Elluminate™ hosted “Informal Learning or Non-Formal Learning: What Makes More Sense In Your Organization” presented by Lance Dublin of Dublin Group (dublinconsulting.net)and a worldwide consultant on learning (on June 10). Between formal and informal learning, is there another way—with “non-formal learning” as a semi-structured, semi-purposeful / semi-random way of learning in Web 2.0 spaces. (This suggests that formal learning tends to be structured and purposive, and informal learning tends to be unstructured and random.)

Dublin seemed to suggest that if there is a spectrum of learning, non-formal learning stands as part of that spectrum, particularly in the shift from the so-called Web 1.0 to 2.0.

The Hyper World of Learning

With foundational knowledge changing constantly and new knowledge being created all the time, the push to constantly learn has become critical. The amount of new information, he said, doubles every two years. By 2015, it is slated to double every two weeks. People are going to video sites and uploading contents constantly, and many are downloading these videos and putting them to use right away. Currently, it would take some 412.3 years to view all online videos delivered by Youtube™ currently.

In terms of social networking sites, like Facebook™, he said that if this were a “country,” it would be the fifth largest one in the world with how many people are online. People are micro-blogging some two trillion messages a year. Micro-blogging results in social network sharing and a “waterfall of information” and “ripple effects” of data. Many companies even use in-house versions of microblogging (Yammer) for private and secure sharing, information archival, connectivity, and mobility.

Who’s Logged On and In?

Four distinct generations of learners are logged on and hooked in currently: the “Greatest Generation,” Boomers, Gen X’ers, and Millennials. All of these are tapping in to the online “grid” for both consuming and producing contents; the Web has become “a platform for your life”. (While this is a Western view, in my opinion, the presenter did suggest that the “digital divide” will close more over time.) Web 2.0 is much more user-centered; it is a user-generated space. It’s highly networked and dynamic. It’s scalable to each individual. It may be personalized. It is certainly mobile with the popularization of wifi and Web-enabled connectivity from smart phones and personal digital devices.

Dublin asserts that this Web 2.0 encourages “collaboration + prosumption (prosumer creativity and contribution along with consumption) + democratization. Here, information does not just go through the hands of a few but are open to many. And data may be subscribed to using RSS-feeds (really simple syndication), helping ease the pressure of chasing particular types of information. He showed the powers of various social tagging sites in the labeling and identification of relevant information, through human vetted sources.

Fast Development of E-Learning

Many e-learning courses online will be created speedily and informally with online resources, he suggested, with subject matter experts bypassing instructional designers (sorry, folks), and just tapping this vast reservoir of digital information. It would be learning without or with few structures. And there will be a skipping over of beta-testing processes—to respond in this rapidly mobile world.

In a sense, he suggested a kind of technological determinism—with the proliferation of blogs, vlogs (video weblogs), multiple-sourced wikis; podcasting and vodcasting; social networks; social learning; rapid e-learning; informal learning, and mobile learning (m-learning with m-casts, m-learning and m-product support tools or “PSTs”). The work here involves vicarious learning based on others’ experiences. Dublin describes today’s learning as “rapid, mobile, immersive, (and) collaborative”. He showed the power of immersiveness with game worlds and the ability to experience “out of this world” and “suspended” reality experiences through different personaes.

Identity Management Online

This presenter suggested that individuals had better go out into cyberspace and express themselves to a degree because if they don’t, others will. This sounded like a version of that “power hates a vacuum” concept, albeit for personal information.

The Nonformal Learning Fanatics Network

Dublin showed how he had created a social network to bring together nonformal learning fanatics for collaborations.

A Sidebar in Spanish

Interestingly, in the middle of this webinar, a participant who self-identified as a representative of Venezuela posted a series of messages in Spanish in the space. Given that there were only a couple dozen of us logged on and probably several of us online with elementary to middling Spanish, no one engaged her.

A Time Conceptualization

Dublin then contextualized formal and informal learning on a continuum…based on purposiveness (with formal being more intentional)…and then highlighted how some of each of these types of learning may occur synchronously and asynchronously. Nonformal learning tends to be intentional but informal—involving such activities as “reading & searching, coaching & mentoring, blogs & wikis, pods & vods, networks and communities of practice” (in his model adapted from Marcia Conner, 2004). Nonformal learning is not haphazard, but it’s not fully intentional either.

While several webinar participants pushed for more clarity on evaluation of non-formal learning’s efficacy, Dublin suggested that there are no hard metrics on non-formal learning currently. He did not rule that out categorically either. He ran out of time just as he was asked about how to design non-formal learning. So I should throw this out to the readers here. Any ideas?

The presenter was Lance Dublin… lance@dublinconsulting.net 415-759-1258