Informal Learning by Jay Cross

As befits a book on informal learning, Jay Cross takes an informal approach. Jay often sits in presentations at conferences blogging live as the speaker presents, and this book is really a super-blog, where Jay tell us stories about his experiences and encounters in companies, conferences and conversations. If you’re after a structured formal, here’s how it’s done approach, forget it.

Spending paradox

The preface contains his, now famous, ‘spending paradox’ slide:

Formal and informal -rebalance

It’s worth dwelling on this because it’s the rationale for the whole book. We spend most of our money on formal learning, despite the fact that we know that most learning takes place informally. Note that Jay is NOT calling for an end to all structured, formal learning, he is simply asking for a rebalance.

He coined the term e-learning and this book takes us beyond the sterile idea that e-learning must be courses. The top-down stuff is fine, but too much of it can oppress. His is a call for more bottom-up learning. The rest of the book is true to his idea of everything being in Beta, uncertain and in flux, and that’s the topic of the first chapter – the fluid nature of organisations, networks and knowledge.

The relaxed mood hardens in chapter two with his view that ‘school is a time-consuming and generally ineffective way to learn’ and ‘most corporate training is a waste of effort’. But he softens again, seeing formal and informal as a continuum. I particularly like the ‘learn from accidents’ and ‘learn from mistakes’ stuff (echoes of Schank).

Is training effective?

Not scared of quantifying the problem he hits a deep note in chapter three, asking how effective training really is. His answer is that only 10-20% of training transfers to the job, training departments manage only 20% of learning (see spending paradox) and training only accounts for 10% of performance improvement compared to other methods. Hey presto….:

20% x 20% x 10% = 0.4%

Worrying! This sets the scene for an appeal to more emergent models with more pull than push, and he provides lots of examples (including on p55 my tiff with a Scottish Professor at a conference). He’s not short of solutions, and on connections he outlines the process of matching, mixing, and motivating people through networks. Taking a less ad hoc approach to ‘learning how to learn’ is also recommended and much is made of conversation and communities.

Unblended – courses are dead

Chapter 11 springs into life with the unorthodox title of ‘Unblended’. First, he rejects brutal ROI arguments, argues that accountants don’t run businesses, and appeals for more focus on decision making. He prints one of his angry emails under the heading COURSES ARE DEAD. The course ‘is not the appropriate shell for most learning experiences’. He also has a go at blended learning seeing it as a ‘transitory term’ destined to be tipped into the ‘dustbin of has-beens’. The University of Phoenix is also used to back up his case (Jay worked there in its early days).

Web and informal learning

The internet makes informal learning fly. Google is the ‘world’s largest learning provider’ and the web democratises learning through cheap access, easy to use tools, connectivity and distribution. The internet is the ‘learning platform of the present and future’ and blogs, wikis and web 2.0 are just the start of a revolution in self-directed learning.

Unconferences

Cross has attended lots of conferences and pleads with us to focus more on discussion, diversity, emergent themes and community. He’s had enough with conferences where people just preach. We can all sympathise with his opening blog entry in this chapter (from a conference on blogging) where he’s fed up with the dull panels. He asks us to learn from geek groups, where the whole atmosphere and organisation of conferences is less formal and more fun.

A couple of stories I loved

Reading the book is like having a long series of bar conversations with Jay or attending a dozen good conferences – and a whole lot cheaper! Here’s a couple of fascinating things I learnt, but be assured there’s lots more.

Dutchman Hans Monderman tore up road signs, speed bumps and lines in the middle of the road to protect cyclists and pedestrians. When drivers were less instructed they behaved with more care and skill – reducing accidents by 30%.

The Russian psychologist Zeigarnik noticed that waiters in Berlin could take complex orders but forgot them as soon ass they had been delivered. She noticed that unfinished business is remembered, but on closure, it’s forgotten. So let things hang…