What is Informal Learning?

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An important area in understanding how people learn is recognizing the difference between formal learning and informal learning and understanding the value associated with informal learning. But what exactly is "informal learning"?

In the workplace, informal learning accounts for at least 80% of the learning people do while performing their jobs (The Institute for Research on Learning, 2000). Employees learn much more from observing and interacting with others, using trial-and-error and asking questions than they do from taking formal training courses. And yet, the e-learning industry’s focus has been directed solely towards providing formal training courses rather than trying to support and encourage informal learning opportunities. Informal learning is relevant for all forms of learning and is especially helpful for S4L learners who have encountered difficulties with formal education in the past.

One of the reasons that informal learning isn’t sufficiently valued is that it is intangible and hard to measure. Formal learning, on the other hand, is eminently convenient, tangible and quantifiable. With formal learning, knowledge is captured in a particular format and made available to others. It can be accessed independently from the originator in a variety of formats – text, video, audio. Examples are online learning courses, PowerPoint presentations and digital libraries. Formal learning often includes pre-training and post-training assessments, tests and activities that can be easily measured, tracked and graded.

Informal learning is not structured or formally defined. It happens both in and outside the work environment. There is nothing new about informal learning – it is the process every baby uses when it learns to speak. It is the natural process we all use when faced with a problem or the need for information (Grebow, 2002). What is new is that organizations are beginning to realize how technology can be used to support the informal learning process.

Informal knowledge transfer can happen by instant messenger, a chat-room in real-time, phone calls, a meeting with a mentor or coach. Some of the most important knowledge transfers in work situations have been found to happen at the office canteen, dock, water fountain or simply while passing through a corridor. This is the subject of David Grebow’s seminal work on informal learning, At the Watercooler of Learning.

Many people like to use e-learning courses at home, because it allows them to learn at their own pace and at a time that suits them. This works well for learning basic skills, but students of these techniques lack access to an expert when they have questions that are not covered in the formal materials. The formal learning materials increase learners’ knowledge substantially, but it can often be a challenge to enable them to move from knowing something new to getting them to apply it in practice. Often a coach is needed to help the learner make that step.

A study by Sally Anne Moore at the Digital Equipment Corporation in the early 1990s (see Figure 4) graphically shows how performance increases over time, only if learners can take what they know, apply it and then constantly improve and adapt using informal learning.

Time to Perform Figure 4. Time to Performance – Formal vs. Informal Learning

Therefore, to create an optimal learning environment, informal learning needs to be built into the formal learning process, with access to mentors, coaches, subject-matter experts and communities of practice. One way to accomplish this is to create collaborative learning environments where the formal and informal learning are seamlessly woven together. Technology can be used to facilitate the informal and formal transfer of knowledge by including expert online tutors, moderated real-time chat sessions and informal learning support forums.