Vicarious Learning Blog

Informal Learning: The percentage game

From memory (fickle as it may be) there is that great quote from Ivan Illich's "Deschooling Society (Open Forum)":

'We are all schooled, yet we educate ourselves.' (feel free to correct my memory!)

And so I have always believed it is. At so many levels we are each responsible for our own learning. I have never really been fortunate enough to have inspiring teachers or lecturers. And it always seemed that the most interesting books and papers were the ones we weren't assigned to read and regurgitate. As such I am more than supportive of any effort to re-emphasize the importance of self-directed learning, of peer support communities and life-long learning. But, I feel the discussion on informal learning isn't fully detailing its argument and assumptions. In seeking to make a case for informal learning, it is losing the context and some of the clarity of the concepts and issues involved. Putting these points briefly, I believe the following needs to be addressed:

1. 'Informal Learning' has come to be used to stand for anything that happens outside of 'Formal Learning'. It now means just about anything... conversation, TV programs you watch, pieces of news, on the job training... This is wrong in a number of respects. Informal learning is not just 'that which happens outside of formal learning'. What happens outside formal learning is called life. Part of everyday life is learning, but a lot of everyday life is far from a learning experience.
2. There's a percentage game that is going on. Typically people are putting the ratio of Informal to Formal learning experiences at about 80:20. I list a number of sources and quotes below for you to check out for yourself. My problem with a lot of these percentages is that they rely on the broadest definition of 'Informal Learning' as defined in point 1.
3. Need I state the obvious, but 'Informal Learning' and 'Formal Learning' each has their own strengths and weaknesses. We shouldn't pretend that we can do without either. 'Formal Learning' is just about perfect for knowledge cramming, for digesting explicit content, for foundational learning. The percentage game is inclined to overemphasize the importance of 'Informal Learning' as it makes assumptions about the quality and structure of the learning experience. The ratio 80:20 for informal and formal learning could be a reflection of its inefficiency as well as its ubiquity.
4. Humans are learning machines. We are never in off mode for learning experiences. So psychological, cognitively speaking, informal learning is the learning that the brain just performs irrespective of whether the learning environment is a formal or informal one. We find patterns and seek explanations in an ongoing basis. It is unhelpful to talk of formal and informal settings as informal, implicit learning is going on continuously.
5. Learning often involves a conflict between what one believes and the evidence/knowledge we are presented with. Formal learning often succeeds because it manages these cognitive conflicts to bring about learning and deeper understanding. This learning is objective and allows us to see beyond our own limited experience. Many of the definitions and assumptions of informal learning do not talk about the problems and biases of informal learning. It takes enormous discipline and training to step outside of ones experience and question our own belief and knowledge. A lot of everyday, informal learning will be subject to bias and distortion that is the very antithesis of real learning.
6. Almost all discussions and analyses of informal learning fail to distinguish between this and related concepts (many being more mature and established fields of research) such as
   • vicarious learning
   • observational learning
   • apprentiship learning
   • peer learning
   • intentional vs unintentional learning
   • directed vs non-directed learning
   • explicit vs implicit knowledge
   • tacit knowledge

Independent of these thoughts, the debate reminds me of that part of Ulysses (chapter 2) where we have seen Stephen Dedalus walking along the beach trying to philosophically re-establish for himself the essence of his own existence ("eluctable modality of the visible") on his way to teaching his class. After class he has an encounter with Mr Deasy who asks him an uncomfortable question about his motivations and interest in teaching:

-- I foresee, Mr Deasy said, that you will not remain here very long at this work. You were not born to be a teacher, I think. Perhaps I am wrong. -- A learner rather, Stephen said. And here what will you learn more? Mr Deasy shook his head. -- Who knows? he said. To learn one must be humble. But life is the great teacher.

And so it is for us all, I think.

Percentage Game Quotes

Marcia L. Conner:

Informal learning accounts for over 75% of the learning taking place in organizations today.

13 Ways of Manageing Informal Learning (PDF)

Represents over 80% of learning that occurs in organisations

The Informal Learning Blog 20 May 2006:

Formal training and workshops account for only 10% to 20% of what people learn at work. Most corporations over-invest in formal training while leaving the more natural, simple ways we learn to chance."

Clive Shepherd commenting on the as yet unpublished report from Work-Based Learning Unit of e-Skills UK (expected release date 31st January 2007) on their research with employers and learners in the UK :

79% of organisations responded that they will be placing greater emphasis on supporting informal learning.

Jay Cross and Internet Time Blog produces some elaborate reasoning:

So, formal training accounts for 20 percent x 20 percent x 10 percent of the possible improvements you can make to worker performance. That's 0.4 percent.

Quoting Elliot Masie (2002) the Managers Forum asserts that:

Training focuses almost entirely on formal learning. But half to 70% of learning is informal.

Sam Adkins in an article entitled "ROI from Workflow-Based E-Learning" writes at Learning Circuits that:

informal learning accounts for 90 percent of the way people learn in an organization

The Iceberg of Informal Adult Learning (PDF) by Allen Tough again puts the percentage ratio at 80/20 for informal to formal learning, adding:

73 percent of all adult learning is planned by the learner himself or herself... 3 percent was with a friend... 4 percent was a peer group...

Other Resources

• ED459169 - Teacher Learning, Informal and Formal: Results of a Canadian Teachers' Federation Survey. NALL Working Paper.
• Designing for informal and lifelong learning (DILL)
• Literature Review in Informal Learning with Technology Outside School In particular the percentage media usage tables are very interesting
• Informal learning
• informal learning@informal education homepage
• Informal Learning: Rediscovering the Natural Pathways That Inspire Innovation and Performance (Essential Knowledge Resource (Paperback))

Posted at 05:06PM Jun 24, 2008 by Finbar Dineen in General  |  Comments[0]