E- learning teaching philosophies in workplace training

The types of learning is almost always pragmatic as the learners require to take something tactile back with them in to the workplace that they can institute immediately. Thus philosophies of that Ally (2002) mentions such as behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivsm take first place in the lessons.

Multimodal teaching pedagogies can also be instituted in the workplace based training environment. These pedagogies incorporate constructs that are pragmatic, instructional and formal. Workplace training is an under researched field of adult education, and I have not found that many articles in comparison to other types of adult education. In saying that however the Guiney (2015) collated an excellent annotated bibliography that describes e- learning and workplace training in New Zealand. He mentions that e- learning is on the rise and more and more companies are adopting an e learning approach more specifically a blended learning approach. I think it still has a way to go and hopefully more and more organisations will see the value of el earning and make it a formal process in the workplace. It is interesting to note that workplace training does not in itself have a broad spectrum definition and I think this could possibly make it a field that needs more research. Perhaps the creation of workplace training definition is something to research further.

I have come across various formal and informal workplace training workshops and lessons. Formal workplace training is created using outcomes of unit standards, thus the information is measured according to pre-determined assessment criteria. Informal workplace training such as soft skills training (Guiney, 2015) such as courses that are created for the purposes of professional development and for the purposes of keeping employees up to date with changes as well as courses that fortify learner’s current job spec. I think a distinction between formal and informal training is necessary. For the purposes of this blog I would like to suggest that both informal and formal workplace training courses need different e learning technologies of which I will comment on.

This video talks about the effectiveness of workplace training and how to save costs using blended learning techniques

Kanuka (2008) also explains the uses multivariate philosophies such as social and technological determinism as well as philosophies of liberal, progressive, behaviourist, humanist, radical and analytical philosophies of teaching. I do believe that a lot of these pedagogies are well worth implementing in a workplace based training environment.

Having read through the information provided by Lankshear & Knobel (2007) and their reference to new thinking theories that need to account for gesture, speech, images, colour, music and rather than doing old things with new technology, there is also an overlap of new thinking theories that can be incorporated into the wokplace based training environment.

Futhermore it is also important to establish the types of learning that are taking place in the workshops. The types of learning are almost always pragmatic as such the learners are constantly looking for new concepts, ideas and tools that are implement worthy. For example, learners that attend a workshop on report writing are looking for a template that they can use post workshop that make it easier and more accurate for them to convey the necessary messages contained in a business report.

I have also seen some workplace training learners respond very well to technological determinism (Kanuka, 2008) once it is explained to them and the facilitator or trainer has created a buy in of this type of learning from the outset of the workshop.

There are several learners whose job specifications are primarily based online and they rely on technologies in the workplace these learners respond well to the Lanksher et al (2007) thinking theories of new technologies in the workplace.

This image is an example of a powerpoint image depicting a report writing template.

Davis et al (2010) refer to the construct of blending learning in the learning environment, this also works well in a workshop using blended technologies to facilitate learning development. Especially when there are other learners attending the workshop from other regions, for example. If the tactile workshop is taking place in Auckland, learners can virtually attend the workshop by video conference whereby a camera is set up in the workshop so they can see the workshop and then the attendees in Auckland can see the learners from Wellington as they use a camera as well. The camera also has panning capabilities. So a PowerPoint presentation can be open and the trainer can be training from it as a visual aid at the same time as the non-regional participants are shown on the screen as well. Guiney (2015) stipulates that e-learning is often implemented in the workplace to fortify and support traditional delivery and blended learning. 

References:

Ally, M ( ) Foundations of educational theory in T. Anderson. Ally Foundations of educational theory for online learning chp01 of Anderson.

Fletcher, J., Nicholas, K., & Davis, N. (2011). Supporting adults to address their literacy needs using e-learning. Journal of Open, Flexible and Distance Learning, 15(1), 17–29.

Guiney, P. (2015) E-learning in the workplace an annotated bibliography. New Zealand Government. Tertiary Sector Performance Analysis. Graduate Achievement, Vocations and Careers Ministry of education

Kanuka, H. (2008). Understanding e-learning technologies-in-practice through philosophies-in-practice. The theory and practice of online learning, 91–118.

Lankshear and Knobel Blogging as participation: The active sociality of a new literacy. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.135.3944