Focusing educational technology research on informal learning environments

In recent years, we have witnessed deep challenges to how we think about learning, learning design, and learning environments. I would like to make a simple observation, and I will reveal it first, so you can go about your business if you have no interest in it. Here is my proposition: as educational technology professionals and as instructional designers, we need to embrace the idea of informal learning and make it our own. We may need to support formal learning, and in fact, we may even make most of our livings from it; but we should not give our hearts over to formal learning. The excitement, the potential and the future of learning is on the informal side of the ledger. Perhaps most importantly, it is where the fun is hiding in our profession.

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