Beyond formal learning: Informal Community eLearning

John Cook

doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2003.12.003

Beyond formal learning: Informal Community eLearning

2004-08-01

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DOI：10.1016/j.compedu.2003.12.003

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The goal of the study described in this paper was to gain an improved understanding of the social context of UK online centres and issues around the creation and exchange of knowledge within and between online community centres. Grounded theory and a pilot study were used to guide our research. The key findings of our research were (i) an elucidation of the goals that drive individuals to improve or share knowledge with others and (ii) the high level concept categories of life-cycles provided us with the basis for a model which characterises formation of, and participation in, informal learning communities. Indeed, the high level concept categories that emerged as strongly supported in our analysis point to the need for interdisciplinary theorising in this area. In this paper, we will: (a) give a summary of what we mean by informal community eLearning, (b) illustrate the key issues with results from a study of UK online centres, and (c) make recommendations for future theorising and research directions. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:

emerging contexts for learning

Informal Learning and Community-based learning

andragogy

non-formal

learning

Beyond formal learning: Informal Community eLearning

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