| U.S. organizations spend more than ;The field of organizational learning has historically focused on management issues and formal learning processes. In contrast, the literature on informal and nonformal learning emerged from international development efforts, and what we know about how people learn nonformally has not been integrated into the organizational learning literature.;This study took a phenomenographic approach to learn more about how adult learners make meaning of attendance at nonformal learning events. Twenty-eight adults were interviewed after attending nonformal workshops and seminars at conference sessions. Following the phenomenographic methodology, the transcripts were analyzed to reveal the variations in the ways participants made meaning of their experiences. The study found that relationships dominated the meaning making process, mediated by individual learner factors well described in the adult learning theory literature, including learning styles, self concept, and tacit knowledge. The results also showed that emotions, and a fluid concept of temporal reality, influenced what and how meaning was made. The reflective process common to phenomenography revealed its critical role to how meaning is made in adult nonformal learning environments. The model of geometric learning helps us conceptualize complex, adaptive, human knowledge acquisition and meaning making as it is lived. |
