Nikolas Galanis, Enric Mayol, Marc Alier and Francisco J. García Peñalvo.

1. Validation of Informal Learning
Nikolas Galanis, Enric Mayol, Marc Alier,
Francisco José García-Peñalvo

2. § Formal Learning
• Implies the existence of an education center, institution or organism
• Defined curriculum
• Recognized certification
§ Non-Formal Learning
• Usually takes place alongside formal learning
• Provided in an organized and structured manner
• Complement to formal learning
• Freedom in time allocation
• May lead to certification
§ Informal Learning
• All learning resulting from everyday activities
• No time, structure or obligation
Terminology

3. § Lifelong Learning
Terminology
• All learning activity undertaken on an ongoing basis
• Goal is improving knowledge, skills and competences
• Purposeful or not
• Sum of Formal, Non-formal and Informal learning
§ Adult Education
• Learning done by adults after their formal education
• Primarily Non-formal and Informal education

4. § EU recognizes informal learning with the
Bologna treaty in 1999
§ Initiatives within the EU:
• CEDEFOP
• European Qualifications Framework (EQF)
• Lifelong Learning Program
• The Inventory project
State of the art

5. State of the art
§ CEDEFOP published a guideline on validating
non-formal and informal learning in 2009
§ 4 validation levels are considered
• European
• National
• Organizational
• Personal
§ Non-formal and informal learning can be
validated using the same standards and
benchmarks as formal learning

6. Informal learning in the workplace [Dale et al., Halliday-Wynes et al.]
§ For employees
• Enhances employability
• Continuous learning
• Improves working conditions
• Potentially more potent than formal training courses
§ For employers
• Cost-effective
• Up-to-date
• Evolving and adapting
State of the art

7. Informal Learning Tools
§ TRAILER
§ FREE
§ IBAK
§ TENCompetence
§ Mahara
§ Open Badges
§ Degreed
State of the art

8. State of the art
Competences
§ Need to translate the skills gained through IL to
competences
§ Competences hold the real value to the learner
§ It is what employers understand
The International Labour Organization (ILO) provides the
International Standard Classification of Occupation (ISCO) list
of competences (ISCO-08)

9. Hypothesis
§ Informal learning is of real value to the learners. This value
can be evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively.
§ Informal learning can be represented in a structured way,
so as to be adequately represented alongside formal
learning in a curriculum or portfolio.

10. § Evaluate informal learning by defining a set of methods,
metrics and criteria.
§ Provide a more structured representation of an individual's
informal learning through the use of tagging and
ontologies.
§ Promote the social aspect of informal learning by providing
a social and collaborative framework.
Thesis objectives

11. Research goals
1. Research into the available IL resources
2. Analyze the IL potential of the resources
3. Design mechanisms for obtaining these resources
4. Define an ontology of tags for description
5. Design an IL knowledge base
6. Identify potential uses of the knowledge base
7. Define competences and skills

12. Initial Contributions

13. 1. Search Engines
2. Web Pages
3. Online Authoring Tools
4. Blogs
5. Online Videos
6. Forums
7. Wikis
8. Podcasts
9. Social Networks
10. Tutorials
11. Online Courses
12. External/Public LMSs
Informal learning resources

14. Initial contributions
The Informal Learning Collector (ILC)
• Developed as part of the TRAILER project
• Acts as a medium to gather informal learning activities (ILAs)

15. User feedback
Questionnaires filled before and after pilots
§ Institution users not overly aware of their IL
§ Company users more aware
§ The idea of such a tool was well received
§ The platform heightened user attention to IL
§ The platform is too cumbersome to use
§ No need for different ILC and portfolio
§ The list of competences is extremely complex

16. Next steps
§ Study the IL potential of the identified IL resources
§ Define a coherent set of competences
§ Define a set of tags for the activities
§ Design the knowledge base within this
architecture
§ Design a validation framework
§ Design a social framework to support and
promote informal learning

17. Work plan

18. Questions
Thank you