AAACE 2021 Annual Conference

Informal learning, online learning, crisis situation, COVID-19

The move to remote and online learning has impacted how different communities of practice engage in informal and incidental learning, especially as it relates to navigating the crisis situations caused by COVID-19. This session presents concepts and theories regarding the impact of the pandemic on informal learning in online environments.

This session is timely for adult learners and educators who have had to adapt to online teaching and illustrates how informal learning fits into online learning environments necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This session reviews concepts and theories of informal learning and addresses the relationship between learning and response to crisis. Empirical studies on informal learning in the COVID-19 era will be investigated and discussed. There will be discussion on the intensifying polarization of education due to the digital divide. The differences in informal learning in online learning environments and in face-to-face learning environments are examined. This session will detail how the differences in access to the hardware and software necessary for online learning impact who can participate in informal learning online. It will also discuss how online learning the degree of experience with and the informal learning habits of online learning impact the academic achievement of learners who are trying to manage their responses to the COVID-19 crisis. Finally, this session will discuss different ways in which informal learning in online settings is applicable as a solution to the current ongoing crises. This session will provide contribution to the broader literature by comparing existing studies and recommend further research.