebooks, tablets, smartphones, also using a diverse set of standards and protocols for knowledge representation.
In terms of content, the fact that it is available on the web means that, if there is an Internet connection, students have the possibility to access the desired content anytime, everywhere and from any technological device.
In turn, regarding methodology, the integration, application and assimilation of the content available for learning differ between students and teachers.
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