Informal Learning

Catalog description

Pedagogy and contexts for learning in museums and other cultural institutions. AED 814 Informal Learning (3) The course introduces participants to theories and practices of informal learning, and to the possible contexts including museums, schools and other cultural institutions in which informal, free choice learning may occur. These provide a framework for participants to use in preparing, implementing, and evaluating a learning project or other intervention in their own institutions or communities. The course includes a strategic and policy analysis of the contexts in which free choice learning projects may occur, a review of the social and economic significance of informal, free choice learning in an information age and global economy, an introduction and critical discussion of constructivist theories of informal learning, a review of specific pedagogical practices that may be effective in implementing informal learning for school-age students, adults, and senior citizens, an introduction to tools for evaluating the effectiveness of these practices, and the development, implementation and assessment of an informal learning project or interventionby each participant using other participants as consultants in the process.This is one of the required courses for the M.P.S. in Art Education. It isoffered every other year with a maximum enrollment of 15 students.