Week 7 Discussion: Why is Informal Learning So Valuable?

Each learning experience I have, whether or not I am a student or a teacher, I am reminded how valuable informal learning really is to the learning process. Just today, I taught a class of nurses how to use a medication administration checking application, where they scan bar codes listed on medications and patient's wrist bands to ensure that the right medication is being given to the right patient at the right time. The trick to training nurses is that they are so hands-on and that they expect their learning experience to be authentic so they can rationalize just how this program will work in real life when dealing with real patients whose lives are in their hands. Time and time again while training in this environment I notice just how much they actually learn from one another, they often share learning experience in off the cuff discussions or side conversations. As a trainer in a hospital I am challenged with either hushing their conversations and request them to plainly follow along with my mouse clicks, but the teacher inside that is actually putting the kibosh on what they value and relate to as learners. So, just how can I include this informal learning into the formal classroom training?

Its important to remember that "we all bring unique experiences into our "formal" learning environments that we likely cultivated in "informal" learning experiences. And, 'that we are' be more motivated by our "informal' learning goals than by our formal learning goals."

In addition, how do we as designers of online learning think about about the relationship of a given course’s design with the learner's informal learning experiences and goals. The five questions and my challenges in the classroom led training got me thinking about how they tie in with our Common Values.

A few weeks back my classmates and I in CU Denver's eLearning Design and Implementation cohort engaged in a discussion on Informal Learning and its relevance in eLearning.

Here's some questions that were asked, I boldeded my responses.
1. What do you often talk about at home or with your friends that you seldom talk about at school (this course) or work?
• Authentic and Real-World! The design should be contextual to the learner.
2. What are topics that you find relevant or valuable that you would like to see addressed in this course?
• Practical and Hands-On? Of course, the design should actively engage the learner.
3. What are some questions that this course should be asking if it were to be realistically related to the life you live? (or want to live?)
• Applicable…yes, the design should definitely be learner-centered to meet the highly motivated learner’s objective.
• 4. If Dave and Joni were to spend time with you outside of class, they might find it interesting that you.......
• Valued and Respected!! Everyone wants to feel valued, the design should be culturally responsive to include social interaction and also be supportive of the learner.
5. Something you definitely think you know more about than Dave and Joni is.......
• Sharing! As a teacher/trainer, I always deepen my knowledge about what I am teaching when I share my knowledge, the design would be enhanced if it included peer teaching/mentoring/coaching and fun…more social instructional values and supportive instructional values.

Why are these questions and the respective answers so important? In relevance to both eLearning and classroom learning the quality of informality brings with it an authentic learning experience that the learners can connect with on a personal level: this is important with retaining what's been taught. Sometimes I feel that my learners are like chatty kids on a playground running amuck, but this time also provides them with invaluable incites that I as a trainer of Information Technology Systems cannot offer. So I let them run for a bit, then gently guide them back into the formal classroom environment and onto another learning objective comfortable knowing that their conversations have provided them with a relavent and memorable learning experience.