Teaching and Learning in Digital Social Networks: The Mathgurl Case On YouTube

Abstract

The development of the Internet, and in particular of digital social networks, have decisively stimulated learning beyond traditional educational structures. With Web 2.0 and the growth of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, network learning and the potential of these networks as a source of access to information and knowledge have been emphasized, as well as the ability to work and learn with other people in a creative global collaboration outside the conventional educational structures and marked by the will to connect the worlds of formal and informal learning. In this context of social networks, the number of youtubers has grown vertiginously, creating, some of them, channels and videos with educational purposes. Using a qualitative methodology, this paper seeks to analyze one of these channels, focusing on the case of the youtuber known as Mathgurl, a young Portuguese woman whose channel dedicated to teaching maths in a playful way has more than three million views and is a reference in this field. The main conclusions of this study lead us to the idea that these non-formal learning spaces should not be considered as substitutes for formal learning spaces, but they should function as complementary spaces with their own characteristics, online, open and in network, and as “triggers” motivators and mobilizers to users for learning maths.