The Role Of Informal Learning In Today’s Successful Training Department

Abstract

The integration of work and learning is becoming the dominant means of workforce training in many organizations today. Though structured classroom learning will likely never entirely recede, a preponderance of current research indicates that the future of most job-related learning will lie in non-traditional methods such as short e-training modules delivered directly to the desktop, podcasts, informal knowledge-sharing sessions, and even structured gaming environments. This paper will explore why such learning is becoming increasingly more critical, how a successful blend of informal and formal learning can achieve the individualized training that a majority of employees are beginning to demand, and the difficulties involved, specifically with respect to evaluation and the ways in which it can be leveraged by a training department. These types of learning can be combined with some traditional training events to create a meaningful learning path for new employees and existing ones alike, and training and development specialists will have to find ways to achieve the right blend to achieve improved workforce performance.