Jay Cross: Informal Learning

According to Cross, the evolution of how people learn in business environments can be explained as a gradual process of ever increasing connectivity. The earliest development activities were based on people learning from each other on a one to one basis. Apprentices were taken on by master craftsmen and instructed in how to carry out tasks. With the introduction of printing and greater social integration, training and education became centered upon an instructor training groups of people at the same time. The current practice of a trainer with a group of learners at a workshop is a typical example of this.

As information technology has become more sophisticated, learning now comes from networks of people communicating with each other through devices such as online forums, blogs and wikis rather than from a single source in a top-down fashion.

The following diagram illustrates the differences between the three evolutionary phases of learning activity.

Spending Versus Outcomes

Research from the Institute for Research on Learning, a US based organization, has established that informal learning accounts for 80% of all learning in organizations [2]. In order to be effective at work, people learn what they need to know on the job from their personal networks as opposed to formal training workshops. However, nearly all organizations spend the majority of their learning and development budget on formal learning activities.

Cross believes that both types of learning have an important role to play in organizations. While there will always be a place for formal learning activities, he asserts that there are a number of initiatives that organizations can take to enhance the informal learning that already happens in the workplace:

Learning Networks

Learning is often about knowing where to find the right information and, in an organization, the place where that information can be found is often a person. As a result, major sources of informal learning are the informal networks that workers develop in the course of their jobs/careers.

Cross draws an analogy between the way information, emotions and opinions are exchanged between workers in an informal network, to how information is exchanged between computers in an IT network. Some connections are stronger and more frequent than others; and in some cases, there are broken connections. He believes that organizations can improve these connections by introducing tools to make communication easier. Up-to-date contact directories, instant messenger services and online knowledge sharing forums help workers to contact the right person at the right time, saving them time and the organization money.

Learning Spaces

Informal learning does not take place in a classroom or seminar, it happens in the workplace. To help encourage informal learning to take place, Cross recommends that workplaces are designed to encourage workers to communicate freely and interact socially. His suggestions for achieving this include creating comfortable areas for workers to meet and removing barriers between workstations, such as partitions, so that it is easier to communicate. Spaces with comfortable seating and refreshments available will encourage people to meet physically and share ideas.

Meta-Learning

One of the most effective ways of increasing and improving the informal learning activity in an organization is helping people learn how to learn, which Cross describes as meta-learning. There are a number of approaches to meta-learning that, when encouraged, have been shown to be very effective, such as:

• alternative note taking methods, e.g. mind mapping can improve a worker’s retention of information
• reflection on and discussion of new experiences encourages workers to learn from them
• helping the worker to understand and adapting to their own preferred learning style encourages them to select learning experiences that suit them
• using a wide range of different sources for information (the internet, other people, books, observation, etc.) offers a range of different learning experiences
• repetition and application of learning helps embed new approaches

By giving workers access to books, online resources and courses about developing learning techniques and promoting them, an organization can improve the ability of its workforce to learn effectively.

The Internet and Informal Learning

The internet has had a profound impact on informal learning. It connects people from around the world on an unprecedented scale and has opened up the opportunity for millions of people to share and exchange ideas.

Cross describes Google as “the world’s largest learning provider” answering thousands of enquiries every second. Searching for information on the internet is a typical informal learning activity because the subject, method and timing of the learning are driven by the learner rather than by the organization.

Blogs, wikis and forums are three particularly powerful internet tools for encouraging and stimulating informal learning:

• Blogs
  
  Blogs are user generated websites where entries are made in a journal style and displayed in chronological order. Entries can be tagged with keywords to make them searchable and, therefore, easier to find. They are an excellent tool for sharing ideas, suggestions and experiences amongst a group of people. For example, a blog shared between a sales force could be used to share experiences of sales meetings and suggestions for improving sales pitches. When generated over a period of time, a blog can usefully capture many pieces of information and descriptions of experiences that may be difficult to find elsewhere.
• Wikis
  
  A wiki is a website that allows users to add and edit content. It is an effective tool for encouraging collaborative working. The most famous example of a wiki is Wikipedia, an encyclopedia that is free to use and generated entirely by users of the internet. In organizations, wikis have been used to great effect by project teams to share information and documents, communicate within the project team and generate ideas. Proposals can be put forward and edited by experts before being formally submitted to a decision maker.
• Forums
  
  Forums, also known as discussion or message boards, are a web based facility that enables users to post messages and questions aimed at eliciting responses from other users. They are an excellent medium for getting quick answers to problems and tapping into the experience of other users. Forums can be set up for people who have attended a course together, who share the same type of job or who work in the same organization but in different geographical locations. The aim of a forum is to create an online community and generate a wider social network than the users would normally have.

Taking Advantage of Informal Learning

Most learning experiences combine both formal and informal aspects. Some of the most valuable learning from a formal training workshop often comes from a group of people sharing their experiences with one another. Cross believes that organizations can improve the benefit and the scope of informal learning by increasing the ease and frequency of this kind of exchange. By improving the opportunity of workers to create networks and communicate with one another, organizations can help foster a more productive learning culture.

Further Reading

• Jay Cross homepage
• Internet Time Wiki