Why You Need a Formal Approach to Informal Learning
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WHY YOU NEED A FORMAL APPROACH TO INFORMAL LEARNING Adapted from “How to Optimize Just-in-time Informal Learning” by Bryan Chapman
Transcript of Why You Need a Formal Approach to Informal Learning
WHY YOU NEED A FORMAL APPROACH
TO
INFORMAL LEARNING
Adapted from “How to Optimize Just-in-time Informal Learning” by Bryan Chapman
Informal learning is incredibly common.
In fact, while 57 percent of employees completed an e-learning or ILT course recently, 98 percent of them learned something online outside of structured courses.
Another statistic shows that people spend — on average — 20 to 25 percent of their week seeking out information. The answers to their questions are often isolated and difficult to get to.
Informal Learning Already Exists in Your Organization
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57%USING
E-LEARNING
98%USING OTHERRESOURCES
Applying 70-20-10 to Learning Efforts
You’ve probably heard that 70 percent of learning is done informally, 20 percent of learning occurs through social interaction, and just 10 percent of learning is completed through formal training programs.
Though these numbers can vary, the trend is the same: Most learning departments spend most of their time and energy on the 10 percent.
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0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
INFORMAL LEARNING SOCIAL INTERACTION FORMAL LEARNING
Fundamental Differences of Developing Informal vs. Formal Learning
Formal and informal learning require, at times, a divergent approach to creation:
TRADITIONAL E-LEARNING COURSES
Made up of modules, multiple pages, larger construct
Often 30 minutes to an hour in duration (or more)
Has its own navigational schema with course maps, next/back buttons, menus, submenus
Mostly designed to cover multiple objectives
Learning content is dependent on storyline and transitions
Video is most often embedded inside the larger construct
INFORMAL, JUST-IN-TIME LEARNING CONTENT
Smaller, focuses on a single topic or procedure — just enough information to make its point
Typically three to five minutes
Usually just the content itself, sans subnavigation
Mostly designed to cover an enabling objective and solve an immediate need
Self-contained, designed to make its point quickly
Video can live independently and be used “as is” for learning purposes
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Informal Learning Also Requires a Different Thought Process
If you’re used to developing traditional e-learning or ILT courses, there are a few things to keep in mind as you’re developing more informal learning content.
Using these tips can help keep you in the right state of mind as you spend more time on just-in-time resources.
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KEEP ITSIMPLE
THINKFLEXIBLE
KEEP THE ENDGOAL IN MIND
TIP 1 TIP 2 TIP 3
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Think Flexible
• Think modular. Informal learning isn’t going to be used in a particular order. Assume that your resource will have to stand alone.
• Use simple media. Snappy voice-overs and video presentations typical in e-learning may have to take a back seat to resources created on the fly that help demonstrate the point with less effort and cost.
• Employ agile, non-linear development. When developing a series of informal learning assets, you may not have the ability to create courses from start to finish. Be flexible enough to publish what you have, when you have it.
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Keep the End Goal in Mind
• Make content visual and relevant. Provide visual cues to help learners find the most important parts of your content so they can scan and find it with ease.
• Think about multiple outputs. Think about where your learners will be accessing this information — on phones, tablets, and on the go — and create courses that will convey your training, no matter what.
• Work in a taxonomy. People need to be able to find informal content easily. Keeping content organized in a way that’s understandable will put all of your work to good use.
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Using Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS) for Informal Learning
Although rapid-authoring tools used to create traditional e-learning courses can play an important role when creating informal learning, content management systems for learning and development are ideally suited to help you make the most of your informal learning development efforts.
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HOW?
Simplify the Process for Just-in-time Content Creation
• Simple content creation — In an LCMS, content lives and is editable directly inside the repository. Just open it, update it, and it’s live immediately.
• Ease of reuse — Since content objects in an LCMS exist independently, any learning content can be used in other areas or even in a larger formal e-learning course.
• Collaborative creation — Multiple team members work together in an LCMS environment, using experts, designers, and developers — supporting a nonlinear, agile process.
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Easy, Personalized Delivery to Your Learners
• Deep personalization — Learning assets can be tagged to align with job, role, function, language, location, and more. An LCMS can pull in learning pieces dynamically to give learners a personalized experience.
• Formats for multiple devices — LCMSs are designed to support publishing and delivering content in a variety of formats, especially for smartphone and tablet access.
• Understanding your learning — An LCMS gives you the ability to evaluate what content is being used most often and find any issues that can highlight content that needs work.
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Informal Learning Requires a Systematic Approach
A large majority of successful, company-wide informal learning initiatives have content management for learning and development at their core.
By design, an informal learning initiative can actually start in the LCMS and integrate into the broader ecosystem — third-party LMS, social, virtual classroom technologies, and more — without rewriting or moving content.
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LMS
SOCIAL
CLASSROOM
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