Creating learning opportunities: informal learning

1. Creating learning opportunities: informal learning John Cook Learning Technology Research Institute London Metropolitan University

2. Structure of workshop (90 mins) • Brief introduction (15 minutes) • Break down into groups (30 minutes) • Discuss one or more of questions (negotiate with John so we get coverage) • Appoint someone to make notes and report back • Each group report back (15 minutes) • Discuss issues raised (25 minutes) • John pulls out main conclusions (5 minutes)

3. Informal learning • People are now averaging about 15 hours a week on informal learning (Livinstone, 2000) • Employment • Housework • Community work • General interests • Yet very little of this informal learning is supported by e-learning.

4. Rugby union fan Parent PhD students Play 5 aside football Principal Research Fellow Kids Self taught bass player CETL Ops Manager Peel Bass Student B&A John Formal vs informal

5. Attributes of informality and formality (Colley, Hodkinson, et al., 2003) location/setting process purpose content Non-formal a tutor knows about it Informal under the radar or self-motivated No single definition Informal Learning

6. Is there a distinction between ‘life-long learning’ and ‘informal learning’? Does informal learning vary across the difference sectors, e.g. HE, FE, Adult and Community Learning, in the workplace? Questions for group discussion (1)

7. Measuring learning in informal contexts cannot be easily linked to outcomes, but to perceptions of outcomes? How can we measure informal learning? Do we want to measure informal learning? More questions (2)

8. One problem is that a large section of people are not getting the opportunity to use digital media for informal or indeed formal learning opportunities and are hence being digitally excluded. How can we design digital media that plugs into the motivations and emotional states of 'real people' in a way that empowers them? Is there a linkage between the digital divide and the learning divide? Yet more questions (3)

9. What did we find out?

10. See Cook and Smith (2004) for further reading or http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/ltri/research/informal.htm Conclusions? informal learning specific skills course vocational qualification Non-formal learning informal learning academic course vocational training

11. References • Colley, H., Hodkinson, P. and Malcom, J. (2002). Non-Formal Learning: Mapping the Conceptual Terrain.A Consultation Report, Lifelong Learning Institute, University of Leeds, November 2002. • Cook, J. and Smith, M. (2004). Beyond Formal Learning: Informal Community eLearning. Computers and Education, CAL03 Special Issue, 43(1-2), 35-47. • Livingstone, D. W. (2000). Exploring the Icebergs of Adult Learning: Findings of the First Canadian Survey of Informal Learning Practices. NALL Working Paper #10-2000, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.

12. john.cook@londonmet.ac.uk Acknowledgement: Aileen Ackland, Shalni Gulati. Walter S. Arnold granted me permission for gargoyle photos to be used in talk and handout, see http://www.stonecarver.com/gargoyles/