Informal Learning Projects and World Wide Voluntary Co-Mentoring

This article seeks to explore the potential of online communities to support and develop new professional development practices around collaborative mentoring and informal learning projects. This study seeks to address the following research hypotheses. 1. Informal learning can be utilised as a developmental approach in an online open environment. 2. Online communities can learn from involvement with informal learning projects and they can support the development of a community history and identity. 3. Online communities can be effective in supporting informal learning projects. 4. Informal learning can be a vehicle for crossing borders related to lifelong learning (namely those of time, culture, religion, geographical distance, different jobs, and careers).