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Gatherings of Studying: Looking at Contemporary Study Practices in the University

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Abstract

This article is mainly about two things: first, exploring the gatherings of studying in the university. And second, it is about describing new relations to understand studying practices beyond the normative interventions carried out inside learning environments (e.g. learning centers, libraries) and the clearly demarcated functions imposed to their practice. In a certain sense, common assumptions about study recognize its importance for achieving learning goals and its capacity to be designed according to pre-conceived intentions. However, in an attempt to reconsider our understanding about studying, the basic arguments here is that studying practices are constituted by open-ended activities that are guided by present interests to things that matter. Based on Theodore Schatzki’s practice theory, activities of studying were observed through scenes, where students and study-materiality join together in the event of studying at the Agora Learning Centre of KU Leuven in Belgium. Adopting a particular sensibility and narrative to describe and attend to actions and material entities entangled on studying activities, the article attempts to take a look at these activities beyond their functionality. Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to take a look at ‘what is going on’ in studying practices.

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Notes

  1. Studying is intrinsically interwoven with matters and things that gather people around them. Now, when referring to ‘matters of concern’, what is of concern is not the future result of studying those matters (e.g. learning, producing, and understanding) but the actual relation that emerges with those matters. In that sense, what is of concern during studying is what makes possible the gathering, for instance, curiosity, interest, contemplation and attention. It is important to stress that, although the results of studying are significant as a way of learning, understanding and responding to those matters (and ourselves), they are not necessarily the main concern of studying. This distinction makes possible to ask questions not only related to the task-at-hand (e.g. what, why or how we are seeing and doing X), but also about the possibilities of the activity, such as ‘what if’ we see or do X. More concretely, what I mean is that what gathers students around studying, is not always a problematic situation—some-thing to be resolved or that needs to be discussed. Sometimes they are concerned with some-thing that draws their attention and arouses their curiosity.

  2. I argue that that the uniqueness of studying lies where it happens and with whom it happens. The importance of this implication is that studying cannot be explicated as a projection of performances that follow a structure imposed by learning trajectories. Instead, studying should be narrated as occurring events. Those stories mostly say something about how students navigate around educational matters with things and other people. Thenceforth, the scenes of studying introduced in this section do not explicate or define studying activities, but they show us actions and relations themselves. More importantly, those scenes show that what it makes sense to students to do, in some cases, diverges from determination. When this occurs, particular purposes and ends are maintained, but other possibilities to pursue them appear. Then, what it could be named as ‘studious narratives’ relate open-ended stories rooted in the rhythms of practical activities. Those narratives present actual gatherings of students and things, describing their own movements and conditions on the one hand, and also seek to preserve their ambiguity (indeterminacy) on the other.

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Correspondence to Jairo Jiménez.

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Jiménez, J. Gatherings of Studying: Looking at Contemporary Study Practices in the University. Stud Philos Educ 39, 269–284 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-020-09722-z

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