Design characteristics of ILEs
by nick on Nov.29, 2008, under Thoughts
Lately I’ve been thinking about the differences between informal and formal learning environments and the way these differences may help to take ideas from the formal to the informal. So far, I have five of these design characteristics for informal learning environments which I am pretty happy about. They are:
- learning is socioculturally mediated.
- learning begins with the motivations, needs, or interests of an individual.
- learning occurs across the lifespan, in cumulative experiences.
- learning experiences are sporadic and often short-lived.
- learning depends on the physical context.
What ones am I missing? Should these be edited/changed?
1 comment for this entry:
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
-
Hello, and welcome to ISERGA
We're glad you stopped by. Our name says it all: we are a research group for informal science education with a specific focus on Astronomy. Check back often (or subscribe to our RSS feed) for the latest updates on our work and ideas.
December 8th, 2008 on 3:52 pm
very provocative indeed. I’ll posit that learners in informal science institutions, or anything that they aren’t mandated to do, are consumers of education and can accept or reject that learning experience at any time. On one hand this is an accountability thing meaning that in school, there is a sense of obligation to the system while in ILSs, you could make the argument that there are disincentives for kids to participate.
I would also say that there is a difference of resources. So compare the Exploritorium to your average well stocked classroom. Compare your museum educator to a certified teacher.
Finally, the standards continue to grow and burst the seams of the normal school day. Thanks to the accountability movement, there is even less time in the school year and school day for science. There is an opportunity for ILSs to pick up the slack. It could be argued that schools could package specific aspects of the curriculum and sold to the highest bidder, most likely an ILSs.