Informal Learning

The 2014 update of this note is now available at http://bit.ly/LPS-5cc — 

On the basis of research they did to improve construction productivity in the 1980s, Glenn Ballard and Greg Howell created The Last Planner  System (LPS) to improve the predictability and reliability of construction production.
Last Planner manages the relationships, conversations and commitments that together enable program & production planning decisions to be made collaboratively at the lowest possible level in a whole range of one-off production settings — software development, ship-building, yacht fit-out, construction and other examples of one-off production. With adaptations, LPS works in new product development and design too. 
Last Planner is a short-term project planning system first used in engineering construction 20 years ago.  It continues to create significant improvements in project & program safety, predictability, productivity, speed of delivery, profit and feelings of wellbeing among project staff.  LPS offers a realistic way to collaboratively manage project-based production, enables issues to be identified and resolved before they become problems on-site and increases the chances that work will flow and projects be completed on time.  It is a vital link between logistics and building assembly teams.  That’s why more and more companies are making it part of their standard procedure for project delivery.
In construction, for example, Last Planner promotes conversations between trade foremen and site-management at appropriate levels of detail, and before issues become critical.  These conversations increase the chances that work flows and recognises that personal relationships and peer pressure are critical to that process.
Over the last two decades Last Planner has evolved. It has become associated with new theory, some details have changed and others clarified.  This process will and should continue.  As when making any supposed improvement, the change should be benchmarked against pre-change performance so as to be able to answer the question “is this change an improvement”. ""

Citizen Science (CS) refers to a form of research collaboration that engages volunteers without formal scientific training in contributing to empirical scientific projects. Virtual Citizen Science (VCS) projects engage participants in online tasks. VCS has demonstrated its usefulness for research, however little is known about its learning potential for volunteers. This paper reports on research exploring the learning outcomes and processes in VCS. In order to identify different kinds of learning, 32 exploratory interviews of volunteers were conducted in three different VCS projects. We found six main learning outcomes related to different participants' activities in the project. Volunteers learn on four dimensions that are directly related to the scope of the VCS project: they learn at the task/game level, acquire
pattern recognition skills, on-topic content knowledge, and improve their scientific literacy. Thanks to indirect opportunities of VCS projects, volunteers learn on two additional dimensions: off topic knowledge and skills, and personal development. Activities through which volunteers learn can be categorized in two levels: at a micro (task/game) level that is direct participation to the task, and at a macro level, i.e. use of project documentation, personal research on the Internet, and practicing specific roles in project communities. Both types are influenced by interactions with others in chat or forums. Most learning happens to
be informal, unstructured and social. Volunteers do not only learn from others by interacting with scientists and their peers, but also by working for others: they gain knowledge, new status and skills by acting as active participants, moderators, editors, translators, community managers, etc. in a project community. This research highlights these informal and social aspects in adult learning and science education and also stresses the importance for learning through the indirect opportunities provided by the project: the main one being the opportunity to participate and progress in a project community, according to one's tastes and skills.

In this article, we explore and discuss how educational trajectories relate to the overall learning lives of students. Sociocultural studies have examined the use of artefacts, cultural resources and literacy practices as part of human developments over time. Our interest is about how digital technologies create new possibilities for futuremaking in the intersection between formal and informal ways of learning. We will provide personal narratives of three young people that are deeply engaged in creative activities involving new technology; gaming, k-pop and Lego Robotics. The analysis show how digital technologies and media practices become resources when creating futures for themselves.

This book explores the potential for lifelong learning in dementia. A growing social issue, dementia has previously been understood as a wasteland for learning: at best, those with dementia are helped to hold on to some pre-existing skills. This book draws on extensive qualitative data with people with dementia and their families to demonstrate that new forms of learning can happen in dementia, with positive outcomes for both the learner and those around them. In doing so, this book demonstrates that those with dementia help us to understand learning differently, thus providing a breakthrough in our understanding and theorising of lifelong learning. Using posthuman theory to scaffold and discuss the findings, this pioneering book will appeal to scholars of dementia, lifelong learning and the posthuman.

If you have not heard of Transversal Skills or Competencies you need to get up to date quickly.

They are defined by the Education Glossary quite accurately as follows:

’The term 21st century skills refers to a broad set of knowledge, skills, work habits, and character traits that are believed—by educators, school reformers, college professors, employers, and others—to be critically important to success in today’s world, particularly in collegiate programs and contemporary careers and workplaces.’ https://www.edglossary.org/21st-century-skills/

They are, however, out of date!

On May 2 2018 the EU Government published a ‘Decision’ which was passed earlier on April 18 2018.

‘DECISION (EU) 2018/646 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 18 April 2018
on a common framework for the provision of better services for skills and qualifications (Europass) and repealing Decision No 2241/2004/EC’

The goal of the study described in this paper was to gain an improved understanding of the social context of UK online centres and issues around the creation and exchange of knowledge within and between online community centres. Grounded theory and a pilot study were used to guide our research. The key findings of our research were (i) an elucidation of the goals that drive individuals to improve or share knowledge with others and (ii) the high level concept categories of life-cycles provided us with the basis for a model which characterises formation of, and participation in, informal learning communities. Indeed, the high level concept categories that emerged as strongly supported in our analysis point to the need for interdisciplinary theorising in this area. In this paper we will: (a) give a summary of what we mean by informal community eLearning, (b) illustrate the key issues with results from a study of UK online centres, and (c) make recommendations for future theorising and research directions.

The paper reviews work on informal technical help giving between colleagues. It concentrates on the process of how colleagues help each other to use a computer application to achieve a specific work task, contrasting this with the focus of much prior work on surrounding issues like the choice of whom to ask, information re-use and the larger work context of encouragement or otherwise of such learning. By an analysis of the literature and a study of office activity, some strengths and weaknesses of the method are identified. The difficulties of talking about the process of performing graphical user interface actions are explored. Various design implications for functionalities to improve the efficiency of informal help giving are explored. A consideration of informal learning can help in designing more effective, learnable, robust and acceptable CSCW systems. It also provides a different perspective on interface design as an exploration of features to support human–human interaction, using the computer screen as a shared resource to support this. In this way CSCW research may contribute to HCI research, since during such help giving, all computer systems are at least temporarily collaborative applications.

Coaching a Popular Music Ensemble is a comprehensive guide for the music teacher striving to meet the changing needs of their students, the university music educator examining our current music education paradigm, and the band director trying to expand their school’s music program. Using his experiences as an educator and Memphis musician, Holley details the approaches and methods he used to create this one-of-a-kind, award-winning, student-driven music program. Some of the concepts described include the roles of the musicians in a popular music ensemble, explanations of a variety of rehearsal techniques, and how to go about creating a leaner-center rehearsal environment. Whether you believe the goal of music education is to produce more professional musicians or nurture more musical professionals, this book will help you and your students achieve that aspiration.

Edited by Gareth Dylan Smith
Foreword by John Kratus

It is argued that a social network can support knowledge transfer to its members with an informal way. It is also argued that a usable, in terms of HCI, social network can do this effectively and efficiently. Therefore, usability evaluation is a significant process that social networks, especially the education-oriented ones, have to undergo in order to be widely accepted and accomplish the task of knowledge transfer. This paper presents a methodology for the usability evaluation of social networks, that was applied to HOU2LEARN, an open educational social network setup in Hellenic Open University for educational and research purposes. The application of this methodology to HOU2LEARN is described and the evaluation results and outcomes are discussed.

Nature deficit disorder is a phenomenon in which children are not experiencing nature through outdoor play. This study focused on three different aspects of NDD. Thorough literature review of past research validates Louv’s work “Last Child in the Woods” as reliable and accurate. Data from standardized tests and student surveys were examined for correlation between tendencies to play outdoors and test scores. Only marginal correlation was found. Pre 3rd Grade students, prior to formal science instruction, are recommended for future correlation studies. 6th Grade girls exhibited the highest outdoor tendencies of all groups studied in all grades; an opportunity likely being missed by most educators to encourage girls to pursue science. PreK through 12th Grade students were interviewed to determine intuitional science knowledge learned through play. Students knew many facts but failed to understand scientific concepts. Young students displayed great passion about their experiences with nature; by 6th grade, the passion was extinguished. This may be one answer to why fewer students are entering the sciences in colleges.

Informal learning spaces (ILS) include both inside and outside library spaces and university's borderline. A university has its duty to provide classrooms and other supporting spaces for formal and informal learning. Nevertheless, the arrangement of such spaces might not logically and functionally match learning preferences and behaviours of students, who are prime users. The deficiency of on-campus ILS might drive students to use off-campus ILS. The understanding of why students select off-campus ILS can reflect any absence and inadequacy of on-campus ILS. The objective was to study where and why undergraduate students of business school select off-campus ILS. This research used students of a Bangkok private university as a case study. The research method was through quantitative analysis and descriptive data analysis, using questionnaire surveys conducted during March 2018. Students with any levels of grade point averages and undergraduate levels had similar preferences for using and not using off-campus ILS.

The purpose of this case study was to describe the nature of high school students’  experiences in the immersive four-day field experience at Stone Laboratory Biological Field Station including excursions to Kelley’s Island and South Bass Island. Six tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade students participated through interviews, photovoice, observations, and a survey. Pretrip semi-structured interviews were conducted to understand each participant student’s relationship with science. Participants were given cameras to record their field trip experiences to relate what they found interesting, important, and exciting. Back at school after the field trip, the participants were asked to choose their five most meaningful photographs, and write a short essay to describe the
significance of each image. A posttrip semi-structured interview explored each participant’s experiences during the field trip. An unstructured interview was conducted to discuss each participant’s full photograph gallery from the field trip. Interview transcripts were member checked with one minor wording change. Analysis consisted of
open coding using apriori codes derived from the ecological framework and emergent codes derived from the data. Coding was duplicated through multiple readers. Significant findings included: 1) Prior experience, prior knowledge, and funds of knowledge added relevance and value to an experience, facilitating interest development; 4
2) Experiences appeared to be more meaningful when all the senses were stimulated; 3)Friends and peers were an essential part of a quality experience; 4) Quality experiences included a wow factor, or sudden awareness; 5) Teachers needed to be within the experience, not the focus of the experience, and needed to be available to answer questions, be enthusiastic when a discovery was made, and promote student reflection concerning their perceptions and discoveries; 6) A quality informal learning situation incorporated the cognitive/affective, physical, and social aspects into the experience; 7) Field trips created science interest that students desired to continue when they returned to
their classroom; and 8) Biological field stations, in this study specifically Stone Laboratory, and the additional exploratory excursions on the surrounding islands provided high quality experiences that encouraged student interest in the biological and environmental sciences.

Informal workplace learning plays a focal role for developing knowledge and skill of employees which contributes to organization's competitiveness and adaptability. Through informal learning knowledge can be created, acquired and used by others. Though studies had shown that there are many factors that might influence informal workplace learning, little is known about how transformational leadership style influence informal workplace learning. This study reduce the gap by investigating the relationship between transformational leadership style and informal workplace learning among 381 employees working as a head of the department of different branches in private commercial banks of Bangladesh in a quantitative questionnaire and cross sectional study. In this study, Structural equation modelling partial least square (SEM-PLS) was used to test the hypothesis for direct relationship. The result revealed that strong significant and positive relationship exists between transformational leadership style and informal workplace learning. The study also highlighted the implication and direction for future research.

Adolescence represents a developmental period of waning academic motivation, particularly in STEM domains. To combat this, better understanding the factors that might foster STEM motivation and interest is of importance. Social factors like social competencies and feelings of belonging become increasingly important in adolescence. The current study investigated structural relations between social competencies, feelings of belonging to an informal STEM learning program, math and science efficacy and interest in a sample of 268 adolescents (M age = 15.25; 66.8% girls; 42.5% White British or European American, 25.7% South Asian British or Asian American, 15.7% Afro-Caribbean Black British or African American 5.6% Bi-racial, and 3.0% other). Adolescents were recruited from six different informal learning sites (e.g., science museums, zoos, or aquariums) in the United States (n = 147) and the United Kingdom (n = 121). The results revealed positive relations between social competencies an...

Children learn in formal (school) and informal (out-of-school) contexts. Do these children integrate what they learn in these different contexts? While some research shows that they do most of the literature points to a serious lack of contact between these contexts when dealing with related content. During the last two decades, many education researchers have called to bridge this gap.

The aim of this paper is to develop a model to guide dialogue and cooperation between staff members within formal and informal educational contexts, in order to foster this integration. We present: (1) a rationale for bridging between formal and informal learning contexts, including the need for a comprehensive and
practical model to guide this effort; (2) a design-based research methodology for developing the model; and (3) the resulting 4
4-bridging model.

We argue that this model can help educators, engaged in formal and informal learning, to develop practical and productive partnerships with each other.

L’articolo presenta una esperienza di didattica universitaria relativa all’acquisizione e valutazione delle competenze digitali attraverso la creazione e l’editing di voci di Wikipedia. Le competenze digitali sono declinate secondo il framework europeo DigComp 2.1. Il processo di creazione delle voci è stato monitorato nelle sue articolazioni tra contesti formali e informali di apprendimento nel tentativo di sviluppare un ambiente per la costruzione di conoscenza in grado di favorire una valutazione autentica, situata e partecipata attraverso sia gli interventi regolativi del docente e dei tutor, sia i feedback di altri utenti di Wikipedia.

Il volume presenta framework teorico-concettuali, prospettive metodologiche ed esperienze di formazione che condividono l’interesse verso gli apprendimenti che gli adulti costruiscono attraverso la partecipazione ai contesti sociali naturali della vita quotidiana, della famiglia e del lavoro. Sono illustrate le più recenti articolazioni di una visione dell’apprendimento che ha acquisito nell’ultimo decennio una grande centralità nel dibattito nazionale e internazionale, sottolineandone le caratteristiche di processo costruttivo, sociale e contestualizzato. Il lavoro analizza, inoltre, esperienze situate di ricerca e formazione che esplorano le opportunità e i vincoli legati alla scelta di approcci educativi diretti a sostenere gruppi di adulti (genitori, artigiani e designer) nell’assunzione di azioni trasformative e nello sviluppo di capacità riflessive sulle loro pratiche.

This paper proposes the results of an exploratory study aimed at investigating the formal training and in-service training for childcare staff. The aim of the research is to investigate how educators learn their profession. The study lies in the field of qualitative comparative education. Through semi-structured interviews, this empirical study into a comparative approach between two European countries, France and Italy, allows to analyse formal, non-formal and informal education and professional development of educators. The results focus on the differences both in the organisation of professions and in the organisation of formal training and in-service training in the two contexts studied. Il presente contributo riporta l'analisi dei risultati di un'indagine esplorati-va avente lo scopo di indagare la formazione di base e quella in servizio del personale dei nidi d'infanzia. L'obiettivo dell'indagine è di investigare come il personale nei servizi per la prima infanzia impara il suo mestiere. La ricer-ca si colloca nel campo di studio dell'educazione comparata qualitativa. At-traverso interviste semistrutturate, questa ricerca empirica in un approccio comparativo tra due paesi europei, ovvero la Francia e l'Italia, permette di analizzare la formazione formale, non formale ed informale del personale nei nidi d'infanzia. I risultati della ricerca evidenziano le differenze sia nel-l'organizzazione delle professioni sia nell'organizzazione della formazione di base e quella in servizio nei due contesti studiati.

The widespread popularity of video-centered social media like YouTube, Vimeo, and DailyMotion is fostering new ways of teaching and learning music online. These media allow producers of educational content to reach, interact with, and respond to a global audience of interested viewers. Through a multimodal analysis approach, this study examined guitar-related lessons, tutorials, and reviews created and shared by artists and enthusiasts who reached a "celebrity" status on YouTube. Findings show that these teachers-celebrities construct their online presence and communicate with their audience through authenticity, approachability, and humor, in short-format and high-quality videos. The seamless integration of instructional content, branding, and references to the authors' personal lives and worldviews generates a unique teaching and learning environment that challenges traditional understandings of music education.

What are the information practices of teen content creators? In the United States over two thirds of teens have participated in creating and sharing content in online communities that are developed for the purpose of allowing users to be producers of content. This study investigates how teens participating in digital participatory communities find and use information as well as how they experience the information. From this investigation emerged a model of their information practices while creating and sharing content such as film-making, visual art work, story telling, music, programming, and web site design in digital participatory communities. The research uses grounded theory methodology in a social constructionist framework to investigate the research problem: what are the information practices of teen content creators? Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews and observation of teen’s digital communities. Analysis occurred concurrently with data collection, and the...