An examination of learning ecologies associated with the Holocaust: The role of social media

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Abstract

Background

Holocaust memory and learning processes have become increasingly mediatised as a result of rapid technological advances. There is, however, little information available regarding how people learn about this topic informally through social media.

Objectives

This paper explores how adult learners develop their learning ecologies by using social media to learn about the Holocaust informally.

Methods

The study uses a learning ecology perspective to analyse the interests, expectations and learning process of a group of adult learners ( N = 276). An online survey tool was developed to collect information on the interests, expectations, and benefits of learning about Holocaust‐related topics among online users of four Italian Holocaust museums' social media profiles (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube). Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to summarise the characteristics of the sample and to answer the research questions.

Results and Conclusions

The results show that most of the respondents are mostly women, with an average age of 50 and a higher level of education. In terms of interest and expectations, they are particularly interested in issues related to the intertwining of transnational and national memory. They also express a sense of civic responsibility with regard to the legacy of the Holocaust. Finally, components of the learning process show proactive behaviour and a preference for individual learning, while interaction with peers is considered less important.

Takeaways

There is an urgent need to understand how learners' preferences influence the development of learning ecologies and the types of content they are most likely to be exposed to as a result. It is also important for social media content providers to understand that learners are looking for quality resources and trustworthy content to further their education.

Lay Description

What is already known about this topic

Teaching and learning about the Holocaust is a field of study with an established scholarly tradition.
Social media are information ecosystems that enable novel practices of Holocaust education and remembrance.
The concept of lifelong learning ecologies has been developed to explain learning as a multidimensional and complex aspect of human life.

What this paper adds

The study is the first to apply learning ecologies to the teaching and learning of the Holocaust through the use of digital technology.
The study findings provide insight into how adults learn about the Holocaust informally using social media.
The findings suggest that users are more proactive in their individual learning process and less active in interacting with peers.

Implications for practice and/or policy

It is important to understand that learners' preferences have implications for the development of learning ecologies and the types of content to which they are most frequently exposed.
In addition to providing opportunities for learners to critically reflect on their own learning practices, museum staff provide opportunities for learners to interact with each other and with Holocaust education specialists.
Social media content providers should be aware that learners are looking for quality resources and trustworthy content to continue their learning.

Related collections

Most cited references 89

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The Ecology of Human Development : Experiments by Nature and Design

Urie Bronfenbrenner (1979)

Here is a book that challenges the very basis of the way psychologists have studied child development. According to Urie Bronfenbrenner, one of the world’s foremost developmental psychologists, laboratory studies of the child’s behavior sacrifice too much in order to gain experimental control and analytic rigor. Laboratory observations, he argues, too often lead to “the science of the strange behavior of children in strange situations with strange adults for the briefest possible periods of time.” To understand the way children actually develop, Bronfenbrenner believes that it will be necessary to observe their behavior in natural settings, while they are interacting with familiar adults over prolonged periods of time. This book offers an important blueprint for constructing such a new and ecologically valid psychology of development. The blueprint includes a complete conceptual framework for analysing the layers of the environment that have a formative influence on the child. This framework is applied to a variety of settings in which children commonly develop, ranging from the pediatric ward to daycare, school, and various family configurations. The result is a rich set of hypotheses about the developmental consequences of various types of environments. Where current research bears on these hypotheses, Bronfenbrenner marshals the data to show how an ecological theory can be tested. Where no relevant data exist, he suggests new and interesting ecological experiments that might be undertaken to resolve current unknowns. Bronfenbrenner’s groundbreaking program for reform in developmental psychology is certain to be controversial. His argument flies in the face of standard psychological procedures and challenges psychology to become more relevant to the ways in which children actually develop. It is a challenge psychology can ill-afford to ignore.