Institute for Research on Learning
Encyclopedia
The Institute for Research on Learning (IRL) was a research group in Palo Alto, California
founded by George Pake
in 1986 through a grant from the Xerox Foundation, as a spin-off from the Xerox Palo Alto Research Corporation which Pake founded in 1970. It was a nonprofit research organization that looked at learning in a wide variety of settings, including schools, workplaces, and informal settings, using collaborative, multidisciplinary terms. Research questions were based in real-world problems and settings defined in collaboration with the institutions who hired IRL. IRL had a significant impact on education and knowledge management (among many other fields) not only in the US but globally because of the development of the community of practice
idea.
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
founded by George Pake
George Pake
George Pake was a physicist and research executive primarily known for helping found Xerox PARC. Pake earned his bachelors and masters degrees from the Carnegie Institute of Technology and his doctorate in physics at Harvard University in 1948.A rather serious case of scoliosis kept Pake out of...
in 1986 through a grant from the Xerox Foundation, as a spin-off from the Xerox Palo Alto Research Corporation which Pake founded in 1970. It was a nonprofit research organization that looked at learning in a wide variety of settings, including schools, workplaces, and informal settings, using collaborative, multidisciplinary terms. Research questions were based in real-world problems and settings defined in collaboration with the institutions who hired IRL. IRL had a significant impact on education and knowledge management (among many other fields) not only in the US but globally because of the development of the community of practice
Community of practice
A community of practice is, according to cognitive anthropologists Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, a group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession. The group can evolve naturally because of the members' common interest in a particular domain or area, or it can be created...
idea.