Workplace learning. Back in May 2010 I posted a diagram that I had created that showed what I considered to be the 5 stages of Workplace Learning. My ITA colleague, Jay Cross, re-worked it so that I looked like this. Back in May 2010 I also wrote: ”In my opinion most organisations are in Stage 3, but as the L&D conversation circles around the concepts of social and informal learning, I’m getting the impression that many are drifting into, what I would consider an interim stage, 4 ; which is simply adding-on social (and even informal) functionality to the traditional model of learning.
One reason for this, is because this is where a lot of vendors are targeting their new products.” Today, in December 2011 it is clear that although many organisations have now moved into Stage 4, some have also taken the leap into Stage 5. So what does it take to move to Stage 5? Learning Without Training. Successful businesses insure that software and tools are available for such things as bookmarking reference information, collaborating on tasks, searching organizational content, recording knowledge for peer learning, reinforcing of key concepts, locating experts, accessing outside information, and connecting with customers and partners.
Here are a few examples of learning before and after instituting the learning infrastructure we call a Workscape. Usually it’s training before and pull learning after, that is, from training to what Jane Hart has called learning without training. For a less murky version of this post, visit the white paper on the Internet Time Alliance site from which this was excepted. Note what’s happening here. The shift from training programs to learning networks expands learning and development from a limited department isolated from business operations into a critical, pervasive business function. Like this: Like Loading... Schema informeel leren. Recently I’ve been reading more and more blog posts and articles that talk of how to “manage informal learning”, so I thought it was time for another post of my own that tries to explain how this is actually misleading, and in fact misses the big picture in terms of the importance of informal learning in the workplace, and L&D’s role in supporting it.
Here’s a graphic which summarises this posting. Although the two terms “Formal Learning” and “Informal Learning are now quite commonplace, they still seem to be causing some confusion. So let’s look at some definitions from CEDEFOP – the European Centre for Vocation and Training. Formal learning is defined by the CEDEFOP Glossary as “Learning typically provided by an education or training institution, structured (in terms of learning objectives, learning time or learning support) and leading to certification. “Informal learning” is usually taken to mean all learning that takes place outside formal learning. Informal learning is therefore: Social business_building brands. Social technologies in organisations. Companies are improving their mastery of social technologies, using them to enhance operations and exploit new market opportunities—key findings of our fifth annual survey on these tools and technologies, in which we asked more than 4,200 global executives how organizations deploy them and the benefits they confer.
When adopted at scale across an emerging type of networked enterprise and integrated into the work processes of employees, social technologies can boost a company’s financial performance and market share, respondents say, confirming last year’s survey results. But this is a very dynamic environment, where the gains from using social technologies sometimes do not persist, perhaps because it takes so much effort to achieve them at scale. Some companies, respondents indicate, reaped fewer benefits and thus became less networked, while a smaller percentage learned how to deploy these technologies to become even more networked.
Usage at scale and continued benefits Looking ahead.