Blurring the boundaries

I'm increasingly conscious of the blurring of boundaries between formal and informal learning contexts. We spend much of our time in formal settings such as classrooms, training rooms and 'on the job' training, to learn the stuff that gets accredited through academic or vocational qualifications bodies. And yet, this generally accounts for only around 20 per cent of our lifelong learning time. The remaining 80 per cent of lifelong learning occurs as a result of informal, and often random kinds of learning experiences (Cofer, 2000).

It's not an 'either/or' equation, and I don't want people to think I am advocating doing away with schools and formal learning. The two complement each other. Much of random informal learning suits the human mind, because it differs so much to linear forms of learning that predominate the formal learning environment of school, college and university. Non-linear pathways map neatly across the topography of the human brain with its galaxy of connections. And yet we need the discipline of formal learning so we are able to organise our thoughts and think rationally and critically. Random forms of learning, or to use Deleuze and Guattari's term - rhizomatic learning - are often serendipitous. Jay Cross (2007) called it 'rediscovering the natural pathways that inspire innovation and performance'. Sometimes, by going off on a hyperlinked tangent, learners come across websites that they would never have encountered any other way but through random jumping across cyberspace. But this is of course, a very hit and miss kind of learning, and often, informal learners can waste a lot of their time, and become hopelessly sidetracked away from what they are actually interested in.

Through the use of new and emerging technologies, this may all change. Creating, organising and sharing content within a defined community of interest is the way forward, and all of these are achievable through social media. I have previously outlined my views on what a personal learning environment should contain - its functional components, or the anatomy and physiology of a PLE. Every learner has one. With the added power of the smart mobile phone, informal learning can now take place anywhere and at any time - the web in the palm of your hand. With new semantic based technologies, predictive software, augmented reality and geomashups increasingly available, informal learning will not only be less haphazard, it will also be more intuitive and intelligent, delivering what the learner wants, when and where they ask for it, based on previously learned patterns of behaviour and use.

All of this won't replace the teacher, nor will it replace the formal learning contexts of school, college or university. One of my favourite quotes of the moment is that 'Doctors save lives, but teachers make lives'. What the technology will do, is supplement, extend and enhance lifelong learning for those who have access to the technology and are able to use it. And there's our next challenge.

References

Cofer, D. (2000) Informal Workplace Learning. Practice Application Brief. NO 10. U.S. Department of Education: Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education.
Cross, J. (2007) Informal Learning: Rediscovering the Natural Pathways That Inspire Innovation and Performance. New York: Pfeiffer and Company


Blurring the boundaries by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at steve-wheeler.blogspot.com.