Informal Ways Of Learning Research Articles

The Impact of Co-Curricular Activities on Enrollment and Academic Performance at Primary Level

Over time, the literacy rate enrollment rates and learning outcomes in Sindh have remained static, and despite efforts and pouring a lot of domestic and foreign funds, no visible improvement either in the state of schools has been observed, or any improvements in the enrollment or learning outcomes have been noticed. One key element that is mostly ignored is to make teaching-learning interesting and child-centred in an informal way by introducing co-curricular activities. Co–curricular activities are physical activities and programs that are informal ways of learning and help create a healthy and active learning process at school. This paper highlights the importance of co-curricular activities on child development and its effects on adulthood. Holistic child development is the best way to develop healthy, economically sound nations. Studies have shown that healthy and economically strong countries have strong early childhood education systems. This independent study has examined the impact of co-curricular activities on the increase in enrollment and learning outcomes at primary schools in the Layari district of Karachi by identifying schools with playgrounds. These include physical and mental activities like outdoor and indoor plays, mental activities, and exercises.

Ways of learning among undergraduate urban youth in everyday life in Nepal

ABSTRACT This paper uses narrative inquiry to explore the formal-informal learning continuum in the context of a higher education institution in Kathmandu, Nepal. The paper finds a gap within the official curriculum and pedagogy in its lack of recognition for informal ways of learning. Similarly, the everyday life activities and the cultural context of youth are not reflected within the formal structure of university programmes. Youth learn from collaborating with their peers in informal and incidental ways. Such informal ways of learning complement and contest the formal learning situation and process. The research concludes that for higher education to be relevant to youth, attention needs to be paid to these forms of informal learning that reflect their everyday learning and prepare them for lifelong learning.

Learning in the Algerian Context during the Pandemic: Is it online or offline?

The spread of the Covid-19 leads academic institutions all over the world to shift to online mode through educational platforms like Moodle, blackboard, and Teams or towards the informal ways of learning through YouTube and Social Networking Sites, mainly Facebook or through the inclusion of some apps like Zoom and Google meet. Algerian Universities also hasten to replace face-to-face with online mode. However, there are many challenges, among which is the absence of interaction between teachers and students since most of the lectures are posted in an asynchronous online mode. The study attempts to answer the main research question: Which learning mode is used in Algeria during the pandemic? The current paper tends to give an in-depth look at the teaching and learning situation of English in the Algerian context during the pandemic. It also sheds light on the nature of the learning mode. The researcher conducted the study with four universities from different regions in Algeria. Data were collected quantitatively and qualitatively using a questionnaire, an interview, and observation. Findings revealed that most universities use asynchronous online mode in learning. The analysis also demonstrated that the asynchronous mode affects EFL students’ motivation towards e-learning and raises their technostress since they have not developed e-learning readiness yet.

INFORMAL LEARNING: AN INNOVATION TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN EDUCATION

Purpose of the study: The main purpose of this study is to identify how informal learning is an innovation in the education system for sustainable development of country and throw light on the role of informal learning in education for sustainable development and to identify the different ways of informal learning in education system.
 Methodology: This study is based on secondary data. The data has been collected from different journals, books, magazines, websites and different studies related to informal learning, education and sustainable development. The collected data has been extracted, reviewed, and concluded to identify how informal learning is an innovation towards sustainable development in education. The informal ways of learning in education can be the tool for sustainable development of a nation by providing better learning opportunities to the next generation students.
 Main Findings: Informal learning is a developing and innovative tool in education. Some of the informal ways of learning are self-learning approach, practical and interactive sessions on social issues, web-based learning, and informal conversation among students through creating informal spaces.
 Applications of this study: This study can be helpful is to provide a new innovative way of learning in the education of students for next generation. These ways of informal learning can be used by schools/colleges/institutes for learning of students.
 Novelty/Originality of this study: In this study informal ways among students learning has been described and their outcomes which can be used by schools/colleges/institutes as an innovative learning tool for better understanding of students. Not much work has been done in this area in India and informal learning is totally a new concept among students and in academics.

Futuremaking and digital engagement: from everyday interests to educational trajectories

ABSTRACTIn this article, we explore and discuss how educational trajectories relate to the overall learning lives of students. Sociocultural studies have examined the use of artifacts, cultural resources, and literacy practices as part of human development over time. Our interest is in how digital technologies create new possibilities for futuremaking in the intersection between formal and informal ways of learning. We will provide personal narratives of three young people who are deeply engaged in creative activities involving new technology: gaming, k-pop, and Lego robotics. The analysis shows how digital technologies and media practices become resources when young people are creating futures for themselves.

Impact of Informal Learning at Workplace on Skill Enhancement of Trainers

Purpose - The main purpose of this paper is to identify the informal learning ways at workplace and its impact on skill enhancement of employees. Design/Methodology/Approach - The paper is exploratory and analytical in nature. Target population for the study was trainers of Bhartiya Skill Development University, Jaipur, India. The paper has been analyzed, concluded on the basis of data collected from both the sources primary and secondary. Primary data has been collected with the help of questionnaire and interview of employees and secondary data collected from research papers, books, journal, articles, and related work done in this field. Finding - The main findings of the paper are that informal learning takes place at workplace default and it is an innovative tool for employees’ learning. Some ways of informal learning like Participation in coworker’s job, providing training to others, interaction with other staff and students some of the ways help in trainers to enhance their technical, soft, and human skills. Research Implications - This paper will contribute to recognize the ways of informal learning in organizations which further help in to develop skills of employees. Practical Implication - The study’s findings can give organizations and HR practitioners ideas about how to engage employees in learning with innovative informal learning practices, how to relate learning with different activities of employees and how to enhance their skills with informal learning activities. The study can also be used as base to develop learning model in an organization with right proportion of learning activities. Originality/Value - This study is original in Indian context, which tries to find out the different informal ways of learning at workplace and its impact on skills enchantment of Trainers.

Temporary multi-organizations: Constructing identities to realize performance improvements

This article applies organizational identity theory to explore how temporary multi-organizations (TMOs) construct their identities as learning organizations. The study draws on 33 in-depth interviews from TMOs in the UK construction, engineering, and infrastructure industries. Interviews were further triangulated with data from a series of industry events and workshops. The investigation explores key characteristics of learning in TMOs and their impact on performance. The research demonstrates the shift towards informal ways of learning and importance of narratives about the purpose of TMOs. Boundary spanners actively engage in sharing learning through stories about lessons learned from past experiences in managing TMOs.

Students' educational experiences and interaction with residents on night shifts.

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to investigate whether increased night shifts for students on paediatric rotations had any negative impact on their overall quality of educational experiences in light of the implementation of duty-hour restrictions. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 30 students on paediatric rotations during the academic year 2011/12. Students completed two questionnaires, one in response to their experiences during the day shifts and another in response to their experiences during the night shifts. Only 25 cases were retained for the final analyses. The non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to analyse the quantitative data, and constant comparative thematic analyses, as described by Creswell, were used to analyse the qualitative data. [Do] increased nights shifts for students … [have] any negative impact on their overall quality of educational experiences[?] RESULTS: The results indicated that students' perceived quality of experiences during the night shifts was greater, compared with their day shifts. Students reported having more time to socialise during the night shifts. They further reported that informal ways of learning, such as impromptu teaching and spontaneous discussions on clinical problems, were more beneficial, and these often occurred in abundance during the night shifts as opposed to the scheduled didactic teaching sessions that occur during the day shifts. This study documented many unanticipated benefits of night shifts. The feeling of cohesiveness of the night team deserves further exploration, as this can be linked to better performance outcomes. More consideration should be given to implementing night shifts as a regular feature of clerkships.

Informal interactions in 3D education: Citizenship participation and assessment of virtual urban proposals

The main focus of this study was the inclusion of informal methods in the educational frameworks of architectural and urban design. The project used is based on the 3D representation of virtual models of new urban proposals in order to re-organize a local market in Tonalá, Mexico. Starting from a formal course, where the students had to develop solutions to real architecture and urban problems, a second phase was designed, based on feedback in an informal environment by the end-users (citizens and professionals). The key objectives of the experiment were to show students to connect and receive feedback through technology, evaluate how these interactions can define new informal ways of learning, and discuss how this informal data can be incorporated into an academic curriculum. The results confirm how the informal interaction constitutes a great contribution in the improvement of student's skills, even considering that the incorporation of informal data into their evaluation still remains challenging.

The efficiency of different ways of informal learning on firm performance: A comparison between, classroom, web 2 and workplace training

Informal learning or training is today considered to be one of the most viable ways for companies to have appropriately skilled employees. Actually many companies and organizations increasingly are used social media and web 2 for collective learning through informal learning or work place training. The aim of this research is to analyses the efficiency that different mode of training impartation (classroom, web 2 and traditional workplace training) among other factors, have on firm performance. For this purpose a sample of 935 Spanish is used, selected from a total of 65,000, which participated consecutively in national training plans during three years. A multinomial logit analysis was carried out to obtain empirical evidence. The results have showed that the mayor difference in the impartation mode of training is produced among job categories. However the three modes of training impartation are associated with superior business performance.

New Informal Ways of Learning: Or Are We Formalising the Informal?

En l’actualitat, alguns autors veuen l’aprenentatge informal com un canvi en els sistemes educatius actuals. Basant-se en una tendència instigada pel connectivisme, pel qual es creen xarxes informals entre persones que s’ajuden les unes a les altres a aprendre, l’aprenentatge informal sembla ser una alternativa a formes tradicionals d’ensenyament i aprenentatge. Les noves tecnologies són fonamentals per al desenvolupament d’aquests models d’aprenentatge informal. Així, els recursos educatius oberts (OER) digitals i, més recentment, els cursos oberts en línia i massius (MOOC) són dos mètodes diferents, tot i que relacionats, per a fer possible aquest desenvolupament. Si bé encara estan en emergència i creixement, alguns d’aquests nous mètodes semblen intents de formalitzar l’informal. Basats en models de transmissió tradicional, alguns dels models que s’han desenvolupat són només transformacions dels antics models, encara que utilitzen noves tecnologies per a assolir els objectius. Aquest article presenta una revisió crítica dels últims desenvolupaments en l’aprenentatge informal, i assenyala la necessitat de realitzar recerca basada en proves per a establir quin aprenentatge real pot assolir-se informalment.

Garage rock bands: a future model for developing musical expertise?

A commonly accepted assumption in music education based on the apprenticeship tradition is that teachers deliver their musical expertise using pedagogically relevant methods that will help them to have effective mastery and control over the process of learning. This article decentres the traditional notion of mastery and pedagogy. Rather, it is suggested that, in line with situated learning theories and research on expertise-based learning, garage rock bands and their informal ways of learning can exemplify how to develop knowledge-building communities and musical expertise in formal music education. However, this approach is not intended to question or replace the need for teachers.

Formal and informal learning situations or practices vs formal and informal ways of learning

During the last decade there has been an awakening interest in considering not only formalised learning situations within institutional settings, but also all the various forms of informal musical learning practices outside schools. Informal musical learning outside institutional settings has been shown to contribute to important knowledge and aspects of music education. In this article, I will examine research studies which in different ways focus on formal and informal learning situations and practices or formal and informal ways of learning. I will consider the relationship between music education as praxis (music pedagogy) and as research, and the relationship between these two facets of music education and the surrounding society. I will identify four different ways of using and defining formal and informal learning, respectively, either explicitly or implicitly, each one focusing on different aspects of learning: (i) the situation, (ii) learning style, (iii) ownership, and (iv) intentionality. Formal – informal should not be regarded as a dichotomy, but rather as the two poles of a continuum; in most learning situations, both these aspects of learning are in various degrees present and interacting. Music education researchers, in order to contribute to the attainment of a multiplicity of learning styles and a cultural diversity in music education, need to focus not only on the formal and informal musical learning in Western societies and cultures, but also to include the full global range of musical learning in popular, world and indigenous music in their studies.

Formal and informal ways of learning in employer-provided further training in East and West German enterprises: Results from a large-scale establishment survey

The paper analyses the mix of training forms in employer-provided training in East and West German enterprises with a special emphasis on informal and work-integrated forms of learning. Recent studies have shown that East German enterprises are at least as active in employer-provided training as West German firms. However, these studies are limited to formal ways of further training. Based on a large-scale enterprise survey and ordered-logit regressions, differences in employer-provided further training activities between East and West German enterprises can be shown. In particular, East German enterprises are less active in informal and work-integrated ways of further training. Der Beitrag untersucht die unterschiedlichen Formen betrieblicher Weiterbildung mit einer besonderen Betonung der informellen und arbeitsintegrierten Formen betrieblicher Weiterbildung im Ost-West-Vergleich. Fruhere Studien haben gezeigt, dass ostdeutsche Firmen mindestens so aktiv in betrieblicher Weiterbildung sind wie westdeutsche Betriebe. Jedoch beschrankten sich diese Studien auf formelle Formen betrieblicher Weiterbildung. Basierend auf einer grosen Betriebsbefragung und orderedlogit-Schatzungen konnen Unterschiede in betrieblichen Weiterbildungsaktivitaten zwischen ostdeutschen und westdeutschen Betrieben nachgewiesen werden.

Here, there and everywhere: music education research in a globalised world

Most research in music education has so far dealt with music training in institutional settings, such as schools, and is accordingly based, either implicitly or explicitly, on the assumption that musical learning results from a sequenced, methodical exposure to music teaching within a formal setting. However, in order to realise and understand the multidimensional character of music teaching, musical learning should be considered in a much broader and wider context. During the last decade there has been an awakening interest in considering not only the formalised learning situations within institutional settings, but also all various forms of learning that goes on in informal musical learning practices outside schools. The study of informal musical learning outside institutional settings has actually proved to contribute to important knowledge and aspects of music education. The aim of this presentation is twofold: (i) to give a ‘view from the bridge’ about current and potential directions in music education research and practice, and (ii) to illuminate this issue by presenting some current and recent work. I will do this by focusing on two main themes: (i) different aspects of formal and informal learning situations or practices, and formal and informal ways of learning, respectively and (ii) the developing of research methods exemplified by the main results of a meta analysis of qualitative studies on music creativity and composition. By way of introduction, I will start by presenting the definition of the field of research in music education from which I operate. This also involves a view of the relationship between music education as a field of praxis (music pedagogy) and as a field of research, and the relationship between these two facets of music education and the surrounding society.

Survey of continuing professional education within nursing homes.

This article reports a survey of qualified nurses employed in nursing homes in a large city in the north of England. The aim of the study was to describe nurses' experiences and perceptions of continuing professional education (CPE), and their views on the development of their knowledge and skills through formal and informal education. Findings revealed that nurses in nursing homes perceived the value of educational programmes but had limited opportunities to attend formal education programmes. They faced a number of barriers and challenges in accessing formal education. Various informal ways of learning were used, including reading professional journals, watching videotapes and television programmes and accessing the Internet. However, respondents appeared not to use fully opportunities for sharing knowledge with colleagues. Although this study is based on a small sample, the findings support those of other studies in this field. Collectively, these studies suggest an urgent need to develop a range of approaches to CPE within care homes, both formal and informal, if the standards outlined within recent policy initiatives are to be achieved.

Primary care physicians and their information-seeking behaviour

Objective - To investigate primary care physicians' continuing medical education (CME) and their information-seeking behaviour and to compare it with that of hospital doctors. Design - Postal survey of Norwegian physicians. Subjects - 1276 physicians (response rate 78%), 283 primary care physicians, 741 hospital doctors. Main outcome measures - Self-perceived ability to cope with medical knowledge and self-reported CME activities. Results - Two out of three doctors thought they could cope with the increasing flow of medical information. Courses, meetings and congresses were considered the most important CME activities. Primary care physicians spent less than 3 hours per week on medical reading, compared with more than 4.5 hours among hospital doctors; 59% of primary care physicians had access to the Internet compared with 76% among hospital doctors. Time spent on medical reading and formalised courses decreased from 1993 to 1999 for all groups of physicians. Conclusion - Primary care physicians rely on several information sources in their professional updating. They pay less attention to informal ways of learning than their hospital colleagues do.