Informal Learning

Chapter 17 describes types of informal learning. What informal learning experiences have you participated in at your organization? Could those informal learning experiences be shared with others? Could the knowledge gained in those settings be codified and managed? And should it be managed or should the informal experiences be replicated or broadened to include others?

My campus has our Learning Community meetings every two weeks where all of the teachers and administrators come together to share best practices.  Our administration does a great job of scripting these and having training information ready to present, but the best learning opportunities come during the last part of the meeting where they open the floor to questions.  For instance, our district is focused on implementing multiple response strategies.  One teacher asked the group for ideas.  By the time we left, we all had a list of responses that fit her situation as well as mine.  We could share those learning moments if we took the time to record and catalog the responses.  I feel like codifying and managing these moments would remove the authenticity of the learning.  As close as we could get to replicating is possibly creating a list of discussion stems, talks that the faculty might encounter during new units, etc.  Additionally, after my experience with this class, I'm thinking about creating a blog for our teachers to facilitate online conversations like those we have during our meetings.