Can we Formalize Informal Learning?
This all started with a comment on another discussion board and I wanted you opinion(s) also.There are a lot of very active discussion in the discussion boards about Informal Learning and the value it may hold. Many feel that Informal Learning has potential advantages and that it holds a huge Return on Investment (ROI) for the training industry. I have been looking at the concept of Informal Learning and if it is useful, if it can be made part of a Training Continuum, if it can be tracked and monitored? Or is Informal Learning only an unstructured, uncontrolled mechanism? Can it be part of what a training organization offers? I would be appreciative of your thoughts, ideas and experiences.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Connie Malamed on -
I think this is a pressing question that many training officers are asking. Perhaps this question implies one is looking at things from the same old perspective and that it would be best to think about informal learning with a fresh perspective. I just published an Interview with Jay Cross that sheds light on this topic. He also has lots of information about this on his Informal Learning blog. Check out his wonderful visual that explains informal learning.
Now that it's value is known, I think the best approach would be to facilitate informal learning rather than try to formalize it. This could be done both offline and online. In practical terms, offline could mean encouraging mentorships, providing gathering places for people to exchange ideas, using interdisciplinary teams, having brainstorming sessions, etc. Online it would mean implementing social media technologies that facilitate collaboration. Examples might be Yammer for micro-blogging or creating Wikis around a particular topic or encouraging internal experts to make podcasts. Here are some potential approaches: 10 Social Media Tools For Learning.
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Permalink Reply by Ted Villella on -
In the book Working Minds, MIT Press 2006, Pages 203-205 speak well to the notion of informal learning using the name on-the-job. I'll paraphrase to core of the issue. "Experienced workers... ...are eager to share what the know... they have trouble articulating the subtle aspects of their expertise. They struggle to explain their intuitions..."
Relying on informal learning can be disastrous. It truly depends on the source. Humans are learning “machines” in which there is no off/on switch – we even learn in our sleep.
If this phenomenon we call informal learning is not closely monitored and censored as required (in the workplace, as it pertains to the work we have an obligation to censor) in the worst case someone could die or be seriously injured in the best case a learner may pick up some good insights. However, if we do not measure informal learning we will be hard pressed to manage it.
I’d be very cautious with “informal learning”.
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Permalink Reply by steve case on -
Thanks for your replies.. There has been some very interesting discussions about this topic on other discusion board. The most exciting were posted by a couple of peers of Jay Cross, and SME's on Informal and Social Learning. Turns out they have examples of where they have structured Informal and Social learning, made it part of the training plan or continuum and made them monitored and reported on. The results they provide are quite amazing..
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Permalink Reply by Mike Petersell on -
Steve,
It seems we are on the same page. I just completed a new blog post titled Formalizing Informal Learning. It describes how we are using my company's internal social media network in a deliberate way to promote learning. I have each of my team members leading discussions on various management topics.
Check it out: http://mwtl.blogspot.com/2010/02/formalizing-informal-learning.html
This is a new initiative for us, so I'd be very interested in feedback. I'm not sure how we will measure impact or quantify ROI for this, but I will be encouraged if we can just build a following and generate replies to our posts.
Thanks.
Mike
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Permalink Reply by Herman Najoli on
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I'm inclined to agree with you Connie. It seems to me that learning tends itself towards being nurtured rather than managed. Our efforts should be geared towards cultivating an environment conducive to all types of learning. Any efforts to control learning easily end up as barriers on continued learning. Would you agree?
Connie Malamed said:I think this is a pressing question that many training officers are asking. Perhaps this question implies one is looking at things from the same old perspective and that it would be best to think about informal learning with a fresh perspective. I just published an Interview with Jay Cross that sheds light on this topic. He also has lots of information about this on his Informal Learning blog. Check out his wonderful visual that explains informal learning.
Now that it's value is known, I think the best approach would be to facilitate informal learning rather than try to formalize it. This could be done both offline and online. In practical terms, offline could mean encouraging mentorships, providing gathering places for people to exchange ideas, using interdisciplinary teams, having brainstorming sessions, etc. Online it would mean implementing social media technologies that facilitate collaboration. Examples might be Yammer for micro-blogging or creating Wikis around a particular topic or encouraging internal experts to make podcasts. Here are some potential approaches: 10 Social Media Tools For Learning.
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Permalink Reply by Lance Dublin on -
This is a topic that I find very interesting indeed. And, I've just completed an article for CLO which will be published in the March Issue around this topic. I began with a working title of 'formalizing informal learning' a catch-phrase I and others have been using for a while now. However, as I delved more into the topic - beyond the most current writing - I determined that this really is not the relevant or most useful way to look at this; labeling is a limiting strategy across the board. If we do we are painting ourselves again into a black-white, either-or situation, good-bad as has happened with other 'new' learning approaches (i.e., computer-based training, e-learning). First, we find ourselves talking to each other rather than to our real clients; these folks couldn't care less what something is called, they just want a solution. And, second we limit ourselves in how we think about solving real business problems through learning.
Learning solutions do not exist on a linear continuum from formal to informal. Almost all solutions are really more three-dimensional incorporating approaches that are formal/structured/intentional, non-formal/structured/intentional and informal/unstructured/unintentional. Informal learning has become the new over-hyped 'answer' that is looking for a problem that it and it alone can solve. Truly informal learning - random, unintentional, spontaneous - is nothing new; all that is new are the technologies that enable it. What is new - based on the wave of new and emerging technologies - is to make our solutions truly three-dimensional.
I'm not a fan of ROI to measure learning in any situation, let alone this three-dimensional world we are increasingly providing solutions in. I myself prefer ROE - return on expectation. What is the business or organizational need? How do they look at the solution and measure it? What is their expectation? And, then do we meet their expectation, based on this or not.
I look forward to reading others reactions/thoughts.
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Permalink Reply by Connie Malamed on
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Hi Herman. Well, I certainly understand your points. But as an eLearning developer, I also see the other side ... that at times training must be managed. For example, hospital employees must learn the basics of HIPAA law, as painful as it might be or forklift drivers must learn the safety rules for safe driving.
You're right that managing learning might create obstacles in the minds of the learners -- it probably depends on the individual's motivation and goals. As a designer/developer, I think we can try to create meaningful learning experiences that engage the audience.
But perhaps you were only talking about managing informal learning and in that arena, I do agree, that managing it would probably detract from it.
Herman Najoli said:I'm inclined to agree with you Connie. It seems to me that learning tends itself towards being nurtured rather than managed. Our efforts should be geared towards cultivating an environment conducive to all types of learning. Any efforts to control learning easily end up as barriers on continued learning. Would you agree?
Connie Malamed said:I think this is a pressing question that many training officers are asking. Perhaps this question implies one is looking at things from the same old perspective and that it would be best to think about informal learning with a fresh perspective. I just published an Interview with Jay Cross that sheds light on this topic. He also has lots of information about this on his Informal Learning blog. Check out his wonderful visual that explains informal learning.
Now that it's value is known, I think the best approach would be to facilitate informal learning rather than try to formalize it. This could be done both offline and online. In practical terms, offline could mean encouraging mentorships, providing gathering places for people to exchange ideas, using interdisciplinary teams, having brainstorming sessions, etc. Online it would mean implementing social media technologies that facilitate collaboration. Examples might be Yammer for micro-blogging or creating Wikis around a particular topic or encouraging internal experts to make podcasts. Here are some potential approaches: 10 Social Media Tools For Learning.
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Permalink Reply by steve case on
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This has been a very active discussion with a lot of Great ideas and input from many people, on many discussion boards. Thanks to everyone that contributed!! John Darling a SME in Informal and Social Learning has agreed to do a Free Webinar on this topic. I am sure you will want to join in and hear what he has to share on Formalizing Informal Learning. It will be held Thursday, February 18, 2010 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST. To register go to https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/681749843
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Permalink Reply by Jay Cross on -
I received invitations to no less than three different presentation on “formalizing informal learning” last week. It sounds catchy, sort of like some magic trick. It comes from a misreading of the changes sweeping organizational learning. In short, it's apples and oranges.
Formal learning operates at the program level. If someone else picks the curriculum, it’s formal by definition.
The informal learner selects her curriculum, so designers and planners must go up a layer to the platform, or environmental, level. I’ve been calling this learning ecosystem a Learnscape.
I can formalize a learnscape or learning platform by setting out specific performance objectives, investing in infrastructure, and holding periodic reviews. I cannot formalize an informal learning program, for that would make it formal.
McKinsey and others have proposed formalizing informal programs, setting out schedules and specific objectives. They know better. This is how you strangle innovation.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Petersell on
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Jay,
Thanks for adding your valuable perspective to this discussion. Of course it is impossible to formalize informal learning without killing it. What I'm trying to do in my company is formalize some aspects of how my department, which is tasked with management development, participates in social media networking. There is a tremendous opportunity for us to connect with our target audience to promote available training and directly provide information, tools and resources that can help them with their jobs and their own personal development. I have asked each of my staff members to deliberately create a presence on our social media network posting information on topics they specialize in, such as project management, driving change, etc. We are still leaving it in the hands of our learners to decide what they want to go after. We are just trying to make it easier for them to find things that they might not otherwise know about.
Mike
Many Ways to Learn
Jay Cross said:I received invitations to no less than three different presentation on “formalizing informal learning” last week. It sounds catchy, sort of like some magic trick. It comes from a misreading of the changes sweeping organizational learning. In short, it's apples and oranges.
Formal learning operates at the program level. If someone else picks the curriculum, it’s formal by definition.
The informal learner selects her curriculum, so designers and planners must go up a layer to the platform, or environmental, level. I’ve been calling this learning ecosystem a Learnscape.
I can formalize a learnscape or learning platform by setting out specific performance objectives, investing in infrastructure, and holding periodic reviews. I cannot formalize an informal learning program, for that would make it formal.
McKinsey and others have proposed formalizing informal programs, setting out schedules and specific objectives. They know better. This is how you strangle innovation.
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Permalink Reply by Valerie Bock on
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Mike's approach is, I think, one of the better examples I've heard about around the idea of "formalizing" informal learning. Jay's point that a "program" is by definition formal is well taken, but the stuff Mike is doing, with having team members begin discussions of issues he hopes to get learners involved in, can be a very fruitful way to nurture informal learning within the organization.
The trick, of course, is to make potential learners aware of the the discussions, and to entice them to participate. Our experience is that one really does need to publicize these things. Then, once learners get there, you really want to make sure there's something engaging for them. Lots of people are a little shy about being the first to dive in, so Mike may want to have his team post in each other's topics, to create the sense that "the party is under way".
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Permalink Reply by steve case on
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What a lively Q+A session we had at the webinar Formalizing Informal Learning! What an exciting topic, and what a large, lively group we had in the webinar. This seems to be a topic that many are interested in
Not only did we have a very lively group in this webinar, but we had a lot of questions. Because of the time constraints we were not able to answer all of the questions asked. Therefore what we are going to do is to post the questions and answers in Linkedin in the group titled –“ a group for those who would like to use Social Learning effectively” If you would like to see all the questions and all the answers, and possibly expand on the discussion, or ask an additional question, please go to Linkedin (www.linkedin.com) and do a search for the group titled “a group for those who would like to use Social Learning effectively”. When you ask to join the group I will insure you are immediately accepted. I will be posting the questions and answers within that discussion thread. We look forward to you joining in on the conversation with us.
If you have not all ready done so, download Q2’s whitepaper, Formalizing Informal Learning at http://www.q2learning.com/collateral/WP-Formalizing_Informal_Learni...
You will also want to check out the webcast, Formalizing Informal Learning at http://www.q2learning.com/webcast-Formalizing_Informal_Learning.php
Be sure to register for the next free webinar, Social Learning - Beyond the hype https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/190818026 to be conducted on Thursday Mar.18, 2010, at 2:00pm EST. This webinar will cover the hype and discussion around the topic of Social Learning, and the potential advantages and return it holds out to the training industry.
If you can’t attend the webinar, be certain to download Q2’s whitepaper, Social Learning - Beyond the hype http://www.q2learning.com/ed-ca-form10.php
We have an entire library of white papers and webcasts that you’ll find helpful and informative located at www.q2learning.com/wpapers.shtml .
You will also want to view the webcast Social Learning - Beyond the hype at http://www.q2learning.com/webcast-Social_Learning.php
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