Although I’ve been thinking about incidental learning since 2004, I have never looked around to see if anyone has talked about it – either as a term for the same thing, or for something else. Silly, I know.
Unfortunately, incidental learning has already been taken by a field. A paper by that name was published by Sandra Kerka in 2000, and it has been part of Education theory since then, if not before. Fortunately, though, it means exactly what I want it to mean. Here’s Kerka’s original definition:
Incidental learning is unintentional or unplanned learning that results from other activities. It occurs often in the workplace and when using computers, in the process of completing tasks. It happens in many ways: through observation, repetition, social interaction, and problem solving; from implicit meanings in classroom or workplace policies or expectations by watching or talking to colleagues or experts about tasks from mistakes, assumptions, beliefs, and attributions, or from being forced to accept or adapt to situations. This “natural” way of learning has characteristics of what is considered most effective in formal learning situations: it is situated, contextual, and social.*
This is fantastic! This means that there’s already a critical field of study proposing theories and coming up with experiments to validate the position of incidental learning as a method of teaching! Digging a little deeper, I found that most definitions of incidental learning mention computers at one point or another – even better!
It’s not perfect, though. The field has a tendency to focus on the education aspect rather than simply establishing an engagement with the student/player. My focus is slightly different – by placing the interaction at the center of focus, the learning aspect can remain a convenient byproduct.
See also: Definition of Incidental Learning at Edutech Wiki and Roger Schank’s Engines for Education for more on the educational side of things.
* Kerka, Sandra 2000, Trends and Issues 2000 Alert No.18, Incidental learning