I don’t think it can. The characteristics of informal learning are such that measurement is all but impossible. Essential characteristics include being:
- Random
- Idiosyncratic
- Spontaneous
- Multi-modal
First, informal learning is random. It can happen at any time, anywhere. For example, learning about feature “X” of a new software program can be learned by asking an IT colleague when you bump into them in the hallway or at an after work cocktail party or on the phone when he returns your call.
Second, the outcomes of informal learning are very personal and idiosyncratic. Take the statement, “Members of ASTD can get the book, Talking Ain’t Learning, at a discount.” There are at least four potential learnings from this statement. One person may learn that ASTD sells books, the second that ASTD sells that particular book, the third that members get a book discount, and to the fourth person, the whole statement constitutes new learning.
Third, it can be spontaneous. For example, learning about function “X” of the new software could happen unexpectedly over lunch when the conversation digressed from last night’s basketball game.
Fourth, informal learning can be multi-modal. Going back to the software question, function “X” could be learned from an IT specialist, from a software manual, during a brown-bag lunch training session or an in-house IT newsletter.
Given this, how would you measure informal learning? What would you measure? When all is said and done, so what? The fact is, what needed to be learned was learned.
