Content area
Full text
Introduction
The recognition that learning is "lifewide, taking place at work and elsewhere" ([47] Skule, 2004, p. 8) has gained considerable attention in the workplace learning literature. Workplace learning is "practice-bound and embedded in the everyday experiences of acting, negotiating, and applying the problem-solving skills which are part and parcel of the participatory process of working" ([43] Owen, 2009, p. 477). Learning in the workplace occurs in a variety of ways, both through formal training interventions and informally; however, research suggests that informal learning is one of the most predominant forms of learning that occurs among adults in the workplace ([14] Ellinger, 2005; [15] Ellinger and Cseh, 2007; [38] Marsick et al. , 2009; [33] Marsick and Watkins, 1990; [32] Marsick, 2009). As much as 80 percent of learning in the workplace and elsewhere can be attributed to informal learning ([33] Marsick and Watkins, 1990). Such learning is often so highly integrated with work that it may not be recognized ([32] Marsick, 2009). Indeed it is so ubiquitous that these percentages are at best informal estimates.
Despite a large and growing base of literature examining many facets of informal learning, several scholars acknowledge the need to develop more holistic understandings of this form of learning because many benefits are attributed to this type of learning such as flexibility and the resolution of work-related problems. Informal learning is also seen as critical to the development of professional knowledge and expertise ([9] Dale and Bell, 1999; [24] Hodkinson and Hodkinson, 2003; [35] Marsick and Watkins, 2001; [32] Marsick, 2009). While professionals in public education, engineering, business, nursing and medicine have been the focus of a number of studies, calls have been made for conducting more research that continues to examine how certain characteristics of workers and their work environment influence engagement in informal workplace learning ([23] Goldman et al. , 2009; [29] Lohman, 2006). Furthermore, other scholars acknowledge that little attention has been given to the facilitator or instructor, "despite the increasing recognition given to the important roles teachers or facilitators play in enabling or constraining learning" ([43] Owen, 2009, p. 478). [7] Collin (2008) also acknowledges that the interaction between learners and instructors needs attention. Although recent research examined how learning occurs after initial training...