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.