How can online learning help us share ideas and experiences?
Anglia Ruskin University
Ann Hockey and Ian Frame
For this project, we brought together people whose job it is to create and maintain communities to discuss their skills and knowledge – and how online learning might improve them.
Key points
Focusing on ‘skills gaps’ can be demoralising
Skills assessment and learning resources should encourage learners to reflect on their existing knowledge and experience
Learning should be related to practice
A virtual learning community would help create a shared knowledge base for professionals
New online opportunities for communication, networking and social contact should be exploited.
How can online learning help us share ideas and experiences?
Anglia Ruskin University
Ann Hockey and Ian Frame
For this project, we brought together people whose job it is to create and maintain communities to discuss their skills and knowledge – and how online learning might improve them.
Key points
Focusing on ‘skills gaps’ can be demoralising
Skills assessment and learning resources should encourage learners to reflect on their existing knowledge and experience
Learning should be related to practice
A virtual learning community would help create a shared knowledge base for professionals
New online opportunities for communication, networking and social contact should be exploited.
We wanted to know what built environment professionals understood by the term ‘vocational learning’ and what things were like in their job.
Our aim was to answer a number of questions:
What works best – on-the-job experience or formal training courses?
What impact had the 2004 Egan Review of skills had on their workplace and role?
How important is it that organisations or teams – as well as individuals – learn?
What value should be placed on common sense or life skills?
To what extent are people supported or mentored by senior managers?
We wanted to help built environment professionals to assess their own skills levels and to help them improve those skills using new online tools.
We looked at the potential benefits of using online learning. What might a ‘virtual learning environment’ look like? How could a ‘virtual learning community’ improve the sharing of knowledge and experience between professionals? Might it offer new opportunities for built environment professionals to solve common problems?
Conclusions
The creation of an online learning environment offers a number of opportunities to break away from traditional methods of vocational learning.
Crucially, it offers individuals the chance to direct their own professional development to meet the demands of the modern, high-pressure workplace. It’s important, however, that this doesn’t focus on ‘skills gaps’, which can be demoralising.
New self-assessment and learning resources need to encourage individuals to reflect on their existing knowledge and experience. Effective leadership is needed to ensure that the right people are placed in the right roles and are able to use their skills and abilities to the full. The focus should be on developing skills ‘in context’ – that is, in a way that is closely linked to practice.
An approach based on a virtual learning community could allow a shared knowledge base to emerge based on existing good practice across the sector. This requires new online opportunities for communication, networking and social contact be exploited to the full.
How can online learning help us share ideas and experiences?
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