Modes of Personal and Organisational Learning in VirtualBuisinessTeams

1. Modes of Personal and Organisational Learning in VirtualBuisinessTeams Hans van der Vleugel Jack Gerrissen Darco Jansen Peter Sloep Wim van Petegem project “Virtual Company” Science & Technology Departement Open University of the Netherlands

2. Presentation content • Concepts that triggered our ideas • Projecteam-philosophy for VBT-s • VBT-workstation • Modes of learning in a VBT • deployment modes/motives for VBT-s Warning: pilots, but no “formal proof”

3. Professional Training • Becoming a psychologist (regular university) • first year at the university: everything but psychology! • 4 years study period • 6 month practical work: the real thing! • When did learning and growth of expertise have its peaks?

4. “Traditional” Distance Teaching • Open University of the Netherlands • guided selfstudy • “open”-ness in admission • little pacing and time constraints • early ICT-adoption • working students

5. Changes in pedagogical concepts • Open University of the Netherlands • experimenting towards constructivist, “competency-based” learning • learning while doing: authenticity • no learning without error: quality control • just-in-time resources: coaching and knowledge-management • assignment of project-tasks

6. Working Communities • Projectteams: • Different expertises and roles of project members • Aiming at (collective) competencies • Support and compensation for each others individual weaknesses • Development of individual expertise, group competencies, and organisational knowledge • Coordination via synchronous interaction

7. Work-for-Learning Communities • Professional learning in projectteams: • authentic tasks and roles • collecting information on a “need-to-know-basis” (JIT-learning) • peer-support and coaching • development of individual expertiseand group competencies • documentation of “lessons learned” • important for organisation as a whole

8. Network-for-Learning Communities • Supportive ICT-infrastructure and groupware allowing for: • dislocated team-members • asynchronous team-interaction • information retrieval (intranet & Internet) • accumulating repositories of resources • asynchronous coaching

9. Network-for-Learning Communities Repository of learning resources Task/function assignment Trainee at location A VIRTUALWORK-FOR-LEARNINGCOMMUNITY Trainee at location B Repositoryof coachingcapacity Personal growth assessment Trainee at location C

10. VirtualBusinessTeams • Our VBT-s consist of: • trainees with authentic, project-tasks • for a sponsor in the real world (about!) • who’s roles are allocated to honour an expressed wish or need for expertise-growth • by practicing that field of expertise • with a high quantity of asynchonous work • and assessment of both product and process

11. Virtual Work-for-Learning Communities ICT-Networks enable: • Asynchronous work • Asynchronous training and coaching • Direct transfer of training • Flexible window for intake on the basis of expressed needs (individual/group)

12. Typical VBTeam workstation Communicate& coordinate Co-work tools & objects Corporate knowl. identity / rules Competence analysis, monitoring & assessment Just-in-time learning & coaching

13. Typical VBTeam workstation Communicate& coördinate Peer-learning Co-work tools & objects Corporate knowl. identity / rules Knowledge management oriented learning Competence analysis, monitoring & assessment Just-in-time learning & coaching Assessment based learning

14. Three submodes of VBT-learning • Supportive conditions for building expertise • Heterogeniety • peer-learning • Interactions • tacit knowledge more explicit and inter-related • assessment of competence “in the field” • Linking of different knowledge resources to: • individual nomological networks • organisational “body of knowledge”

15. Knowledge cycle in knowledge based task

16. Realism and motivation Competence growth demand Stack of product/service orders Task component addressing growth profile

17. Deployment modes (motives) 1. Business-task paced learning 2. Learning at work Virtual Company 3. Organisational prototyping 4. Knowledge manage- ment for competencegrowth

18. VBT - modes (1) Business-task paced learning From knowledge delivery to personal development Direct competence-development instead of indirect management (traditional HRM) Specific professional practices Just-in-time learning

19. VBT - modes (2) Learning at work a-synchronous trainers/ heterogenous groups minimal agenda- and/or travel-problems direct “Transfer of Training” Competence assessment in existing tasks Just-in-time learning

20. VBT - modes (3) Organisational prototyping Migration to new functions and/or new tools Knowledge-base with “best practices” Competence assessment in new functions

21. VBT - modes (4) Knowledge management towards competence growth Merging of individual and organisational “Bodies-of-Knowledge” Knowledge-base with “best practices” Permanent updating of organisational memory

22. Overview 1. Business-task paced learning 2. Learning at work Virtual Company 3. Organisational prototyping 4. Knowledge management for competencegrowth

23. Conclusions on VBT-s • a highly motivating way of combininglearning and working • a rich source for both individual and organisational learning • makes need for knowledge management appearent • ICT for asynchronous communication may make available tacit knowledge easier explicit • “off the shelf” groupware can be used, but interaction design helps

24. Modes of Personal and Organisational Learning in VirtualBuisinessTeams Hans van der Vleugel (ao) project “Virtual Company” hans.vandervleugel@ouh.nl Science & Technology Departement Open University of the Netherlands