Informal education is education that is usually obtained through educational programmes and does not provide for the award of state-recognised educational qualifications by level of education, but may result in the award of professional and/or partial educational qualifications. Non-formal education is based on three principles: ‘learning by doing’ – acquiring knowledge through practical tasks; ‘learning to interact’ – often involving work in groups or teams; ‘learning to learn’ – analysing one’s own experience and using it to form new knowledge.
Informal education (self-education) is education that involves a person’s self-organised acquisition of certain competences, in particular during everyday activities related to professional, social or other activities, family or leisure.
Regulatory and organisational documents governing the procedure for recognising the results obtained in informal education:
- article 8 of the Law of Ukraine ‘On Education’;
- the procedure for recognising learning outcomes obtained through non-formal and/or informal education in higher and pre-higher education, approved by Order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine No. 130 of 08.02.2022, registered with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on 16 March 2022 No. 328/37664;
- regulations on the organisation of the educational process at the National Technical University “Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute.
Online platforms where students can take free courses, including:
This online platform offers more than 2,000 courses in over 180 specialisations at four educational levels, with approximately 25 million registered students. Here, you can study and earn credits from 149 leading universities around the world that are partners of Coursera. Upon successful completion of a course, the user receives a certificate. During the course, students must watch lectures sent to them weekly, read recommended articles, and complete homework assignments. Some courses have Ukrainian subtitles.
A platform that offers diverse access to professional educational content from numerous schools and university departments, as well as the opportunity to participate in free online courses organised by Stanford faculty.
The site has several thousand free micro-lectures on mathematics, physics, chemistry, history, finance, economics, biology, art, computer science, and more.
Founded by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2012, EdX is an online learning centre that provides MOOC services on the open, free OpenEdX platform, offering students high-quality courses in 24 fields, including computer technology, statistics, literature, and others. The online courses replicate real lectures taught at Harvard, Cornell University, and other renowned educational institutions. The courses are free, but a fee is required to obtain a certificate.
Udemy is a platform offering educational projects divided into 16 categories, taught by practitioners. It offers a wide variety of courses, including productivity, lifestyle, and music. There are both free and paid courses. The learning materials are presented in the form of videos, audio, presentations, and text. Udemy also offers organisations the opportunity to create their own learning projects for corporate training. Upon completion of the courses, students can receive certificates from well-known companies such as Cisco Systems, Microsoft Corporation, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and others.
Prometheus is a Ukrainian free online education platform created in 2014. Its partners include the country’s best higher education institutions. Prometheus provides universities, leading teachers, and leading companies with a free opportunity to publish and distribute courses.
Each course consists of video lectures, interactive assignments, and a forum where students can ask questions and communicate with the lecturer. Successful completion of the course will result in an electronic certificate confirming the knowledge gained. Courses on Prometheus are available online at any time, and the platform also offers a mobile app for Android and iOS.