Formal learning and informal learning. I get the idea here, there is learning that is structured and there is learning that happens outside of structured environments. Marcia Conner's explanation of informal learning is a good starting point in understanding the thinking underlying informal learning. I have also written previously on informal learning in these three posts:
- Informal/Social Learning - Concertina Style
- Permission Learning - encouraging the informal
- Fish are the last to recognise water = informal learning
As you can see I've used the term, informal learning myself, however, my question in this post is....
Is the term, informal learning, the best description of non-formal learning?
Jay Cross, author of the book 'Informal Learning', says:
"In my book, formal learning has a curriculum: informal learning does not. Hence, exploration is generally informal, i.e. at the will of the learner rather than the teacher. This is not always true since all learning is part formal and part informal. If I'm told to explore a cave in order to earn a merit badge, is that formal or informal? It's a little bit of both." (also look at his video explaining informal learning)
OK, Jay Cross knows more (alot more) about informal learning than yours truly, however I want to ask, is there is a another (better?) way of defining and separating formal learning from non-formal learning? I'm wondering whether instead of focussing on whether a curriculum exists in order to separate formal/informal, a clearer delineation could be achieved by simply focussing upon who controls the learning.
I'm not just trying to be divisive here, I think it is possible that a term other than 'informal' may better describe non-formal learning. I just ask you to stay with me for now and then let me know what you think when you've finished reading!
How I started thinking about this!I have just finished reading Daniel Pink's latest book, Drive. (also one of my book's of the month) To start with the book is a good read, I like the way Dan writes, a book filled with stories, learning that is easy to digest. I'll 'borrow' the 'Twitter Summary' of the book to give you an idea of it's main premise:
"Carrots & sticks are so last century, Drive says for 21st century work, we need to upgrade to autonomy, mastery and purpose"
Drive is all about motivation, what makes people want to do things? Carrots and Sticks represent the way things are in most workplaces, that is, 'if you do this....then you'll get this', a world focussed upon extrinsic motivation. Dan Pink presents evidence of another approach, one that focusses upon a person's intrinsic need for autonomy, mastery and purpose in what they do. He believes this is the way of the future.
I'm not going to fully review the ideas in the book here (I recommend you buy it), instead I'll use the book as a platform for my thoughts on formal/non-formal learning. In reading Drive, I was struck by the clear links between formal learning and extrinsic motivation on the one hand, and informal learning and intrinsic motivation on the other hand.
You see, after reading the book I think that 'Autonomous Learning' better describes non-formal learning than the term 'Informal Learning' does.
So, what is autonomous learning?
Firstly, look up any definition of informal learning (for example, here on wikipedia) and simply replace the word informal with autonomous. OK, that's easy, but I think the term autonomous learning actually adds real meaning and value. Here is my short definition:
Autonomous learning: you are in control of what you learn, where you learn and with whom you do the learning.
There is a clear difference here from what is termed formal learning but it also better describes the process of learning 'informally'. It is in essence a difference of control. Formal learning is controlled by 'somebody' else, autonomous learning is controlled by you.
Your views?
What do you think? Does formal vs autonomous learning do a better job than formal vs informal? Would it just be easier to modify the definition of formal/informal learning to include the concept of control? For me, I'm currently sold on the concept of autonomous learning and am already thinking through another post that spins off this. I'll be interested in your views!
