Smith, B. L. and MacGregor, J. (2009). Learning communities and the quest for quality

Smith, B. L. and MacGregor, J. (2009).  Learning communities and the quest for quality.  Quality Assurance in Education, 17(2), pp. 118 - 139.  Retrieved on June 5, 2010 from  http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezproxy.usq.edu.au/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?contentType=Article&Filename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/1200170202.pdf

Introduction

Although there is more access to higher education than ever before, Smith and MacGregor question the academic success and educational effectiveness of pedagogy.  Concerns are that there is an increasing divide in socio-economic and minority attendance; students lack readiness or preparedness to enter higher education; and there is general dissatisfaction with the skills graduates attain.  However, studies conclude that higher education increases socio-economic and cultural development.

Although a variety of human resource literature cover quality improvement, higher education institutions have been slow in adapting to change.  Student engagement and active learning have been the focus for designing new curricula and pedagogies.  Curricular learning communities are representative of the paradigm change to reform curricula structure and provide platforms from which to understand the phenomena of quality improvement.

Learning communities - a structural intervention

Academic life for students has often been viewed as haphazard, as learning structures permit taking courses which in reality have no bearing to each other, and students are very often off-campus with a multitude of other responsibilities to attend to.  The curricular learning approach is a structural approach that reduces fragmentation.  Coherence of thema are addressed by introducing courses that are interlinked, offering individuals the opportunity to actively participate and build relationships with other students.  Integrated teaching methods have proven effective (e.g. faculty members work in tandem to develop learning programs that tie in together).

Learning communities are adaptable and flexible.  Programs are designed according to knowledge and feedback.  Teams are highly specialised and high functioning (e.g. teaching teams can comprise of faculty, librarians, academic advisors).  Learning communities very often have close ties to the environment and conduct all manner of research.  Usually, learning communities are heavily focused on first year students who require more intense minding as they become accustomed to community life and focus on intellectual development as habits developed at this time are formative and sustain the motivation to complete a degree program successfully.  Areas that curricular learning communities add to are in basic studies and development education; general education; clarity in comprehending the intended subject; and programs for specialisation (e.g. athletes).

Learning communities and the quest for quality

Multi-level learning is a key strategy for learning communities.  Programs are designed to teach not only students, but faculty members and the holistic community.  Traditional styled classes have been redesigned to incorporate social networking that is critical to a learning communities success.  Community work operates as a structural framework for multi-disciplinary pedagogy.  Cognitive scientists and academic researchers have found these methods to be effective in engaging students intellectually.  While this practice is widespread, the implementation process is compromised when group members (e.g. faculty) are unable to commit to responsible practice.  Clarity of organisational mission is essential when accepting members to the community (e.g. employment).  Sharing is essential when embedding quality initiatives.  Linking programs sequentially provides the capacity for connecting students and faculty as quality becomes synonymous with their practice.

The accountability for developing best working practice has transformative effects upon the community as a whole.  Faculty members share knowledge in order to integrate syllabi, and are flexible in switching teaching positions to make the most of opportune teaching moments.  Quality comes with experience and practice, bringing planning and strategy into the full teaching environment.  This move has brought teaching from its solo perspective into a realm of collective learning and transformation, inhibiting "random curriculum tinkering that has characterized so many of the past efforts at educational reform" (pg. 8).

Using learning communities as levers for change

Building learning communities occurs as the organisation transforms through collective stages of development.  Organisational structures must be planned so as to support ongoing growth and development.

The Evergreen State college

The founding mission of this college is to remain as current fifty years on as it is presently, where it enjoys celebrity as a national resource.  Their working model is continually adapted to transform other more traditional institutions.  The original design of the institutions curriculum strategy was inspired by Meiklejohn.  Firstly, he believed that reductionism in curriculum lacked clarity when divided into components; secondly, in stimulating both individual and faculty members' intellect, progression and evolution occur naturally.  The benefits range from being cost-effective, scalable, and adaptable.  Organisational process and structure is interwoven with educational philosophy (e.g. epistemic belief).  It is known that learning communities enable good working relations by means of its adaptability to change.  Guidelines are as follows:

1. interdisciplinary study;
2. collaborative learning;
3. the linking of theory and practice;
4. personal authority and engagement; and
5. learning across significant differences and diversity.

Faculty members of Evergreen have their portfolios assessed as a matter of faculty record to document their evaluation.  The nuances of behavioural output displayed by students is constructive to self-evaluate feedback and is supportive of team teaching.


Clearly, the culture at Evergreen is one of innovation and adaptability as experimentation is an acceptable ongoing proven process.  "Low boundaries and fluid structures such as the tradition of faculty members rotating into administrative roles as deans, the practice of recreating much of the curriculum each year, the hiring of broadly trained faculty, and the presence of curricular planning units that have no budgetary or hiring authority ensure that the institution will not revert to traditional forms" (pg. 11).

Mature communities have a culture that is sustained by consistent and developing structure.  It is therefore crucial to have a highly intuitive approach in creating faculty recruitment processes and to this end, summer faculty institutes have emerged.


Wagner College
Wagner, a liberal arts center, is located in an environment known for its natural beauty.  The impact this has on creativity has had significant influence on its culture.  The core of educational philosophy is one of experimentation that is deeply embedded in first year curricula.  It is a form of meditative activity that develops a freedom to explore self and environment, and translates as civic responsibility.  Topics are interrelated and segue into "practical experience, reflection and synthesis" (pg. 12).  New faculty members are expected to begin their career at Wagner teaching first year curricula, and to commit to a minimum of three years with the community.


Experience generates an holistic understanding and a culture that is imbued with discipline.  Continuing discourse develops terminology, or a language, that is specific to the community and describes the abstract (e.g. tacit knowledge).  Since the Wagner Plan was implemented, enrollment and staff retention has significantly increased.  An overall rise in finances sustains the evolving community that struggled in the late 90's.


Community colleges and the quest for quality
The institutions of further education are often viewed as a strategic feeder for higher education.  The apparent dysfunction to this success is the independence of curricula strategy that blocks integration.


Learning communities maintain community colleges by incorporating the behavioural changes observed in the environment.


La Guardia Community College
La Guardia became a center of experimentation when integrated learning was embedded in program structures.  Students engage in vocational learning as part of degree programs.  Course programs delivered learning sympathetic to the needs of the environment.  The educational philosophy underpinning LaGuardia is a culture that develops an ethos of learning.  Teaching students about goals and goal-setting is of prime importance.  As curricula revolves around teaching towards professional qualifications, students have many points of entry, thus enrollment rates increased substantially.


A short ten years after instituting learning community structures, a professional discussion panel made up of academics deconstructed the knowledge gained from multi-level practice.  A shared language grew as communication grew more sophisticated.  Conversations that come up during dedicated sessions are unlikely to occur during the course of a normal working day.


Skagit Valley College
Students were obliged to take learning community programs in order to make the grade.  Learning communities are known to have an impact on reciprocal teaching.  Sharing information with both faculty and student members brings new awareness, or a new perspective, from which to see things from thereby engendering the changes required to systematically sustain evolution.  Clarity in direction emerges through critical analysis.  This type of feedback is constructive in supporting the community's strategic goals.


Observations of internal structure have made the connections between learning goal-setting at Skagit and going on to higher education.  College instigated research is currently investigating the performance of students who complete both programs to increase the validity of their practice.


How learning communities work as levers for change

1. Learning communities are clearly positioned, aimed at large arenas and issues, and are central to the organisation's mission.  The structure of a learning community is a stabilising factor in academia.  This core is reflected and embedded to perpetuate generational learning cycles and phases of development.
2. Learner centered leadership is a key component of effective learning communities.  Transformation occurs at grass-roots level indicating a shift from traditional hierarchy to flattened power sources that diffuse controlling tendencies and elitism.
3. While not the only "quality strategy", learning community initiatives offer a high leverage point for the pursuit of quality.  Learning community members are deeply embedded in the culture (e.g. living the life) which is a different approach from communities that attract members through external participation (e.g. involuntary participation).
4. Learning communities meet faculty where they are.  As learning communities practice on-site, theoretical models and conceptions of new practice become discourse developed from social interaction.
5. Successful institutions have created new organisational structures, roles, and processes and appropriate resource investments to support their learning community programs.  Deliberate investment yields results.  By investing in faculty members (e.g. time to attend training and reflection programs) the community continually draws upon the environment to identify areas for further research.
6. Successful programs attract and reward competent people and create a context to build a sense of community and learn from each other.  Embedded culture sustains the community as phases of development move senior members towards retirement.  Recruitment processes are designed to instill team spirit.
7. Successful programs have a living mission and a lived educational philosophy of reaching toward more effective practices.  The potential for readiness to action is high in learning community members (e.g. positive restlessness) that drives a continual learning process.  Situated activity relies on the benefits of high-functioning members.

The future of learning communities

Sustainable development in learning communities is not only a practical method of sustaining an interest in learning, it is also a pragmatic and financially stable practice.  Community discourse is built up based on culture and language through narratives of social interaction.  Core philosophy integrates the foundation of educational practice allowing focus to remain on the objective.  While there is a plethora of learning communities, those listed are distinguishable because of strong links to community, individual and group.

Winch, A. and Ingram, H. (2002). Re-defining the focus of workplace learning

Winch, A. and Ingram, H. (2002).  Re-defining the focus of workplace learning.  International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 14(7), pp. 361 - 367.  Retrieved on June 5, 2010 from http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezproxy.usq.edu.au/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?contentType=Article&Filename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/0410140706.pdf

Introduction

The rise and domination of essential technology has caused a scramble to secure market share economy.  Organisations have realised the unique competitive edge knowledge brings, and platforms to secure global information are now available at the touch of a button.  Winch and Ingram state that the prevalence of choice indicates there is an uncertainty about the direction in which technology is growing.  Questions they pose concerning e-learning strategies:

• How do people learn?  We contend that the energy must be focused on the learner, not on the technology.
• How will technology inform the relationship between the individual and the organisation?
• Will this relationship be characterised by a pre-defined box of knowledge or will it provide the freedom to think and create?

A study of Interbrew, UK provided a learning and development model that has transformed the organisation from a competency-based learning community to a curriculum that embeds corporate strategy.

Learning and maturity

Epistemic belief, or personal construct, is either the block or motivation to accepting change.  Social interaction is a means to make collective meaning and create new standards.  Supportive structures in communities embed learning activities.  However, training programs are seen to teach an individual superficial abilities, whereas learning is a deeper cognitive process that empowers.  The content and quality of training programs ensures quick success that facilitate the know-what stage of development.  Learning is born of a desire to know how and why.

Developing learning systems within communities generates a bond in members that encompasses the tacit underlying function of the organisation.  As learning comes from the ground up, novice members are introduced to holism as a perspective from which to view the community.  Action learning involves collaborative sense-making negotiated from the environment.

The developmental stage that an individual is engaged with is reflective of the capacity for behavioural output.  IQ levels are somewhat secondary in significance to the influence, or internal pressure, an individual has over negotiated meaning-making.

Piagett's model of child development, researched to identify the seven stages of adult development, shows that stages can only be processed over time (e.g being 30 or 40 years old is not better or worse than any other age, it's just different).  Winch and Ingram describe the stages as:

1. Opportunist.  Focus is on self-awareness, self-interest, self-protection and impulse;
2. Diplomat.  Is defined by socially acceptable behaviour and belonging.
3. Expert.  An internal craft logic rules, there is strong need for consistency and improvement.  Rational behaviour is exhibited;
4. Achiever.  Heavily focused on results, goals and plans;
5. Individualist.  Has an awareness of relativity, and is confident in her ability to create an impact.
6. Strategist.  Is process- and goal-oriented, with a comprehensive  understanding of organisational systems.  Development over time.
7. Magician.  There is an interplay of awareness, thought, action and effect.  Transforms self and others.

• up to and including achiever status - conventional;
• individualist, strategist and magician - post-conventional.

16% of the studied population tested positive for post-conventional status, and 1% tested positive for magician status.  Managerial groups are predominantly post-conventionalists.  The stage an individual is in correlates to learning styles and approach to life.  The effectiveness of individual lies in her maturity.

Research

Using Interbrew as a case study, Winch and Ingram were able to integrate theory with tests and interviews when researching action learning.  Ultimately, they learned that action learning requires more than just a content driven program.  Furthermore, the level of maturity managers have directly influence the approach taken.

Action learning

Interbrew runs training through its business school.  Interviews with employees gave clear indication that action learning allows individuals to process information in such a way that multi-level learning occurs (e.g. improved networks, new relations).  Traditional hierarchical roles are flattened as group members bond and work together according to competence.  Novice or junior members feel a sense of engagement, that contributed pragmatism offers new insight.

Leadership maturity program

Of the 47 test respondents, most were categorised as having the achiever profile, with expert and individualist profile-types came next.  There were 2 diplomats and 1 strategist.

Results of the study revealed that each individual who attended training reported an increase in positive self-perception and value.  Action learning was found to facilitate the need for reflection on direction and goals.  Additionally, the level of maturity an individual possesses affects factors such as task performance, function and gender.  In view of the fact that individuals process developmental stages in their own time and according to their experience, management trainers are required to consider methods of assessment that enhance reflective learning.

Summary findings from the research

contributions from the interviews reveal the following:

• individuals are characterised by epistemic belief that shapes internal passion, reason, identity, and future;
• learning is chaotic in that it is not a linear process, and very often does not conform to behavioural input-output theory immediately, or recognisably;
• as individuals develop at different times, support structures work best when processes are learner-driven and learner-centered;
• the complexity of developing future talent in-house should not be left to operations managers who are guided by "toolkits".  An active and integrated approach is required.
• action learning is an explicit strategy that raises an awareness of the value of knowledge by creating varied outcomes.  The variety in outcomes experienced is a reminder that each individual realises potential in abstract ways that expresses epistemology.
• leaders are required to demonstrate the abilities developed from double-loop learning, and to work reliably within diversity and adversity.  The ability to build and maintain genuine trustworthy relations internally and externally generates the courage to actively contribute towards community mission.
• the organisation transformed to the stage of achiever/expert, which suggests that while individualists have much to contribute, they were rejected.

A revised model

Winch and Ingram's hypothesis was confirmed by the study, with minor modifications made to the model as praxis confirmed theory.  Themes from literature were identified, but the exact nature of what happens between learning and outcome has not been isolated.  Given this, Winch and Ingram present a revised model.

The second model is completely learner-centered instead of viewing the individual as one of several vital aspects.  Interpersonal congruence interlinks social groupings to form culture, that leads to innovation and creativity in acceptable standards.  Meaning-making and identity is a negotiated compromise that is fundamental to the learning process.

The study findings

Interbrew verified that action learning makes a strong impact in supporting group strategy.

Evaluation of current learning provision

Observations of prior practice included the analysis of role model skills and attributes.  While specialists bring expert knowledge, they are not always equipped to manage or transmit learning.  Appraisals require updates to take into consideration the new needs of individuals within the current context.

Study recommendations

Based on their findings, Winch and Ingram propose three central themes: strategic principles; learning and development expertise; and an overarching framework.  With individuals at the forefront, the learning experience should focus on activity as an integral function to acquiring content.  Thus, new principles to be adopted as a matter of concern are:

• human centered learning strategies;
• having the perception that organisations are living entities, rather than machines;
• expecting human behaviour, and not conceptual modes of being;
• holistically accepting the individual in order to align learning strategies that realise potential.
• implementation of these principles be contained to individuals who have established the role as a career in the field so that learning becomes a 'gateway' rather than an 'add-on'.

Integrating the learning model and recommendations

Given that individuals learn at their own pace, the learning and development strategy can only hope to effect the right environment.  In reconciling organisation and individual through education, separation occurs.  Personal paradigm shifts are required (e.g. non-delusional).  When constraints are 'discovered' through learning, resistance occurs.

Implications for learning and development in organisations

Knowledge workers are becoming an asset and valued resource as organisations do their best to sustain a competitive edge.  Until an individual has achieved a sustainable life for herself, working memory is distracted.  Personal development becomes a pressing need and, if aligned with organisational purpose, enjoyment can be found in correlated growth.  Organisational literature perpetuates the perspective of current development and are practical approaches to building metatheory.