Informal Learning Contexts Research Articles

Interacting with native speakers of Chinese through online learning communities: A case study with East Asian learners

Abstract Online language learning communities play an important role in providing learners of Chinese as a second language (CSL) with access to authentic language opportunities to communicate with native speakers of Chinese. However, few studies have examined CSL learners’ self-initiated naturalistic interactions with native speakers of Chinese on such platforms. This current study aims at filling this research gap by examining five East Asia CSL adult learners’ interactions with native speakers of Chinese in an informal learning context on an instruction-oriented social-networking based learning community. Adopting Henri’s (1992) analytic framework to understand the interactions between online learners from both cognitive and social dimensions, it finds that different types of interactions with native speakers of Chinese influenced learners’ differently. The study provides suggestions to CSL teachers as well as educational technology designers on how to maximize the benefits of online learning communities for CSL learners in their informal language learning beyond the classroom.

Making Informal Adult Learning Visible. The Recognition of the Third Sector Professionals’ Key Competences

The third sector represents a vast and heterogeneous universe that has a key role in society from both the social and civil points of view. It also represents an informal learning context where competence and knowledge are acquired, often in a tacit and indirect way. This research focuses on the key competences of the third sector professionals and on the pedagogical methods to make them visible and to encourage their recognition. The quantitative and qualitative data sources include: questionnaires, focus groups, and diaries. The results show that the informal learning of key competences by professionals is a primary result of their activities that should be given greater visibility. Six areas of expertise have been identified in order to classify the range of knowledge and competence. The pedagogical approach has highlighted the importance of the tutor who applies narrative tutoring methods to facilitate the recognition of competences and their enhancement for personal and professional development. The full enhancement of competences, considered as the strengthening of people’s reflection and planning potential, requires policies that can be effectively applied to the national competences certification system.

Teacher Continuing Professional Development and Team-Working Competences: A Case Study From Italy

Context: European policies describe the key role of teachers’ Vocational Education and Training (VET) in improving students’ learning outcomes. In order to improve teacher education, Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) policies identify competency models as the main framework for understanding teacher professionalism and designing VET policies. By reinterpreting these models through the capability approach, this article aims to identify more relevant competences of preschool teachers in the public and private services of northern and central Italy.Methods: The research began with a comparative analysis of VET policies for preschool teachers to outline more common competences used to define their professional profile. This led to the creation of a new, re-thought competency model used to design a quantitative survey to describe teachers’ competences in preschool settings. The self-assessment questionnaire was built on the following competence areas: Management of educational and relational processes, teamwork and large-scale teamwork, networking and governance. The self-assessment questionnaire evaluated 65 preschool teachers’ pre-acquired competences and development levels and those more desirable for the future (called “ideal” co.). The comparison of areas and their values reveals critical results, particularly related to teamwork competences at different levels.Results: The study outlines the structure of preschool teacher professionalism based on “traditional” competences (e.g., educational relationships with children) and some “innovative” competences (e.g., networking and governance), which appeared to be more desirable in teachers’ evaluations. However, the comparison of the data reveals that governance competences are better evaluated then teamwork co., introducing some hypotheses about the quality of relationships in the community of practice.Conclusions: The research outlines how the competences emerging as relevant for teachers need to be better activated in professional settings to become strategically important. The results related to teamwork and governance competences focus on the importance of informal and extended learning contexts to teachers’ socio-relational competence development. The organization of the school system needs to be re-thought and extracurricular competences need to increase to foster the generative development of informal learning communities at intra- and extra-school levels. According to the capability approach, the research reveals the extreme complexity of preschool teacher professionalism. For vocational education and training, its underlines the re-thinking of the preschool teacher profile as a co-designer of learning environments, which includes building formal and informal competences to foster communities of practice as a learning and generative process.

Developing a mobile application‐based particle image velocimetry tool for enhanced teaching and learning in fluid mechanics: A design‐based research approach

AbstractA robust and intuitive understanding of fluid mechanics—the applied science of fluid motion—is foundational within many engineering disciplines, including aerospace, chemical, civil, mechanical, naval, and ocean engineering. In‐depth knowledge of fluid mechanics is critical to safe and economical design of engineering applications employed globally everyday, such as automobiles, aircraft, and sea craft, and to meeting global 21st century engineering challenges, such as developing renewable energy sources, providing access to clean water, managing the environmental nitrogen cycle, and improving urban infrastructure. Despite the fundamental nature of fluid mechanics within the broader undergraduate engineering curriculum, students often characterize courses in fluid mechanics as mathematically onerous, conceptually difficult, and aesthetically uninteresting; anecdotally, undergraduates may choose to opt‐out of fluids engineering‐related careers based on their early experiences in fluids courses. Therefore, the continued development of new frameworks for engineering instruction in fluid mechanics is needed. Toward that end, this paper introduces mobile instructional particle image velocimetry (mI‐PIV), a low‐cost, open‐source, mobile application‐based educational tool under development for smartphones and tablets running Android. The mobile application provides learners with both technological capability and guided instruction that enables them to visualize and experiment with authentic flow fields in real time. The mI‐PIV tool is designed to generate interest in and intuition about fluid flow and to improve understanding of mathematical concepts as they relate to fluid mechanics by providing opportunities for fluids‐related active engagement and discovery in both formal and informal learning contexts.

The identity-frame model: A framework to describe situated identity negotiation for adolescent youth participating in an informal engineering education program

ABSTRACT Background: STEM identity has emerged as an important research topic and a predictor of how youth engage with STEM inside and outside of school. Although there is a growing body of literature in this area, less work has been done specific to engineering, especially in out-of-school learning contexts. Methods: To address this need, we conducted a qualitative investigation of five adolescent youth participating in a four-month afterschool engineering program. The study focused on how participants negotiated engineering-related identities through ongoing interactions with activities, peers, and adults, and the patterns of identity negotiation that emerged across program sessions. Findings: Through the investigation, we developed an Identity-Frame Model, positing that identity negotiation is an ongoing process of performance and definition work by an individual and recognition and positioning work by other adults and peers that creates emergent, context-specific identities and activity frames that are made particularly salient during critical identity moments. We also categorized model elements that appeared to be specific to engineering, such as situated identities and activity frames related to failure, collaboration, and competition. Contribution: The study advances the understanding of identity negotiation related to engineering and provides a new framework for investigating situated identity in informal STEM learning contexts.

Five trends of education and technology in a sustainable future

Quality education is one of the pillars in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. This overall goal can be connected to some general trends affecting education in the information age. We argue that education is key to the future quality of human life and the sustainability of the world. Generally, education is being transformed in both formal and informal learning contexts by new digital technologies. Overall, some of these major innovations and how they are changing education can be summarized into the following aspects: 1) our educational aims and objectives; 2) educational ecologies and contexts of learning; 3) the processes of learning; 4) the processes of teaching; and 5) educational governance and policy. Meanwhile, we note some of the potential risks and downsides of these technology trends. From the sustainable perspective, our review points to a great potential for educational reform, but it can only be achieved if we are willing to rethink and even abandon some of our traditional ways of doing things in education.

Playing with Complex Systems? The Potential to Gain Geographical System Competence through Digital Gaming

The current socio-ecological challenges and phenomena that are major topics of geography education, like climate change and migration, are highly complex. Maturity in these contexts requires a networked way of thinking, and a systemic competence that is difficult to develop in geography classes alone. Digital games that simulate complex systems which include the pressing issues of today’s challenges may be a useful supplement to foster systems thinking. In this study, we develop a framework to assess the complexity of in-game systems. A subsequent analysis of a selection of current commercial strategy and simulation games shows how system complexity is designed differently in the various games. Based on these results, we make recommendations for the selection and use of different games in formal and informal learning contexts.

Performers’ discourses on listening to recordings

How we listen to music and respond to its media and contexts has changed significantly since the invention of sound recording. Today’s musicians have countless opportunities to listen to others’ interpretations given the vast availability of past and contemporary repertories through the global reach of recordings. This study investigated the extent to which the growing archive of recordings provides a valuable resource for performers’ creativity. Although musical performance is a particularly porous domain for influence through either deliberate or spontaneous assimilation of expressive variation from other aural sources, little empirical research exists on influence in performance and specifically on the influence of recordings. Qualitative data were obtained via an online questionnaire to identify how and in what ways the use and influence of recordings have changed over the course of classical performers’ training or professional careers. Respondents’ ( N = 130) comments were analysed using a thematic inductive approach. The emerging themes reveal an overall increased level of use of recordings now relative to the past, a largely positive contribution of recordings in shaping musical development, including the role of recordings in self-regulated learning, a largely positive attitude to the influence of others’ interpretations, a means of developing expressions of self-identity in relation to others and a route to acquiring a more critical and discerning mode of listening to recordings. Implications for music education are discussed in terms of how listening to recordings, in both formal and informal learning contexts, could support advanced musicians’ learning through trial and error, enhance creative insight, strengthen self-efficacy, foster metacognitive skills and nurture individuality.

Maternal use of math facts to support girls' math during card play

This study addresses girls' (6–7-year-olds; N = 162) arithmetic skills within the context of learning environments provided by their mothers. Mothers and daughters were videotaped solving addition problems during card games. Maternal support was assessed through coding math fact hints and addition-strategy suggestions. Their first-grade daughters were then assessed on addition accuracy at end-of-year. Using regression analyses, results showed that maternal use of relevant math facts during the card games was associated with their child's later addition accuracy. Two types of math facts showed this association: (a) those relevant to the numbers to be added on the cards, and (b) novel math facts provided by mothers to scaffold decomposition arithmetic strategy-use. These findings suggest the importance of supportive mathematical interactions during informal games as a possible source of developing girls' early math skills. The study also identifies potentially valuable types of support for early arithmetic learning in informal contexts.

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Learners' Predominant Language Use for Online Informal Learning Activities through Smartphones in Indonesian Context

In recent years, researchers have become increasingly interested in mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) studies for online informal learning of English as a foreign language (EFL). Smartphones, and other mobile devices, have been used as a powerful tool in informal contexts of learning since that form of technology can help students engage in out-of-class language learning experiences. However, to our knowledge, no research on EFL learners' predominant language use for their online informal learning activities has been conducted in Indonesian context. Therefore, this study attempted to investigate EFL learners' predominant language use for their online informal learning of English through smartphones, in which the data collected were quantitatively analyzed through descriptive statistics. The results indicate that EFL learners predominantly perform their online informal learning activities in Indonesian, in English, and in both Indonesian and English. Finally, suggestions and recommendations for future research are also discussed.

Multidisciplinary symmetry education with Poly-Universe toolkit in schools and informal learning context in Finland

Multidisciplinary symmetry education with Poly-Universe toolkit in schools and informal learning context in Finland

Konteksti priznavanja prethodnog učenja - komparativna studija inicijativa za priznavanje prethodnog učenja u Brazilu, Portugaliji i Nemačkoj

The main purpose of this paper is to reflect on and compare the different 'realities' of Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) regarding informal and non-formal learning contexts in three countries: Brazil, Portugal, and Germany. In Brazil, the Certific Network is a public policy that addresses the recognition and certification of prior learning. In Portugal, the Qualifica Programme is dedicated to the recognition of learnings and skills acquired throughout life. In Germany, the ProfilPass Project focuses on the values or skills acquired informally and non-formally. Regarding the international-comparative analysis methodology, the paper studies and compares these initiatives considering three comparative axes: 1) central aims, 2) target groups, 3) formats and structures of action. Such comparative research shows the importance of understanding RPL concepts and practical realities in different social, political and economic contexts.

Transgressive or just unexpected? Heteroglossic gender performance and informal popular music learning

Abstract This article explores the tensions between ‘doing gender’ and ‘doing popular music’ within the context of informal popular music learning for one group of girls of age 12–14 in a Southwestern Ontario elementary school. Using the transposition of Bakhtin’s concepts of monoglossia and heteroglossia to the performance of gender, the authors explore how members of Group G, an all-girl popular music band, perform heteroglossic gender behaviours, even while maintaining and presenting an outwardly monoglossic performance of gender in other respects. Furthermore, we explore how aspects of the girls’ behaviours vacillated between traditional gendered discourses and traditional discourses of popular music. Finally, findings suggest that the girls of Group G may not have been deliberately transgressive in their performances of gender but that they may have produced heteroglossic gender performances as part of a process of exploring their own identities. We conclude by considering the informal popular music classroom as a space that may be conducive or constricting towards the possibilities of heteroglossic gender performances and the need for a broadening of pedagogies of popular music that take into consideration both gender and power as it relates to gender.

Riddles on YouTube: Investigating the potential to engage viewers in reflective thinking

Linear videos continue to be useful technologies for both formal and informal learning. The advent of YouTube has seen the rise of educational channels engaging millions of viewers informally, in the spirit of ‘lifelong learning’. This article investigates the potential of a particular kind of video to engage viewers in reflective thinking. The premise is that viewers, followers who find the channel worthwhile or interesting, should reflect, affirming or changing their answers. The channel Veritasium, with more than 5 million subscribers at the time of this study, posed four questions as ‘riddles’, and then a week later provided solutions. A survey appended to the solutions video was completed by 2220 respondents. About 16%–43% of respondents across all riddles indicated that their answer was correct or that they changed their answer, and 49%–73% reported to have changed their answers. The reasons for not changing answers were inductively coded for each riddle. The emergent categories were the same for the different riddles, from outward focused to inward focused, matching the types of reflective thinking in the extant literature. The responses illustrated how the riddles engaged the viewers in reflective thinking in this social media informal learning context.

Exploring the evolution of two girls’ conceptions and practices in computational thinking in science

As the definition of computational thinking (CT) in education continues to evolve, researchers have investigated the integration of CT in K-12 learning contexts and students' perceptions and development of CT in these integrated learning experiences. Drawing on prior work, this study explored the evolution of two elementary school girls’ conceptions and practices of CT in science as they participated in a four-week CT-integrated science unit at a summer camp using the Dash robot and the Blockly app. Three CT concepts: loops, sequences, and conditionals, were integrated into a unit on the reproduction cycle of flowerless plants. Observations, participant drawings, and analysis of Blockly code revealed that the children improved in their CT practices. In addition, the CT-integrated science unit developed for this study successfully engaged both participants, even when one expressed a low interest in science. The study suggested that defining computing vocabulary, using checkpoint activities with immediate and corrective feedback, and scaffolding of coding concepts with unplugged activities were particularly necessary in promoting CT and the integration of CT and science education in an elementary-level informal learning context.

Social media and professional development: a systematic review

The great popularisation of social media at the beginning of the 21st century has led to the production of many empirical studies in an attempt to explore the opportunities these platforms provide for different activities, such as learning and updating for professionals. This study aims to identify and summarise the main characteristics of research into social media and professional development published between 2013 and 2017. We analysed the years, journals, conceptual background, research methodologies, data collection tools, professional disciplines, educational contexts, types of social media and characteristics of social media that can generate learning opportunities. A total of 44 articles were selected and analysed from peer-reviewed journals. Findings revealed that (1) an upward trend with respect to research on social media and professional development; (2) surveys were the main research method for collecting data about social media; (3) health and education sciences are the most studied fields of knowledge; (4) there is a special interest in the study of social media in informal learning contexts; (5) Twitter is the most studied social media platform and (6) social media seems to be a sustainable support for professional development due to its open, social and flexible nature. Implications of findings for future research are also discussed.

Leveraging Research on Informal Learning to Inform Policy on Promoting Early STEM

AbstractIn recent decades, educators and policymakers in the United States have increased their focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning opportunities both in school and in informal learning environments outside of school. Informal STEM learning can take place in varied settings and involves a variety of STEM domains (e.g., engaging in engineering practices in a construction exhibit at a museum; talking about math during book reading at home). Here we provide a selective review of the literature on informal STEM learning to illustrate how these educational experiences are crucial for efforts to increase early STEM learning even before children reach school age. Leveraging cognitive and learning science research to inform policy, we make three recommendations to advance the impact of informal STEM learning: 1) integrate cognitive and learning science–based learning practices into informal learning contexts, 2) increase accessibility and diversity of informal STEM experiences, and 3) create explicit connections and coherence between formal and informal STEM learning opportunities in early childhood education.

Using Neuro-oncology to teach GCSE students STEM-subjects

Abstract Background The profile of brain tumours in the wider community has recently been raised. In this project we explored whether we could link brain tumour awareness with STEM education for secondary school pupils. We aimed to inspire the next generation by bringing research into formal and informal learning contexts. Method We worked with a local school to co-design and co-create a set of blended learning sessions. Each session consisted of some “biological” teaching and a practical activity. These included using IDH, MGMT and 1p/19q as models of varying genetic disorder and a Jenga-based game to teach radiobiology. Sessions were delivered every 1–2 weeks using a multidisciplinary team. We assessed impact through informal weekly feedback, a structured feedback form and linkage to GCSE curriculum items. We assessed costs using a staff-free FEC model. Results We delivered a total of 12 hours over 10 sessions. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive from the students – “The project has been very enlightening and rewarding”. We were able to link 60% of taught material to GCSE curriculum items. We estimated costs (materials) at £260. Students presented their work at the Imperial Science Festival and an additional conference. Discussion We have co-developed and piloted an innovative multi-disciplinary toolkit to use neuro-oncology as a way of teaching STEM subjects, though a pupil-centred approach. We are now seeking to pilot the materials with other neuroscience centres/ universities to support secondary schools and neuroscience centres/ universities in working collectively to create structured, strategic, and sustainable mechanisms for engagement.

Práticas de letramentos vernaculares em língua inglesa: a práxis na aprendizagem além do currículo formal da universidade

Vernacular literacy practices in English have become a research topic based on the increasing use of digital technologies (DT) in formal and informal contexts of learning. Therefore, this article aims to analyze the vernacular practices adopted by Letras undergraduate students, as regards their English language literacy practices. To do so, the ethnographic perspective was adopted, with a qualitative approach, and the sample consisted of semi-structure interviews with three undergraduates from a university in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. The collected material was explored through content analysis techniques to create categories of analysis about the interviewees’ discourses. Eight categories of analysis were created to allow us to verify, from the interviewees' statements, that the use of DT is important for learning English, both in terms of daily use and pedagogical practices. Finally, the data revealed that vernacular practices re-signify the elaboration of planning, teaching action and, consequently, the praxis in learning English beyond the university formal curriculum.

The role of self-regulated learning Strategies on learners’ Satisfaction in Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): Evidence from Malaysia MOOC

Learning in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) necessitates learners to be capable of self-regulating their learning in order to oversee and adapt their behaviour and actions in certain learning settings. Studies have highlighted that learners who have good control of self-regulation in their learning, either formal or informal learning contexts, utilise more competent learning strategies in online learning context. Nevertheless, MOOCs attract a diverse range of learners, each with different experience and satisfaction. The aim of this study is to examine the role of self-regulated learning (SRL) and its components (time management, planning, self-evaluation, and help-seeking) on learners’ satisfaction in MOOC. Data were collected from 281 learners of a Malaysia MOOC namely Asas Keusahawanan (Introduction to Entrepreneurship), in the second semester of the Malaysian universities academic calendar. A cross-sectional web-based survey was applied and a Partial Least Square (PLS) approach was use for analysing data. Findings indicated that all of SRL components except help-seeking are important factors for explaining learners’ satisfaction in a MOOC. This study provides useful suggestions for the course designers of MOOCs platforms, and the facilitators in engaging learners with suitable SRL strategies and increase the level of course satisfaction.