Formalizing Informal Learning
Kevin McMahon,
Chief Learning Officer,
May 13, 2005
The title of this article is enough to make me wince but over the authors talk about creating supports for informal learning in the workplace rather than just hoping it happens. What needs to happen, they write, is that informal learning needs to be integrated into formal learning in the sense that it should be tied to measurable performance metrics. Of course, this isn't the point of informal learning at all - but I can see the point. It requires a very careful balance between respecting learner intentions, which in the end drive informal learning, and supporting corporate needs, which are addressed not through demand learning, but rather, by making appropriate informal learning resources usefully and widely available. I think that's where the authors end up with their recommendations at the end of the article, but it's not clear that they do.
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