Connected Learning

A culturally-embedded learning paradigm developed by Mizŭko Ito and colleagues that frames rich learning as emerging from interest-driven, peer-supported, and academically-oriented activities across a network of everyday settings — including online affinity communities, fandoms, and gaming groups. Connected learning emphasises learners’ agency, cultural production, and identity and has been adopted in neurodiversity research as an alternative to deficit-focused educational framings. Its design implications include building technologies that honour learners’ existing affinity groups rather than imposing dominant-culture norms.