eLearning Rebel

Learning in a Social Environment for 20 Years
We all grew up learning in a social environment in a traditional teacher centric classroom. The learning was normally information centric and intentionally not contextualized. Then we went on to college to sit in a live lecture hall with a large group generally followed by a small group practical or lab experience. As a result, following sixteen to twenty years of learning in a social environment, it is not natural to arrive at a corporation and learn using an online asynchronous elearning models. However, corporations, for the past 15 – 20 years have pushed self-paced elearning to their employees, while learners and trainers continually fight back asking for live classroom and lecture style experiences.

A Decade of Poor Online Programmed Learning
Despite the availability of nearly 50 years of research in instructional technology, much of corporate self-paced online learning is boring and in-effective. Very few online learning modules actually apply research in learning theory other then the fundamental programming instruction principles developed by Skinner in the 1960s. Money is frequently wasted both in the development of poor online instruction together with the lost opportunity time consumed when workers are forced to sit through ineffective online learning.

Three Generations Working and Learning Together
There are currently three generations in the workplace all with varying experiences learning from technology. The generation currently entering college have never known a time when there was no internet or online gaming. They have never known a time when they couldn’t communicate instantly to anyone with an internet connection in the world. How do we merge the learning styles of the Atari© Generation of the 80s with Playstation© Generation of the 90s and coming soon the virtual online generation of the new millennium. Games are now played live online with players from all over the world.

New live collaborative learning technologies promise to offer functionality to support social, action and situated learning theories, specifically multi-user 3D virtual environments. (Dieterle & Clarke, in press) The investment in these environments can be quite high and acceptance by older generations can be quite a challenge. Situated learning theory (Lave & Wenger, 1991) suggests that learning occurs in a collaborative contextualized setting however it is difficult and costly to implement situated learning theory in traditional corporate learning programs. Online virtual 3D environments provide an opportunity to explore the application of social learning principles like Action Learning Theory and Situated Learning Theory in ways that were not previously possible.

References:

Dieterle, E., & Clarke, J. (in press). Multi-user virtual environments for teaching and learning. In M. Pagani (Ed.),Encyclopedia of multimedia technology and networking (2nd ed). Hershey, PA: Idea Group, Inc.

Lave, J. , & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. New York: Cambridge University Press

There is no question that we have a serious social problem in regards to the developing values and ethics in management. We have skilled managers but how are they looking at problems and addressing them. What values are they using to make decisions? Clayton Cristensen points out that when management constantly follows after the profits, which every MBA program tells them they should, they can fall into a trap of growing a company beyond it’s bounds to support it. This results in cycles of lay-offs, mergers and consolidations. Finally the company can not sustain these cycles and simply die. Can learning technologists and learning theorists come to the rescue?

Action learning theory tells us what most instinctively know, that we learn through working out relevant problems, practicing our skills and reflecting upon them (Pedler, 2005). Social learning theory suggests that we learn through modeling after demonstration and also when we know that a positive reward will be provided if we pay attention to the modeling. (Bandura, 1977) Situated learning suggest that we learn when we practice in context of the real life task (Lave & Wenger 1991). Despite the research in these foundational learning principles, we still find learning in corporate training centers delivered either in a traditional lecturer centered setting or through knowledge centric online learning. Very little learning is contextualized and provides for sufficient practice, reflection and social learning. New learning technologies promise to offer these attributes, specifically multi-user virtual environments. (Dieterle & Clarke, in press)

Can multi-user virtual environments support action learning and social learning, and situated learning theory more effectively than individualized learning models and technologies?

Keywords: action learning, social learning theory, multi-user virtual environments, distributed cognition, situated learning

References:

Bandura, Albert. Social Learning Theory. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1977. Print.

Dieterle, E., & Clarke, J. (in press). Multi-user virtual environments for teaching and learning. In M. Pagani (Ed.),Encyclopedia of multimedia technology and networking (2nd ed). Hershey, PA: Idea Group, Inc.

Lave, J. , & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. New York: Cambridge University Press
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Pedler, Mike. “A General Theory of Human Action.” Action Learning: Research and Practice 2.2 (2005): 127-32. Print.