"Fourteen recommendations to bring back informal learning to digital distance learning"
Abstract: In this session, the discussants share experiences and make recommendations on transitioning traditionally face-to-face “hidden curricular” aspects of educational content onto the distance learning delivery scheme. Informal aspects of learning contributed to the student readiness for the job market. By mingling with practitioners and peers around disciplinary problems, students acquired the language and deportment of real-world competitive organizations. The COVID-19 Pandemic enforced a rapid migration to fully online distance learning. Distance learning is a purely formal and intentional domain. Every aspect of the learning experience is either built into a course or absent. Well-designed course work can engage students and cover all curricular contents but only seldom included informal learning aspects. An instructional designer and a faculty member conducted interviews with undergraduate clinical faculty at a tier-one public research university in the Southern region of the United States to examine how on-campus-informal-learning translate into functional practices in a fully online environment.