Boundaries between formal and informal learning settings are shaped by influences beyond learners' control. This can lead to the proscription of some familiar technologies that learners may like to use from some learning settings. This contested demarcation is not well documented. In this paper, we introduce the term "digital dissonance" to…

In 2011, the National Office for School Counselor Advocacy launched a journal series to support and build awareness of the issues and challenges raised by the College Board Advocacy & Policy Center's research report, "The Educational Experience of Young Men of Color" (youngmenofcolor.collegeboard.org.) The intent of the series is to…

This paper reports a project in which researchers at universities in Japan explored the use of Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) practices by developing a learning module intended to help improve students' scores on the TOEIC Listening and Reading Tests. MALL practices are currently being developed at universities in Japan because almost…

Policy interest in international surveys on Adult Learning (AL) has increased strongly. AL survey data are used as benchmarks for a country's educational system. However, results of key indicators like participation in learning activities often vary remarkably between different data sources. Stating that these differences are due to varying…

This guide is based on findings of a year-long study undertaken by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to evaluate Institute-sponsored programs for youth aged 9-19 between 1998 and 2003, and discussion with the IMLS Youth Action Committee and practitioners about the kind of information needed for planning and implementing effective…

This study addressed the effect of parent-child Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) interaction on cognitive development in early childhood. It measured the MLE interactions of 14 parents with their preschool children in the contexts of free-play and structured tasks. The children were assessed for their manifest cognitive performance and learning…

In this paper I suggest that social dances and local markets are examples of resilient practices of place-making and community that involve active participation. These two activities create mobile and pliant communities of participants that involve considerable informal and incidental learning. With dances and markets in mind, I look at the two…

For women who have escaped political crises, NGOs can provide a healing space. This study explores nonformal and informal educational processes that occur in NGOs founded and staffed by refugee women who have resettled in the United States. Interviews and documents demonstrate that the refugee women gain knowledge and skills through participation…

"Culturally-Sensitive Schooling" as proposed by Brayboy and Castagno offers an important way of thinking about the relations between formal and informal science learning and between Western and Indigenous science. The constructiveness framework adopted by Brayboy and Castagno in their discussions is consistent with the theoretical approach…

Some organizations seek to promote informal work-related learning to stimulate organizational performance. This study focuses on six types of work-related learning in relation to personal, relational, and work characteristics of the workplace practice. A survey was conducted to identify types and levels of work-related learning for executive Dutch…

This article draws upon a major qualitative empirical research investigation in Great Britain to explore the relationships between retirement and learning. Though retirement is frequently viewed as an event leading to a life stage, our data show that it can perhaps be best understood as a lengthy process. This process begins well before actual…

Each night, around 20,000 people--both adults and children--make the streets of Dhaka (the capital city of Bangladesh) their home. Living amongst the noise, rubbish, and traffic, thousands of families walk down the streets of Dhaka, looking for a safe place to rest for just a few hours each night. Trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty, the…

Lucy Green's latest book, "Music, Informal Learning and the School: A New Classroom Pedagogy" (Green, 2008) posits that the learning taking place among popular musicians, developed out of a need to create and perform pieces of music, and found "everywhere in everyday life" rather than in the formalised settings of the majority…

In this article we present insights from research which has sought to deepen understanding of the ways in which young people (aged 13-21) learn democratic citizenship through their participation in a range of different formal and informal practices and communities. Based on the research, we suggest that such understanding should focus on the…

This article presents the author's response to Joseph Reimer's article titled, "Beyond More Jews Doing Jewish: Clarifying the Goals of Informal Jewish Education." In his article, Reimer laudably seeks to concretize the often ambiguous goals of informal Jewish education. To build his case, he points to the work of Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi to…