ILN-MSU mission

Supporting and advocating for informal learning at MSU

What is ILN-MSU's vision?

Over the past decade, ILN-MSU has engaged the MSU campus in a variety of ways, including meetups and networking sessions, tours, and special speakers. We believe now is the time to take next steps toward bigger goals, to make ILN-MSU and informal learning a more integral part of our campus. These goals include:

  • Providing a recognized and integral MSU support system for faculty members to create informal learning experiences for their students
  • Fostering collaborations across campus
  • Providing professional development for the unique work of informal education by campus professionals
  • Creating a stable community of practice (CoP) to share and develop best practices
  • Researching informal learning in a systematic way that impacts MSU and the field
  • Advocating and increasing the visibility of informal learning at MSU
  • Being a reliable conduit of information and support for faculty, staff, and students
  • Demonstrating our impact by collecting combined data from ILN-MSU Campus Affiliates for reporting to MSU administration
  • Expanding our reach to engage informal learning scholars, practitioners, and students in the mid-Michigan area

Why is informal learning important at MSU?

Informal learning is often called “free choice” or “self-directed” learning. Formal learning – what typically takes place in classrooms – is characterized by direct instruction and prescribed learning paths. Classifying environments that offer particular learning opportunities with a label is not as important as identifying the types of teaching and learning experiences that happen in these environments. For example, formal education can take place in a museum or science center and informal learning can happen in a classroom.

Although formal education is MSU’s primary focus, informal learning has an important place in university instruction. Collectively, the 17 Campus Affiliates of ILN-MSU have a vast number of material assets, learning resources, and experts that faculty, staff, and students can use and consult to create impactful learning experiences. Whether it’s public engagement, learning support for the campus community, or research, opportunities to explore and experiment abound. Staff members at these Campus Affiliates, many of whom hold terminal degrees in their disciplines, have experience in designing learning experiences that can help fulfill educational requirements of MSU courses in unique and engaging ways. ILN-MSU's goal is to ensure MSU students and faculty members do not miss these opportunities to experience this vast network of resources.

What support does ILN-MSU need?

  • Membership support – Campus Affiliates and individual members
  • Sustained administrative support
  • Sustained financial support
  • Communication support