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Tapping the Potential of Informal Learning
ASTD - American Society for Training and Development, Nov 2008, Pages: 70
By its very nature, informal learning is difficult to comprehend in detail and equally hard to manage. However, it is becoming increasingly important for companies to understand and leverage informal learning, according to this new study commissioned by the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD). If organizations can harness the potential of informal learning, it can become an unusually powerful and cost-effective performance tool in coming years.
The purpose of this study is to help today’s learning professionals gain insights into how informal learning works and how to improve its effectiveness. The study breaks the findings into six main categories that best explain how and why to harness the potentially untapped power of informal learning.
If learning were an iceberg, then formal training and development would only be its tip. Most learning is informal in nature and takes place beneath the waterline—invisible, and therefore much harder to understand. Informal learning, for purposes of this report, is defined as “a learning activity that is not easily recognizable as formal training and performance support…[taking] place without a conventional instructor and…employee-controlled in terms of breadth, depth, and timing.” By its very nature, informal learning is difficult to comprehend in detail and equally hard to manage. Even so, it is becoming increasingly important for companies to understand and leverage informal learning, according to this new study commissioned by the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD).
Over half of the survey respondents (56 percent) predicted that the use of informal learning as a proportion of all learning at their organizations will increase over the next three years, 40 percent believed it would stay the same, and only 4 percent said it would decrease.
This expected increase in informal learning is not surprising in the context of today’s technology-driven corporate culture. Many of today’s employees scramble to keep up with floods of email, reams of new data, and constantly shifting business information. There is a sizable need to learn on demand rather than wait for more conventional learning opportunities. Informal learning will increasingly help fill this demand, enabling employees to stay knowledgeable and productive in a dynamic work environment. The purpose of this study, conducted by ASTD and the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), is to help today’s learning professionals gain insights into how informal learning works and how to improve its effectiveness.
The study breaks the findings into six main categories that best explain how and why to harness the untapped power of informal learning:
- linking informal learning and performance
- understanding factors that influence informal learning
- identifying the most effective practices
- mastering informal learning tools and processes
- measuring the effectiveness of informal learning
- leveraging best practices and lessons learned.
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