I was reading about Informal Learning, and came across an article entitled, “What Teachers Learn from Informal Learning Environments?” by Jill Cross

http://inservice.ascd.org/what-can-teachers-learn-from-informal-learning-environments/

The writer of the article shared her most memorable learning experience when she was 8 years old, which happened outside of the classroom. She goes on to explain how many years later, she still has fond memories of that experience. She asks a couple of questions: “why is it that her most memorable learning experience has nothing to do with a teacher or a classroom, a textbook or an assessment?” and “why should we pay attention to what the answer to that question means for our classrooms?” the writer suggests taking the students out of the classroom, such as providing them with a museum-integrated approach to learning, could help to inspire their creativity.

Informal Learning is a form of ubiquitous learning, where the student can find opportunities to learn anywhere, anytime, anyhow. They are not constrained by the walls of their classroom.

When students are in the classrooms, they’re expected to behavior a particular way; allow the teacher to speak, then raise their hands to answer the teacher, or if they have questions. should We pay attention because what that means for our classrooms, students are open to using their imaginations to complete a project when they are given independence outside the classroom. This same level of creativity is available when students are in the classroom, however there’s something about being away from the normal setting of a school that challenges a person to be free, and independent; wanting to do more. The student is given a project, develops an idea on his own, then reading through textbooks, articles, websites, etc. and they’re using videos, or any available resources, to give their assignment life.

This article was reminiscent for me, in that it referenced a museum, and reminded me of the time, when I was very young, the King (Tut) Tutankhamun exhibit arrived in Chicago. My family and I waited outside in the cold for hours, until the museum opened, early Saturday morning. Just as the writer remembered specific details from her museum visit many years ago, I too can remember parts of the exhibit I thought I had forgotten; viewing his mask, several of his artifacts, and the cryptic writings that were on display. I was excited to return to school and share that experience with my class.

Through informal learning, teachers come to understand just how creative their students can become. If you “take students out of the physical confines of the classroom with just a few tweaks to the curriculum,” teachers can inspire a student’s independence to do more.

I also came across a TedTalk about Informal Learning, presented by Girish Gopalakrishnan, who developed an “informal learning capture and showcase” platform, which is a knowledged-based algorithm, or community, similar to a social network.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn-5OFcwpkM

This presentation was interesting to me, in that Mr. Gopalakrishnan shared some of the information that is discussed in our readings by Dr. Cope and Dr. Kalantzis. As we’ve studied ubiquitous learning, Mr. Gopalakrishnan mentions that informal learning can happen anytime, anywhere, anyhow and is asynchronous. He tells us, “informal learning is one of the most ignored and undervalued elements of our knowledge group. Research suggests that 75% of the learning that we acquire in our lifetime is purely through informal means.”

Although informal learning may not follow normal assessment practices, in this presentation, Mr. Gopalakrishnan tells us that through the use of his knowledged-based platform, and the development of his machine-learning algorithm, the lecturer says they now have a measurement of “what a particular person is learning on a particular topic, in a particular time.” The lecturer has developed a platform on which he can focus on “measuring the journey,” discovering through all of the student’s hard work, how that information is obtained, not only on the results, or the “destination”. He goes on to say, “isn’t the journey more important than the destination itself?

We can assess informal learning through the use of the his knowledged-based platform or social network. Through this application, we can challenge students outside of the classroom and allow them to use and critical thinking, as well as their imaginations in completing their assignments.

Informal Learning allows the teacher to hear from multiple voices simultaneously. Though many could be listening and reading the students’ thoughts, there’s probably no one watching. Through this learning format, students can express themselves honestly. We also learn the information can be assessed through the knowledged-based network.

References:

Cross, J. (2017). What Teachers Learn from Informal Learning Environments? ASCD Inservice. Retrieved from http://inservice.ascd.org/what-can-teachers-learn-from-informal-learning-environments/

Tedx Talks. (2017). Informal Learning: The Future by Girish Gopalakrishnan [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn-5OFcwpkM