At the Water Cooler of Learning by David Grebow :: Ageless Learner - The Diigo Meta page

• 15 Apr 11
  

  Campus for Communities

  Discussion of value of informal learning.***Source: Author-David Grebow.The Darden School Foundation. This article was originally published in Transforming Culture: An Executive Briefing on the Power of Learning**

  article informal learning life learning AC2.09 AC1.15

• 02 Jun 10
  

  Marcelo Nolasco
  • At   the Water Cooler of Learning
  • At   the Water Cooler of Learning
• 24 Apr 09
  

  jlearn 2.0

  elearning informal_learning evalprac

• 24 Mar 09
  

  Danny W

  We have become obsessed with formal learning in the workplace. In our zeal to learn, we have transferred the formal model of learning into the collective mind of our corporations. Even e-learning is simply less-expensive formal learning at a distance

  informal-learning learning article

• 11 Jan 09
  

  Colleen Hodgins

  e education learning elearning informallearning

• 22 Sep 08
  

  Colleen Williams

  grebow formal_informal learning

• 20 Sep 08
  

  Rob Parsons

  learning Informal

• 17 Sep 08
  

  Michelle A. Hoyle

  We have become obsessed with formal learning in the workplace. In our zeal to learn, we have transferred the formal model of learning into the collective mind of our corporations. Even e-learning is simply less-expensive formal learning at a distance.

  learning teaching education elearning informal_learning

• 

  Sarah Horrigan

  learning watercooler informal elearning education article H806 MAODE

• 01 Jun 08
  

  Sebastian Weber

  Informal learning is by far the largest part of learning. Informal learning includes acquisition of knowledge by asking experts or by try & error.

  informallearning learning education elearning benefits experts for:buddylu for:sonjat

  • Learning makes brains physically bigger.   Learning also makes them smarter. Smarter translates into faster, newer,   better, and more competitive. And the competitive advantage of smarter   in a Darwinian business ecosystem eventually leads to more profits.
  • If   people in your company learn what your company needs to know and do, you   can get smarter. You can have a higher corporate IQ than some other   company, and you can win. The only problem is that we have very little   idea how real learning occurs. We spend billions of dollars on formal   training and education, and then we wonder, where is the payoff?
  • Real learning, the kind of “aha!” moment that signals the brain has   connected the dots, is an absolutely wondrous and amazing mystery. It   involves memory, synapses, endorphins, and encoding, and, more often   than not, those accidental and serendipitous moments we call informal   learning.
  • Informal learning is what goes on around our formal learning   process.
  • Formal   learning happens when knowledge is captured and shared by people other   than the original expert or owner of that knowledge. The knowledge can   be captured in any format—written, video, audio—as long as it can be   accessed anytime and anywhere, independent from the person who   originally had it. Examples of such formal knowledge transfer include   live virtual-classroom courses with prepared slides, self-paced   off-the-shelf instructional CBT courses, books, video- and audiotapes,   team rooms in which documents are stored, digital libraries and   repositories, a real-time seminar on the Web (or webinar), electronic   performance-support tools, programs accessed during a job or task,   instructor- led courses that follow an outline, repeatable lecture labs,   a recorded Web-based meeting, or even e-mails that can be forwarded.   Formal learning often requires prerequisites, pre- and post-assessments,   tests, and grades, and it sometimes results in certification. It is   often presented by an instructor, and attendance and outcomes are   tracked.
  • Informal learning is what happens when knowledge has not been   externalized or captured and exists only inside someone’s head. To get   at the knowledge, you must locate and talk to that person. Examples of   such informal knowledge transfer include instant messaging, a   spontaneous meeting on the Internet, a phone call to someone who has   information you need, a live one-time-only sales meeting introducing a   new product, a chat-room in real time, a chance meeting by the water   cooler, a scheduled Web-based meeting with a real-time agenda, a tech   walking you through a repair process, or a meeting with your assigned   mentor or manager.
  • We all   need that kind of access to an expert who can answer our questions and   with whom we can play with the learning, practice, make mistakes, and   practice some more.
  • In the early days of the personal computer,   we would all go to the same course to “learn” how to use an application   or operating system, and then we would go back to our desks, usually   with a thick how-to manual. The problem was that we never used those   manuals. Instead, we found the local “power user,” the person who for   one reason or another had spent more time playing with the computer, or   had taken more courses, or had learned directly from an expert, and we   began to pepper that person with phone calls and show up frequently at   his or her doorway or cube entrance. Two things quickly became apparent.   First, the power user was teaching what people had not managed to learn   in the class, and second, the power user had learned how to use the PC   in a very different way: what he or she showed you was often not the way   it had been taught. But it was the time I spent huddled in front of the   power user’s screen when I really learned the word processing and   spreadsheet and graphics programs I needed in my work. My learning may   have started in the course, but it ended in the huddle.
  • 
  • To illustrate the difference between formal and informal learning, let’s   consider the game of golf. If you want to learn to play golf, you can go   to a seminar, read a book about the history and etiquette of golf, watch   a videotape of great golfing moments, and then you can say you know   something about golf. But have you really learned to play golf?
  • From your first tee shot on your first hole, it takes hours of adopting   and adapting, alone and in a foursome, in all sorts of weather and   conditions. You discover what you know and can do, swing all the clubs,   ask all sorts of questions, fail and succeed, practice and practice some   more, before you have really learned to play golf. Real learning, then,   is the state of being able to adopt and adapt what you know and can   do—what you have acquired through formal learning—under a varying set of   informal circumstances.
  • I call this the 75/25 Rule of Learning. We get only about 25 percent or   less of what we use in our jobs through formal learning. Yet the   majority of companies are currently involved only with the formal side   of the continuum. Most of today’s investments in corporate education are   on the formal side. The net result is that we spend the most money on   the smallest part of the learning equation.
  • The other 75 percent of learning happens as we creatively adopt and   adapt to ever changing circumstances.
  • We need to factor those   accidental, informal intersections of learning and performance into the   process.
  • We need to   foster informal moments of knowledge transfer.

  • If we want to become smarter   companies, we need to encourage informal learning. We need to create   what I have been calling collaborative learning environments, where we   seamlessly knit together formal and informal learning. We need to use   technology to facilitate the informal as well as the formal transfer of   knowledge by including expert locators, e-mail connections with   instructors, real-time Internet meeting places, virtual-learning support   groups, instant messaging, expert networks, mentor and coaching   networks, personal e-learning portals, moderated chats, and more. We   need to start taking advantage of the tools and technology that exist   today and those coming online tomorrow. We need to create the 100   percent learning solution, in which the proscribed formal learning   events and the serendipitous learning moments are given equal value.

     

        Formal learning is only the beginning of the challenge, not the end.

  14 more annotations...

• 11 Nov 05
  

  Steven Chorny

  learning elearning education informal_learning informal informal-learning delicious

• 05 Oct 05
  

  Harold Jarche

  Includes graphic on performance over time

  Language

• 19 Oct 04
  

  Eve Thirkle

  Learning

  • Real learning, the kind of 01Caha!01D moment that signals the brain has connected the dots, is an absolutely wondrous and amazing mystery. It involves memory, synapses, endorphins, and encoding, and, more often than not, those accidental and serendipitous moments we call informal learning. Most real learning014the kind that sticks to the walls of the brain014is informal. That019s true even in a formal setting such as a school. Informal learning is what goes on around our formal learning process. It019s a hitchhiker sitting unobtrusively in the back seat of the school bus014a place where pedagogy has yet to go. It019s the opposite of the shining and hallowed place where teachers, instructors, professors, and even graduate assistants proudly pontificate, as the Wizard of Oz did before his hot-air balloon took off for a star called Kansas.
  • Real learning, the kind of 01Caha!01D moment that signals the brain has connected the dots, is an absolutely wondrous and amazing mystery. It involves memory, synapses, endorphins, and encoding, and, more often than not, those accidental and serendipitous moments we call informal learning. Most real learning014the kind that sticks to the walls of the brain014is informal. That019s true even in a formal setting such as a school. Informal learning is what goes on around our formal learning process. It019s a hitchhiker sitting unobtrusively in the back seat of the school bus014a place where pedagogy has yet to go. It019s the opposite of the shining and hallowed place where teachers, instructors, professors, and even graduate assistants proudly pontificate, as the Wizard of Oz did before his hot-air balloon took off for a star called Kansas.
  • Real learning, the kind of 01Caha!01D moment that signals the brain has connected the dots, is an absolutely wondrous and amazing mystery. It involves memory, synapses, endorphins, and encoding, and, more often than not, those accidental and serendipitous moments we call informal learning. Most real learning014the kind that sticks to the walls of the brain014is informal. That019s true even in a formal setting such as a school. Informal learning is what goes on around our formal learning process. It019s a hitchhiker sitting unobtrusively in the back seat of the school bus014a place where pedagogy has yet to go. It019s the opposite of the shining and hallowed place where teachers, instructors, professors, and even graduate assistants proudly pontificate, as the Wizard of Oz did before his hot-air balloon took off for a star called Kansas.

  1 more annotation...

Would you like to comment?

Join Diigo for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.