Views From the Gulch

Informal learning occurs regularly in our workplaces.  For example staff with a learning need will often consult a more experienced, longer serving staff member to gain advice and resolve the problem.  This is an informal learning activity.  Unfortunately it is often not recognised or valued as such by organisations. 

Communities of practice, particularly online communities, are a way to recognise and validate informal learning in the workplace.  This involves learning professionals working to foster an enabling culture within the organisation that validates informal learning and accepts involvement in CoPs as a valuable and legitimate learning experience.  The next role is to leverage the technology to support the learning process, and achieve the most effective learning outcomes.   The careful design of the community, incorporating all a structured, theoretical basis, “best practice approaches” to CoP’s and the best technological solutions for both the community and the organisation, is vital.

This morning I received a notification from the community I monitored for Assignment 1.2.

One of my observation of the community was to question whether it had reached the end of its life cycle.  Today, the moderator was asking just that.

“It has been really quiet in here of late and I wonder if the community has reached full maturity now and no longer requires this type of discussion forum activity? Nowadays I find myself more often than not putting aside time to participate in a one hour online live event that is relevant to me in my work rather than spending much time in asynchronous (any time) for a (community) such as this one. Is that true for you too?”

In the few hours since the post there have been two replies.

1) “The EDNA Groups are really great communities, but it has sort of run off the rails. Some contributors use the areas for show and tell and not for discussions and learning. While others can’t support what they believe in. As I have said many time, “If we all agree we will learn nothing”. I really believe while this place is used in the way is has been it may be for the best that it closes. Like most adult learning no one wants to learn they just want to tell everyone what they know and expect other to gush with awe. Thanks for the memories”

2) “I think the difference is, we used to have a moderator who stimulated discussion, and now we don’t.”

Both responses support my observations in Assignment 1.2 and the rationale behind some of my suggestions for the design of an e-learning community in Assignment 2.   While it’s sad to see this particular community facing closure it’s also been interesting timing to see the theory I’ve been studying in this journey turning into reality. 

While e-learning and online learning communities have made opportunities for learning more accessible and convenient there are a number of potential problems that have become evident with this approach.  One of the biggest ones, based on my personal experiences, is that of distractions in the workplace.   Workers are now faced with multi-tasking not only in their job, but also learning and work.  E-learning is yet another task to be juggled into the person’s already busy schedule. 

Terri Thompson (2004), in a paper presented at the World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Health Care & Higher Education, outlined some of the challenges of undertaking e-learning in the workplace. These all revolve around the need for support from the organisation and include:

• Developing skills in collaborating online
• Developing competency with the learning technology utilised
• Ensuring an environment conducive to learning, free of distractions (phone calls, emails, people dropping by the workstation)
• Recognition that the practise of belonging to a community improves e-learning events and outcomes, via dialogue and shared construction of meaning
• Organisations legitimising engaging in online learning activities, including participating in communities of practice, during the workday

In developing an e-learning strategy it is important that these issues are addressed.  While some can be addressed by training and mentoring, others will require the commitment of management to providing appropriate environments (or sanctioning work practices that minimise disruptions).  Finally, learning and development practitioners will need to negotiate with management at all levels to ensure that staff are supported in their online learning endeavours and given the time and recognition for this.  Another change management task to be included in the design of e-learning activities.

References 

Thompson, T. (2004), The Virtual Classroom at Work: How Teaching Shapes Workplace Learning.  In G. Richards (Ed.), Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare & Higher Education (ELEARN) 2004, AACE, Chesapeake, UA, pp 2166-2171.

This week I had the opportunity to see some of the theories I’ve been reading about in action.  It confirmed for me the importance of some of the musings I’ve been having about designing learning programs. 

16 staff from my organisation spent all of last week undertaking their initial training to become fire fighters.  The course has been designed around “adult learning principles” - information is presented, there is an opportunity for practice and coaching followed by reinforcement of the theory.  There is then an opportunity for further coaching and reflection prior to assessment.

By the end of day 4 of the course the group was interacting well and seemed to be relatively comfortable with the new knowledge and the processes.  During the revision session at the end of the day a discussion started regarding vehicle entrapment procedures which had been covered on day 2.  It started like this…”After dinner last night we were talking…and I just wanted to check…”.  Then other voices chimed in. What resulted was a twenty minute discussion on the information initially presented, what had happened during practice and some of the points that had been discussed amongst participants during the week.  The conversation ended with 1 participant stating…”So, if this happens what I’m going to do is…” and others agreeing or putting their own slants on it.

While there is a set procedure to follow in this situation it was fascinating to watch how this group of people had taken that information, interacted and had dialogue with others around it and then created their own meaning from it.

What an opportunity for me, via interacting with others, to confirm my own thoughts and know that what I’ve been applying theoretically in my study of e-learning really does work.  My learnings - to make sure that I do develop future learning programs using a social constructivist approach (it really works).  My next challenge - how do I convey what seems like a “theoretical concept” to my 50 trainers/assessors and help them have their own “aha” moment about their practices.

Yesterday I was approached by a peer from another organisation about his plans for establishing a network of trainers/assessors using social networking software.  The request was made because of my current studies and some discussions we had had on this topic.  My peer had suggested the idea to his colleagues but been soundly dismissed.  This surprised me as I know the group and had thought they were quite innovative in their operations.

This got me to thinking about the group I’ve been observing as part of my studies.  There is a paucity of postings to this community and I had been thinking about what motivates people to contribute and what doesn’t.  Research has shown that it is only 1% of participants in a community who make regular contributions and 90% are lurkers (Nielsen, 2006).  This is similar to some of the change management statistics I’ve seen - 20% early radaptors; 60% move slowly & 20% won’t move.

So - how do we motivate some of the 60% to at least lurk and maybe post?  This is where the social constructivists come in - learning by observing, interacting, creating knowledge.  A community needs to provide appropriate models; build on the participant’s existing level of knowledge; get other “thought leaders” to contribute; have a variety of presentation media; make it interesting; provide rules of conduct/netiquette; have strong facilitation/moderation.  The list goes on. 

But what happens when this occurs and there’s still no response, as in the community I have observed?  What else do we need to do to motivate people to contribute?  While at some point we need to recognise that at some time the lifespan of the community needs to be recognised and the community ended, how do we keep the lifeforce going for sufficient time to allow members to benefit from participation?

I think one possibility is incorporating a change management strategy into the community design - as well as the educational design features.  This will involve overt support all levels of management of an organisation, managers modelling behaviours by contributing to the community and an ongoing promotional campaign for the community.

I have posted Assignment 1.2 - Analysis of a Selected Learning Community.  Click here to view this work.