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The ways that schools are currently envisioned and designed are consistent with ideas and norms that have existed for centuries. Educational spaces continue to be a collection of classrooms lining a common hallway. While these spaces might now regularly include the latest in electronic gadgetry and Internet connections, they are not designed or organized in ways needed to meaningfully engage learners. Callously, one might state that classrooms are more intended to house learners, like so much livestock, rather than provide these learners with innovative ways to connect to whatever topics under consideration. Moreover in this enduring state of educational architecture it can be construed that schools and classrooms are more teacher workspaces than they are student learning-places. This presentation will propose investigating a broad collection of formal and informal settings in which learning happens, and that in the diversity of museums, alternative schools, and supermarkets it will be possible to identify methods that foster students' exploration, invention and creative expression. It will be further proposed that when schools adapt and adopt such means classrooms can be converted to more authentically endorse and enhance meaningful learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reports on the findings of a two-year study investigating student, parent and teacher perceptions associated with the positive and negative aspects associated with the transition from 8th grade to high school. Data reported in the paper are drawn from questionnaires administered in the 8th and 9th grades to participants in the study. Four key findings will be reported. Recommendations and implications for future research and practice are provided. A comprehensive list of references is included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formal learning, which ranges from university courses to targeted training to perform a single task in the workplace, has typically provided the knowledge and qualification base for professional and skilled workers and could be described as a hierarchical, standardised, centrally controlled, vertically integrated approach to the transmission of knowledge through organised curriculum modules. The technological revolution of the late 20th Century has catapulted us into an unpredictable complex world that is fast paced, information rich, networked and horizontally integrated. The formal approach while useful may not fully equip adult learners or the organisations in which they work for such a dynamic competitive environment. Informal learning is more horizontally integrated, dynamic and occurs when people make a conscious effort to learn from their experiences and engage in individual or group reflection (Burns, 2002; Foley, 2004). The contention of this paper is that formal and informal learning have not been consistently or effectively linked and that the outcomes of professional development could be enhanced by such synchronisation. This paper, based on results from an interpretive study investigating professional development in large Australian organisations in 2007, explores adult learners' experiences with formal and informal learning in the workplace. Semi-structured interviews and questionnaires, using mixed methods, were conducted with staff from all levels of three diverse organisations to investigate the relationship between adult learners' professional development and organisations' change agenda. Participants were asked to describe and evaluate their experiences with work related formal and informal learning. Results indicated that formal and informal learning played extensive but often isolated roles in professional and workforce development. This paper provides examples and argues that professional development could be enhanced through the overt strategic linking of formal and informal learning in the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]