tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186400.post74525735158807631..comments2023-10-31T00:25:50.183+13:00Comments on EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL: jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186400.post-22341610261776486032008-11-15T09:51:00.000+13:002008-11-15T09:51:00.000+13:00Re: Constructivism and Lack of Practice, I came ac...Re: Constructivism and Lack of Practice, I came across this article from a link in my employer's Friday news bulletin. I'm reproducing it in full, since I'm not sure my employer would want links to its intranet site. Article below:<BR/>----------<BR/><B>Why does informal learning work?</B> <BR/>It has been proved by the Institute for Research on Learning that 80% of how people learn their jobs is through informal learning – watching others, trial and error, asking colleagues, calling the help desk - as opposed to formal training. <BR/><BR/>Informal learning can be defined as non-organised, non-systematic learning that can take place anywhere outside of the classroom. It occurs spontaneously and is usually the reaction to a practical situational problem. <BR/><BR/>A recent study of time-to-performance completed by Sally Anne Moore at Digital Equipment Corporation shows that formal learning typically provides 25% job effectiveness but it is informal learning that completes the journey to peak performance. <BR/><BR/>Informal learning is effective because it is personal - the individual decides what to learn and how to learn it. This decision is often the result of a specific need that the learner feels needs to be sorted out immediately. <BR/>(end)<BR/>----------<BR/>That last paragraph echoes John Taylor Gatto's "An Underground History of American Education", where it talked about how people like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Edison gained their educations - they knew how to read and write, add and subtract, and when they came across a specific need for certain knowledge, they would read a book on that knowledge, or go seek out, out of their own self-interest, a school that would teach the subject to them. And they would learn the subject they were interested in rather quickly.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com