Research of the Challenges and the Learning Support for the First-Year Student’s Nonformal Learning Activities

Abstract

The forms of organization relate to learning outcomes in nonformal learning activities This paper aims to answer the question, “What kinds of challenges do students who have structured a student group for nonformal learning activity face, and how can we support them to overcome these challenges to acquire the learning outcome?” The authors analyzed the activities of a nonformal learning group that was formed by first-year students for approximately two years. The results show some challenges, such as “abstractly defined activities,” “duality of the group,” and “frustration due to the differences in commitment burden.” Therefore, we suggest three principles of learning support: (1) providing an opportunity to have a connection with an outsider of the college to make the activity concrete, (2) introducing model cases or studies by experts to make the activity concrete, and (3) providing an opportunity to have a connection with a college outsider to make the participants of the informal learning group active.