The Neighbourhood House: site of struggle,site of learning

Adult education research has tended to concentrate on the pragmatics of facilitating learning and developing educational programmes in institutionalised settings. Critical, contextual analysis of adult learning, and studies of informal learning, are both relatively neglected in the adult education literature. Applying concepts drawn from contestation theory to data from two Australian women's learning centres, this paper suggests that, while women gain considerable knowledge from adult education courses conducted in community centres, the informal, incidental or embedded learning that takes place as women participate in these centres is also very significant. This experiential learning enables women to make sense of and act on their environment, and to come to understand themselves as knowledge‐creating, acting being. It appears that much of this informal learning is generated by conflict between people within the centres.     

University Educators’ Perceptions of Informal Learning and the Ways in which they Foster it

Little research has been conducted in higher education settings that focuses on how tertiary educators understand informal learning or on their role in fostering students’ informal learning to facilitate formal learning. In this article we partially fill this knowledge gap by reporting findings from a case study exploring how 30 New Zealand tertiary educators from one university conceptualised informal learning and the strategies they implemented to support students’ informal learning as an enhancement to formal learning.     

Intergenerational learning at a nature center: families using prior experiences and participation frameworks to understand raptors

Using a sociocultural framework to approach intergenerational learning, this inquiry examines learning processes used by families during visits to one nature center. Data were collected from videotaped observations of families participating in an environmental education program and a follow-up task to draw the habitat of raptors. Based on a thematic analysis, researchers developed two themes about the learning processes at play in the nature center, related to the use of prior knowledge. First, families’ prior knowledge used at the nature center came from informal education activities: (a) observation in the outdoors and spaces designed to represent an aspect of nature, (b) media (including books and Internet), and (c) experiences at informal education institutions. Second, when sharing prior knowledge, participation frameworks were created through the conversation that leveled the hierarchy between parent and child allowing for negotiation and collaborative idea formation. In the nature center, families valued social harmony by positioning their children as capable contributors of environmental knowledge. Suggestions to researchers taking a sociocultural approach are given, including the potential of ‘participation frameworks’ as an analytical tool to study learning interactions and as a potential tool for environmental educators to encourage families to create roles and structures for successful learning outcomes in nature centers.     

非正式网络学习共同体深度互动影响因素分析

随着计算机与互联网技术的快速发展,非正式学习成为个体学习的重要组成部分。如何提高非正式学习效果是当前国内外研究者关注的热点问题之一。网络学习共同体的形成及个体交互程度是影响网络非正式学习的重要因素。结合互动深度量表、学习共同体基本特征、互动知识建构和虚拟学习社区三角形理论模型建构的大学生非正式网络学习共同体深度互动影响因素调查问卷,对近200名大学生进行了调查。研究发现：大学生参与频率最高的网络社区依次是QQ空间、SNS社区、微博、各种贴吧及论坛等非专业性社区;在参与网络社区的过程中,大学生形成了非正式网络学习共同体,并总体上呈现出积极的互动趋势。活动形式的丰富程度、资源的共享性、活动主题的新颖性、专业性、活动内容的发散性、以及知识检索与管理功能等知识性维度因素;友好的用户界面与体验、开放的作品上传功能等技术性维度因素;成员间的平等性与归属感、互动的规范要求、奖励机制等社会性维度因素,对非正式网络学习共同体深度互动具有显著性影响。     

A comparative study of digital informal learning: The effects of digital competence and technology expectancy

The objective of this paper is to investigate the effects of digital competence and technology expectancy and how they interact with cultural differences on digital informal learning (DIL) of university students have different cultural backgrounds. Empirical data collected from a survey conducted both in China and Belgium, the total sample consists of 335 Chinese and 197 Belgians. Partial least square with formative assessment was employed to test the proposed model and multi-groups comparison analysis was conducted to examine the moderation effects of cultural difference on influential factors related to students’ DIL behaviors. The results highlighted the essential role of digital competence and technology expectancy in DIL. Cultural difference revealed a strong influence on the motive pattern of DIL behaviors. This study raised some major implications for educational researchers and practitioners alike. Specifically, the paper introduced and stressed the role of digital competence in informal learning context which was rarely considered in prior studies in terms of learning ecology. The study expanded current theoretical understanding of technology adoption in informal learning environments across different cultural contexts. The finding has shown both a homogeneous informal learning behavior and motive variance between different two cultural backgrounds. The study also provided a set of practical implications, including the need for digital competence training in today’s digital era, and the need for a satisfactory user interface design globally.     

Vocational Students Experiences with Assessment in Workplace Learning

Vocational education, as part of the Norwegian upper secondary education, includes both school-based learning and workplace learning. While school-based learning is characterized by formal structures and guided by aims in the curricula, workplace learning is often informal, incidental and directed by the daily work-tasks. Assessment in workplace learning is mainly formative and different stakeholders are involved in the assessment; namely students, teachers and workplace instructors. However, the guidelines for assessment are vague and call for a close cooperation between the stakeholders. This is demanding and has resulted in a variety of assessment practices. The study presented in this article is a qualitative study of students’ experiences with assessment in workplace learning periods in their first year in vocational education. The aim of the study is to give voice to students` experiences with assessment and illuminate how assessment supports their learning processes. Data was collected through focus group interviews with two groups of students in the Programme for Health and Social Care. The main findings indicate different assessment cultures in school and workplaces. This is expressed through the students’ perceptions of assessment, assessment criteria, tools for assessment and vocational knowledge. It is recommended that an open dialogue about the discontinuity in assessment between schools and workplaces is one of several measures necessary to bridge the gap between the stakeholders.     

虚拟学习社区中个体隐性知识的建构

个体隐性知识主要是通过非正式学习获得的,虚拟学习社区作为非正式学习环境的一种重要形式,能够为个体隐性知识的建构提供便利条件。本文主要从非正式学习的视角来讨论如何利用虚拟学习社区来促进个体隐性知识的建构问题。     

Experiential learning and values education at a school youth camp: Maintaining Jewish culture and heritage

In our post-modern, globalised world, there is a risk of unique cultural heritages being lost. This loss contributes to the detriment of civilization, because individuals need to be rooted in their own specific identity in order to actively participate in community life. This article discusses a longitudinal case study of the efforts being made by Australian Jewish schools to maintain Jewish heritage through annual experiential religious education camps, coordinated in a programme called Counterpoint. The researchers’ aim was to analyse how a school youth camp can serve as a site for socialisation and education into a cultural and religious heritage through experiential learning and informal education. During research trips which took place over several years, interviews enabling insights into the process of experiential education were conducted with a total of three different Directors of Informal Jewish Education, two Jewish Studies heads, five participating teachers, seven youth leaders, as well as seven student focus groups. In their analysis of the semi-structured interviews, the authors of this article employed a grounded theory approach using a constant comparative method, which enabled a more nuanced understanding of the main phenomenon investigated. Over the years, they were able to observe two philosophical approaches, one of which focused more on socialisation, with immersion into experience, while the other focused on education, with immersion into Jewish knowledge. Their findings reveal that some educators aim to “transmit” knowledge through “evocation”, with the students involved in active learning; while others focus more on students’ “acquisition” of knowledge through transmission. Experiential learning activities were found to be more meaningful and powerful if they combined both approaches, leading to growth.     

基于Mblog的非正式学习研究

非正式学习指在正规学校教育或继续教育之外,在工作、生活、社交等非正式学习时间和地点接受新知的学习方式,它占个体所学知识的80％以上。由于非正式学习在学习中的重要作用,越来越受到人们的重视。如何更好的进行非正式学习一直是值得关注的问题。移动博客（Mblog）是作为一种新兴的移动互联网业务,有即时、移动、个人、方便等特征,非常适合于非正式学习。详细介绍了Mblog的内涵特点,分析了Mblog在非正式学习上的优势,提出了基于Moblog的非正式学习研究。     

词汇刻意学习与伴随性学习的比较研究——以初级水平东南亚汉语学习者为例

伴随性学习一直是词汇学习讨论的焦点问题之一。本文在Ebbinghaus的遗忘曲线和Pimsleur的记忆方案基础上,操作了一次历时近一个月的实验,对比研究了刻意学习法（背词表）和伴随性学习法的学习效果。结果发现：1）背词表组成绩普遍高于伴随性学习组。但难以掌握词义抽象的词语;2）伴随性学习组在开始阶段受到“伴随性”影响,容易忽略目标词,学习成绩较差。但有机会掌握词义抽象的词语,在词汇输出上更有创造性,学习积极性高。     

How television production specialists learn distance education skills and knowledge

The purpose of this study was to examine how television‐production specialists, who had no previous experience or educational background in the field of distance education, learned the distance education‐related skills and obtained the knowledge necessary to perform their jobs. The purposive sample for this study comprised 12 full‐time television production specialists who were employed for at least one year at universities across the United States to produce live, interactive, video‐based educational programs, but who, prior to employment at their respective universities, had no experience or educational background in the field of distance education. Qualitative methods, including semi‐structured interviews, observation, and concept maps, were used to collect data. This study found that television production specialists used both incidental and informal learning strategies to learn the necessary skills and knowledge they needed to perform their jobs. Participants learned predominantly by three means: assessing previously held assumptions and beliefs; learning by doing through a trial‐and‐error‐type format; and watching other's videoconference programs. Participants also experienced a ‘mindset change’, brought about by such factors as identifying audience and subject‐matter specialists’ needs, in how they viewed their own performance.     

非正式学习环境下移动语言学习研究——新加坡学生校外成语学习及创作活动历程探析

学习者的整个生活圈子,包括学校以外的非正式学习环境,处处都提供潜在的学习机遇。"成语,动起来!"项目以新加坡小学五年级学生为实验对象,应用移动技术为学生建构一人一机(手机)、正式学习和非正式学习无缝连接的华语文学习环境,协助学生建立起时时学、处处学的习性和技能。在正式学习的范畴中,教师上成语、连接词课,以情境学习、合作学习的形式进行学习活动。在非正式学习的范畴中,学生积极观察日常生活中的人、事、物,从所经历的情境中联想到所学成语,用手机拍照、造句,张贴上网,供同学互相修改、比较、讨论句子。项目通过对两名学习方式各异的学生进行校外创作活动的认知历程分析发现,丰富的生活情境、家长和移动技术的支持对非正式学习环境中学生的语言学习起着重要的作用。     

Knowledge, Sentience and Receptivity: a paradigm of lifelong learning

This article aims to develop a paradigm of lifelong learning situations. The starting point is the EU-Commission policy document where three kinds of learning situations are identified: formal, non-formal and informal. The article tries to deepen this categorisation by searching for the underlying ontological and epistemological dimensions.
The ontological dimension consists of three corresponding realities — formal, non-formal and informal reality. The formal reality is a world of generalities. The non-formal reality is a world of individualities – and not just of individual human beings.
In the same way, the epistemological dimension consists of three corresponding kinds of knowledge: formal, non-formal and informal. Formal knowledge is a knowing you can formulate, basically as concepts in thoughts possible to formulate in words. Non-formal knowledge consists of the learner's ability to see and sense what an actual event shows and (literally) make sense-ible. It is a circumstantial knowledge .
As for informal knowledge , you cannot have that ability. But, in the moment of happening, the event will give you this ability to see and sense what to do and how to do — as a whim or fancy from nowhere. Informal knowledge is epiphanic .
These two dimensions form a nine field paradigm of different kinds of learning settings. In relation to the formal, non-formal and informal reality the conceptual knowledge will be produced in the academic setting; the learning setting of conceptualising reflection; the learning setting of ignorance. The circumstantial knowledge will be developed in the master-apprentice learning setting; the learning setting of trial and error; the setting of accidental learning. The epiphanic knowledge will be revealed in the learning setting of self-evident clearness; the learning setting of individual unique simplicity; the learning setting of vivifying activities.     

Affordances and Limitations of Immersive Participatory Augmented Reality Simulations for Teaching and Learning

The purpose of this study was to document how teachers and students describe and comprehend the ways in which participating in an augmented reality (AR) simulation aids or hinders teaching and learning. Like the multi-user virtual environment (MUVE) interface that underlies Internet games, AR is a good medium for immersive collaborative simulation, but has different strengths and limitations than MUVEs. Within a design-based research project, the researchers conducted multiple qualitative case studies across two middle schools (6th and 7th grade) and one high school (10th grade) in the northeastern United States to document the affordances and limitations of AR simulations from the student and teacher perspective. The researchers collected data through formal and informal interviews, direct observations, web site posts, and site documents. Teachers and students reported that the technology-mediated narrative and the interactive, situated, collaborative problem solving affordances of the AR simulation were highly engaging, especially among students who had previously presented behavioral and academic challenges for the teachers. However, while the AR simulation provided potentially transformative added value, it simultaneously presented unique technological, managerial, and cognitive challenges to teaching and learning.     

How Have Concepts of Informal Learning Developed Over Time?

Although the current interest in informal learning seems recent, performance improvement professionals have long had an interest in informal learning‐the ways that people learn outside of formal structures. The earliest forms of learning for work were informal, including de facto and formal apprenticeship programs and the “school of life.” Contemporary interest began in the 1960s and 1970s with the rise of self‐directed learning. In the 1970s and 1980s, focus shifted to adult learning theory and human performance technology, both of which explore the roles of interventions other than classroom learning. The early 1990s brought two practical applications—electronic performance support systems and edutainment—followed by a third in the late 1990s—knowledge management. Discussions of informal learning arose in the 2000s. Each movement offers practical lessons for designing informal learning today.     

Teachers’ use of their mathematical knowledge for teaching in learning a mathematics learning trajectory

In the past decade, research on learning trajectories has progressed from an agenda for research on student learning to include an agenda for research on teaching. In this paper, we use a design experiment to examine a professional development program created to support teacher learning of one learning trajectory. Using a re-interpretation of Ball and colleagues’ mathematics knowledge for teaching framework, we conducted a retrospective analysis to examine how a purposefully selected sample of three teachers used their knowledge to participate in discussions of the professional learning tasks designed to support teacher learning of the trajectory. Findings indicate that professional learning tasks focusing on pedagogical content knowledge present in learning trajectories also allow for teacher learning of subject matter knowledge; this learning is mediated by teachers’ prior mathematics knowledge for teaching. We conclude with considerations for researchers and professional developers seeking to support teachers in learning about learning trajectories.     

“Actually, I Wanted to Learn”: Study-related knowledge exchange on social networking sites

Social media open up multiple options to add a new dimension to learning and knowledge processes. Particularly, social networking sites allow students to connect formal and informal learning settings. Students can find like-minded people and organize informal knowledge exchange for educational purposes. However, little is known about in which way students use social networking sites for informal learning and about characteristics of these students. In this paper, three studies examined the study-related knowledge exchange via StudiVZ, the German equivalent of Facebook. Results indicated that about one fifth of participants exchange study-related knowledge through StudiVZ and that these students are especially freshers seeking contact with other students and orientation. Consistent with previous research, it is shown that students use social networking sites mainly for social interaction and integration. However, results also imply that communication about social issues on social networking sites goes hand in hand with study-related knowledge exchange.     

中文环境下猜词能力对词汇附带习得的影响实证研究

通过实证研究的方法,检验不同猜词能力对于词汇附带习得的影响。实验中,控制词汇量、投入量、语篇难度变量,对英语水平较好的26名受试同时进行语境猜词的训练。结果显示:猜词能力越强,学习者就更容易在阅读中附带习得词汇的全部知识;反之学习者获得的词汇量较小,且只是词汇的部分知识。这一结果说明词汇附带学习和直接学习相结合才能更好地提高学生的词汇量和促进词汇全面知识的掌握。     

Supporting novice elementary mathematics teachers’ induction in professional communities and providing innovative forms of pedagogical content knowledge development through information and communication technology

This paper reports on the needs identified as important to 27 novice elementary mathematics teachers and examines how Connect-ME, an online mathematics community, provides these supports. Qualitative data were collected using two focus groups and 16 telephone interviews. Findings validate the need for alternative teacher professional development (TPD) models and the value of professional communities and knowledge acquired through technology-facilitated learning. The results indicate that teachers actively seek formal and informal TPD experiences, opportunities for sharing and communicating, and access to quality resources. This study provides educational researchers and administrators with essential elements for effectively supporting novice elementary mathematics teachers.