| Notes |
The Institute for Research on Learning (IRL) in Palo Alto, California was co-founded by John Seely Brown, then chief research scientist at the Palo Alto Research Center, and James Greeno, Professor of Education at Stanford University, with the support of David Kearns, CEO of Xerox Corporation in 1986 through a grant from the Xerox Foundation. It operated from 1986 to 2000 as an independent cross-disciplinary think tank with a mission to study learning in all its forms and sites.
George Pake, who founded Xerox Palo Alto Research Corporation in 1970 became IRL's first director and moved with the institute first to Hanover Street, Palo Alto and then to Willow Place, Menlo Park.[1] Greeno was Associate Director of IRL 1987-1991 and Acting Director for a few months during 1991. From 1992 to 1999 Peter Henschel was Executive Director.
IRL was a nonprofit research organization that looked at learning in schools, workplaces, and informal settings, using collaborative, multidisciplinary teams. Research questions were based in real-world problems and settings defined in partnership with people in schools and workplaces who championed these activities. The institute had a significant impact on education and knowledge management (among many other fields) not only in the US but globally through the development of the concept of a community of practice.[2] |