People who've been talking about feral learning - Stephanie Zimmerman (ALA Learning Round Table)

Feral Learning posted December 29, 2009 By Stephanie Zimmerman  at  The American Library Association Learning Round Table

The original title of this post was going to be “Using FREE Online Resources for Continuing Education”. However, I was reading my Training Doctor Newsletter for November 2009 (yes, I’m a little behind and you should subscribe too) and came across a term that is new to me, feral learning. The newsletter states:

The term “feral learning” was coined in the 1990s by Ted Nunan, perhaps, or by Dr. Roy Lundin. It is in reference to employees taking control of their own training needs and education by utilizing resources they find themselves (such as Google).

Beautiful description of how I go about meeting my training needs with a very small budget. In these trying times, I currently have no CE budget, so I’m grateful that I have developed the skill of furthering my knowledge through online connections.

People who've been talking about feral learning - Dr Alison Ruth (Vicarious Conversations)

Defining Flexible Learning 

posted by Alison Ruth on 24 March 2008 on her  Vicarious Conversations blog

So, is flexible learning new? Gee, what a loaded question. In some ways, it is a new concept that we recognise and promote, but I think there have always been some elements of flexible learning around, we’re just getting better at talking about it. I came across a phrase a few years ago, and it’s one that has stuck with me since and that is feral learning. Ted Nunan first used it as a kind of throw-away statement in a paper about Flexible Learning. Since then, feral learning has taken on a new meaning for me (compare it to the way we do our PhD research as opposed to the structured processes in degree programs). But I don’t think it (feral learning) is really useful as a phrase for discussing structured learning environments, which is where I am most likely to be found. There are elements of feral learning in both flexible and blended learning environments.

Who else has been talking about feral learning?

Finding the Facebook group "Fans of feral learning" that I blogged about in my last post made me wonder what else has been happening with the idea of feral learning since last time I looked.

The posts that follow are some of the other people who've been talking about it...