Abstract

Organizations seeking improvements in the way they work and build knowledge reach for new learning paradigms. Sociocultural perspectives offer a way to envision how technology could shape more dynamic workplace learning. Studying the triad involved in an e-learning event – learners, adult educators, and software developers – I explored how technology, workplace context, and assumptions about learning influence what happens. The setting for this qualitative case study was a multi-national organization regarded as innovative. Possibilities emerge when we move beyond the familiar terrain of formal learning and approach informal learning methods, such as communities of practice that better integrate work and learning. However, a model of community-based learning, which mixes formal and informal learning activities and draws on e-learning tools to create an integrated social learning experience, is not happenstance and demands re-thinking of corporate learning initiatives.

Citation

Thompson, T.L. (2004). The Virtual Classroom@Work: How Technology Shapes Workplace Learning. In J. Nall & R. Robson (Eds.), Proceedings of E-Learn 2004--World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education (pp. 2166-2171). Washington, DC, USA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved August 10, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/11206/.

© 2004 Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)

Keywords

• Integration
• Social Studies