Redressing Socio-Cultural Insensitivity

2010 ◽  
pp. 66-85
Author(s):  
Karim A. Remtulla
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Cultural Sensitivity ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Global Workforce ◽  
Diverse Field ◽  
Culturally Based ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Learning Scenarios ◽  
Learning Research

This chapter concerns many of the challenges facing socio-cultural researchers of workplace e-learning when attempting a social critique of workplace elearning. These obstacles include finding a common ground to begin a socio-culturally based research and study of workplace e-learning as well as using an approach that authentically balances ‘distance’ and ‘education’ so that distance education does not become a ‘distant education’. The overwhelming emphasis on the technological artefacts of workplace e-learning are not having the expected impacts on workplace adult education and training to the degree so profoundly anticipated by so many. The research and study of workplace e-learning as a socio-culturally negotiated ‘idea’ may be one such way. To do this, notions of social theory, taxonomy, and the researcher, as they relate to the field of adult education, and for a global workforce of adult learners, now become necessary. The complexity of approaching the diverse field of adult education with respect to social theory is explained, as are some of the challenges of applying the socio-cultural sensitivity taxonomy by using adult education as a backdrop for understanding workplace e-learning. ‘Socio-cultural Sensitivity Taxonomy for Workplace E-learning’ is presented and comprises four basic elements: (a) a context (social change) and an impetus (social responsibility) for a socio-culturally based research and study of workplace e-learning; (b) two outcomes (normalization and universalization) of technological artefactual approaches to workplace e-learning research and study; (c) two dominant cultural paradigms (commodified knowledges and innovative artefact) shaping workplace e-learning historicity in organizations; and, (d) four workplace e-learning scenarios (instrumental instruction, rational training, dehumanizing ideologies, and social integration), that all present socio-cultural impacts for the workforce from socio-culturally insensitive, technological artefactual approaches to workplace e-learning research and study. Figure 1 and Figure 2, originally from the Preface, are re-presented here, more formally.

Towards More Socio-Culturally Sensitive Research and Study of Workplace E-Learning

2014 ◽  
pp. 2026-2042
Author(s):  
Karim A. Remtulla
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Adult Learning ◽  
Career And Technical Education ◽  
Technical Education ◽  
Education And Training ◽  
Career And Technical ◽  
Culturally Informed ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Learning Research ◽  
And Training

This article advocates workplace adult education and training researchers and scholar practitioners interested in career and technical education (CTE), adult education and technology, and who are attempting social and cultural critiques of workplace e-learning. The emphasis on the technological and artefactual in workplace e-learning research and study are not producing the expected learning outcomes from workplace adult education and training to the degree anticipated. Given increasingly global and diverse workforces, the research and study of workplace e-learning as a socio-culturally ‘negotiated' space may be an alternate approach toward a more socially and culturally informed understanding of adult learning from workplace e-learning.

Infallibility of Innovative Artefacts

2010 ◽  
pp. 86-106
Author(s):  
Karim A. Remtulla
Keyword(s):  
Adult Learning ◽  
Technological Innovation ◽  
Learning Objects ◽  
Cultural Impacts ◽  
Cultural Paradigm ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Learning Scenarios ◽  
Learning Research ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
And Training

This chapter discusses the cultural paradigm of ‘innovative artefacts’ in the workplace. This cultural paradigm is one of two proposed paradigms that shape socio-culturally insensitive, technological artefactual approaches to workplace e-learning research and study. Subsequently, this paradigm also socially reshapes workplace e-leaning historicity for workplace adult education and training, resulting in socio-cultural impacts on the workforce. Technological innovation and business process change dominate workplace transformations. At the same time, any discussion on the socio-cultural impacts of workplace e-learning must also take into account that workplace e-learning is arguably both a technological innovation and as well as a business administration process, all of which affect adult learning in the workplace. Critical theory problematizes these relations between technology and technological progress as well as workplace e-learning. The ‘presumption of neutrality’ is highlighted as it influences the shaping of workplace e-learning and its dubious, shifting, and reversible impacts on the workforce. A focused discourse analysis of the connotations and assumptions that have further shaped e-learning for the workplace over the past decade illustrate workplace e-learning’s changing emphases over the years, from administrational to associational to artefactual, today. The technological artefacts of workplace elearning now deserve closer scrutiny. The similarities and differences between ‘online learning and simulations’, ‘learning objects’, and ‘learning management systems’ are highlighted as each of these technological artefacts, more often than not, is taken as equivalent to and a substitute for learning. The ‘presumption of neutrality’ now also comes to fruition in the ‘infallibility paradox’ for workplace e-learning. For workplace e-learning, adherence to the belief in the infallibility of innovative artefacts leads to two workplace e-learning scenarios: (a) instrumental instruction (see Chapter 7); and, (b) rational training (see Chapter 8).

Towards More Socio-Culturally Sensitive Research and Study of Workplace E-Learning

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 27-45
Author(s):  
Karim A. Remtulla
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Adult Learning ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Career And Technical Education ◽  
Education And Training ◽  
Career And Technical ◽  
Culturally Informed ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Learning Research ◽  
And Training

This article advocates workplace adult education and training researchers and scholar practitioners interested in career and technical education (CTE), adult education and technology, and who are attempting social and cultural critiques of workplace e-learning. The emphasis on the technological and artefactual in workplace e-learning research and study are not producing the expected learning outcomes from workplace adult education and training to the degree anticipated. Given increasingly global and diverse workforces, the research and study of workplace e-learning as a socio-culturally ‘negotiated’ space may be an alternate approach toward a more socially and culturally informed understanding of adult learning from workplace e-learning.

Primacy of Commodified Knowledges

2010 ◽  
pp. 107-127
Author(s):  
Karim A. Remtulla
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Adult Education ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Education And Training ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Cultural Paradigm ◽  
Knowledge Based Economy ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Learning Scenarios ◽  
And Training

This chapter discusses the cultural paradigm of ‘commodified knowledges’ in the workplace. This cultural paradigm is the second of two paradigms discussed in this book that shape socio-culturally insensitive, technological artefactual approaches to workplace e-learning research and study. Subsequently, this paradigm also socially reshapes workplace e-leaning historicity for workplace adult education and training, resulting in socio-cultural impacts on the workforce. ‘The knowledge-based economy’ as a concept of the global age comes from the various schools of thought. Each of the theories forwarded by these schools of thought continues to influence knowledge-based economic policy today, whether in regards to information-based societies; knowledge products; knowledge workers; or, technological innovations. These are the global policies that afford commodified knowledges their priority in the (knowledge-based) workplace. Organizations specifically concerned with knowledge governance, now invest in practices better known as ‘knowledge management’. Organizational apparatuses such as strategic priorities, value chains, and business processes, all become appropriated towards the materialization and reification of knowledge as an economic commodity for the benefit of the workplace. ‘Business process reengineering’ continues to have impact on the workplace as both a mandate and method for knowledge management towards the commodification of knowledge in the workplace. Workplace e-learning for workplace adult education and training now becomes another means for commodified knowledges through continuously reengineered knowledge management apparatuses. For workplace e-learning, adherence to the belief in the primacy of commodified knowledges leads to two workplace e-learning scenarios: (a) dehumanizing ideologies (see Chapter 9); and, (b) social integration (see Chapter 10).

Linking CSCL Script Design Patterns

2011 ◽  
pp. 72-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eloy D. Villasclaras-Fernández ◽  
Davinia Hernández-Leo ◽  
Juan I. Asensio Pérez ◽  
Yannis Dimitriadis ◽  
Alejandra Martínez-Monés
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Learning ◽  
Design Patterns ◽  
Research Community ◽  
Learning Patterns ◽  
Cscl Scripts ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Learning Scenarios ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Learning Research ◽  
Complex Planning

Among the fields in which design patterns have been applied, the design of CSCL scripts has received the attention of the e-learning research community. The usage of design patterns is justified by the complexity of the task of planning collaborative learning scenarios. Making this task even more complex, planning assessment activities and/or resources is one of the aspects that need to be taken into account in the design of a CSCL script. Focusing on this issue, this chapter deals with the application of learning and assessment patterns along with the creation of such scripts. More specifically, this chapter is focused on the potential benefits of using detailed information concerning the relationships between assessment and learning patterns. Different types of links between CSCL scripting design patterns are illustrated, and finally this chapter discusses the possibilities of using them in CSCL script authoring software tools.

E-Learning and the Global Workforce

2011 ◽  
pp. 276-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Remtulla
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Education And Training ◽  
Training Needs ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Complex Profile ◽  
Global Workforce ◽  
Global Age ◽  
Cultural Implications ◽  
E Learning ◽  
And Training

Workplaces are transforming in the global age. Jobs are expanding and varying. Workers are more and more participating in a global workforce comprising people who are socially and demographically diverse, multicultural, multifaceted, and whose views on workplace priorities, accountabilities, performance, and productivity may be socially and culturally very different from one another. Ultimately, these trends infer that how workers are educated and trained in the workplace must also evolve to meet a dynamic cohort of employees with a progressively complex profile of learning needs. To make matters more interesting, one of the most noticeable trends in the workplace today is ‘e-learning,’ which is frequently upheld as the panacea for workplace adult education and training needs. This chapter is about e-learning, the global workforce, and their social and cultural implications for workplace adult education and training in the global age.

Towards More Socio-Culturally Sensitive Research and Study of Workplace E-Learning

2012 ◽  
pp. 99-115
Author(s):  
Karim A. Remtulla
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Adult Learning ◽  
Career And Technical Education ◽  
Technical Education ◽  
Education And Training ◽  
Career And Technical ◽  
Culturally Informed ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Learning Research ◽  
And Training

This article advocates workplace adult education and training researchers and scholar practitioners interested in career and technical education (CTE), adult education and technology, and who are attempting social and cultural critiques of workplace e-learning. The emphasis on the technological and artefactual in workplace e-learning research and study are not producing the expected learning outcomes from workplace adult education and training to the degree anticipated. Given increasingly global and diverse workforces, the research and study of workplace e-learning as a socio-culturally ‘negotiated’ space may be an alternate approach toward a more socially and culturally informed understanding of adult learning from workplace e-learning.

Social Change and Social Responsibility

2010 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Karim A. Remtulla
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Cultural Sensitivity ◽  
Complete Solution ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Diverse Workforce ◽  
Global Workforce ◽  
E Learning

This chapter discusses social change as context and social responsibility as impetus for a socioculturally sensitive research and study of workplace e-learning. Current interventions of workplace elearning, when not accompanied by socio-cultural sensitivity, are destined to falter with respect to adequate workplace adult education and training for a global, diverse workforce. To describe transformation and change happening at work as ‘phenomena’ is an understatement. Workplace transformations and workforce changes are, quite literally, daily events. A dynamic and global workforce lives and works in the global age. Workers now participate in organizations comprising of people who are more experientially and demographically diverse. Consumer tastes and loyalties are incessantly transient. Organizations are also morphing with respect to technologies, processes, jobs, and accountabilities. Against this backdrop, the growing reliance on workplace e-learning as a complete solution based on the goals of cost savings and process efficiencies is increasingly problematic. The assumption of the ubiquity of the technological or financial artefacts of hardware and software, as sufficient to overcome diverse workforce learning needs fundamentally naive. The importance and necessity of broaching workplace e-learning as a socio-culturally negotiated idea, and not as just a technological or financial artefact, now becomes clearer. Social change does impact workplace transformations and workforce changes, which in turn directly influence workplace e-learning outcomes. Social responsibility now also becomes an ‘impetus’ for the socio-cultural sensitivity of workplace e-learning and the benefit of a global and diverse cohort of adult learners contending with workplace transformations, workforce changes, and social changes.

Universalized Workplace Education

2010 ◽  
pp. 40-65
Author(s):  
Karim A. Remtulla
Keyword(s):  
Distance Education ◽  
Adult Education ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Education And Training ◽  
Workplace Education ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Global Workforce ◽  
E Learning ◽  
And Training

This chapter looks at the socio-cultural implications of universalized education for workers. A universalized education for workers by workplace e-learning happens through hypermedia-centric, constructivist-based workplace e-learning that configures technologies, constructivism, and instructors, for a knowledge-based workplace. Workplace e-learning for workplace adult education and training has changed over the past decade with respect to the changes and complexities of the learning process. This is especially true given the growing prevalence of information and communication technologies (ICTs). Distance education in the tertiary sector is looked at to see what is revealed from workplace adult education and training encounters with workplace e-learning. This raises questions about workplace e-learning for a global workforce. Workplace e-learning epitomizes a constructivist practice in the workplace; heavily based on European and Western industrialized values; and, remains unconcerned with the culturally specialized adult learning needs and goals of a diverse, global, and multi-facetted, cohort of adult learners. Looking primarily at the constructivist turn in distance education, perspectives of epistemology, ontology, and pedagogy, are referenced that support this trend. The universalizing ramifications of this hypermedia- centred, constructivist trend in workplace e-learning for workplace adult education and training are concerning for a global and diverse cohort of adult learners, who will come to represent the workforce in the future. Technique is increasingly used as the omnibus answer for all learners’ needs and goals. ‘Technology’ increasingly replaces epistemology and ontology as the singular perspective for authentic learning. Some of the unseen, conformist, and persuasive effects of technology, constructivism, and instructors, are now problematized for a global workforce.

scholarly journals Temporal issues in e-learning research: A literature review

2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. E53-E55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Barbera ◽  
Begoña Gros ◽  
Paul Kirschner
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Learning Research
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