Informal learning organizations as part of an educational ecology: Lessons from collaboration across the formal-informal
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Informal learning organizations as part of an educational ecology: Lessons from collaboration across the formal-informal divide Jennifer Lin Russell • Karen Knutson Kevin Crowley
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Published online: 20 December 2012 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2012
Abstract How do informal learning organizations work with schools as part of a broader educational ecology? We examined this question through a comparative case study of two collaborative efforts whereby informal arts education organizations, a children’s museum and a community-based organization, worked with an urban school district to redefine the provision of educational services for children and youth. Grounded conceptually in organizational theory, our study identified factors that enable and constrain collaboration across the formal-informal divide. We argue that examining the dynamics of cross-sector collaboration as occurring within a regional ecology of diverse learning organizations and broader institutional context provides insights into the outcomes of joint work. Our findings have implications for designing collaborations between schools and informal organizations that contribute to their respective strength, as well as the broader regional educational ecology in which they reside. Keywords Informal learning organizations Collaboration Educational ecology Institutional context
While many efforts to improve educational opportunities for children and youth in the United States focus on public school systems, this reform strategy often overlooks the range of informal educational organizations that host learning environments. Many communities have a rich and varied set of ‘‘informals’’ that host audience-driven learning environments, such as those found in museums, community organizations, libraries, zoos, aquaria, 4H, and scouting. Informals complement and extend learning opportunities for children and youth, contributing J. L. Russell (&) K. Knutson K. Crowley University of Pittsburgh, 808 LRDC Building, 3939 O’Hara St., Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA e-mail: [email protected]
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J Educ Change (2013) 14:259–281
to their learning in domains such as art (Halverson 2012; Knutson and Crowley 2010; Hetlund et al. 2007) and technology (Ito et al. 2009). The opportunities for learning in informal settings are particularly well documented in science (Palmquist and Crowley 2007; Bell et al. 2009; Calabrese Barton and Tan 2010; Falk and Dierking 2010; Gutwill and Allen 2012). Given the reach of informals and their potential to support the learning outcomes they promote, it is no surprise that there is growing enthusiasm in the education field for collaboration between informals and formal K-12 school systems. American schools have increasingly sought to partner with informals that support their curricular goals (Phillips et al. 2007). In arts education, the area we examine in this article, informals have become key providers of school-based educational experiences and professional development for teachers, in addition to providing out-ofs
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