The thrust of current EU policies is to emphasise the tremendous potential that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has for extending access to learning in workplaces, homes and communities. These claims have been based on a number of assumptions about learning with ICT. The assumptions are as follows. That: (i) it is fairly un-problematic to transfer existing curriculum materials into a digital form; (ii) the emphasis on self-directed on-line learning negates any considerations about pedagogy; (iii) the chief value of ICT is to provide access to learning materials that enable individuals to acquire recognised qualifications and companies to boost the qualification profile of their workforce. One consequence has been that EU policy has primarily focused on issues of access to ICT, rather than considering the forms of pedagogic support required to learn effectively with ICT. Another consequence has been a tendency to view ICT as offering separate resources to support working and learning, rather than as conceiving of such 'e'-resources as two strands of a single integrated process. A further consequence has been the tendency to view innovation as being education-led, rather than workplace-led and involving the establishment of new relationships between work, technology and learning. This symposium will explore different facets of working and learning with 'e' resources. The paper from: " Attwell will offer a social practice perspective on knowledge development in distributed communities of practice; " Lahn and Ludvigsen will offer an activity- theoretical perspective on the relationship between the use of 'e'-resources to facilitate learning amongst a cluster of networked SMEs; " De Laat and Lally will employ a social constructionist approach to outline a pedagogical approach that assist workplace communities to use 'e'- resources to solve work-based problems; " Guile will use ideas from activity and social practice theory to conceptualise the relationship between learning, different types of 'e' resources and different types of learning outcomes for individuals and enterprises. Taken in combination, the papers will elaborate and develop a variety of theoretical models for conceptualising the relationship between work, learning and technology. These theoretical models will provide new ways of addressing a series of inter-connected issues that lie at the heart of the debate about on-line learning in general and in VET specifically; namely knowledge creation, dialogic inquiry, boundary crossing and networked learning. One of the outcomes of the symposium will be to indicate how 'e'-resources offer new tools for: (i) to assist enterprises to support business development as well as individual and organisational learning; (ii) individuals to enable them to develop the capabilities to manage, share and create knowledge in the workplace as well as to facilitate the 'semiotic filtering' of e-accessed information. Another outcome will be to outline a range of emerging pedagogic practices as regards the use of 'e'-resources to support working and learning inside organisations and within networks. Chair: Graham Attwell Discussants:Stephen Billett, Griffiths University, Australia Paper 1. Graham Attwell. Paper 2. Sten Ludvigsen and Leif Lahn. Paper 3. Maarten de Laat and Vic Lally Paper 4. David Guile Abstracts PAPER 1 Developing knowledge in communities of practice Graham Attwell, ITB Bremen The paper will look at ways of using Information and Communication technologies for supporting and facilitating the development of knowledge in communities of practice. The authors have attempted to build a more interactive and collaborative approach to knowledge creation based on some of the ideas of Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995). The paper looks at supporting the careers guidance community in the UK by working together with participations including practitioners as well as researchers, who co-construct plans of action to extend their knowledge (Scardamalia and Bereiter (1994). The authors are experimenting with different software systems which support knowledge creating. These will be illustrated in the paper. PAPER 2 Vertical and horizontal development: Learning, work and technology as networked activities. Sten R. Ludvigsen and Leif Chr. Lahn, University of Oslo In this paper we address the relationship between learning as to sided endeavor in the development of vertical expertise (individual) and horizontal expertise (collective change) in different kinds of businesses. Based on a number of case studies in Norwegian firms where ICT is used to create new types of relationships between work and learning, we will present and discuss a framework to understand the complex relationships involved. As part of the CHAT (cultural-historical activity theory) framework there has been developed specific concepts such us boundary zone activity, boundary crossing and brokering, so that we could understand actors movements between activity systems and how learning is part of these movements and trajectories. By choosing more than one activity system as unit of analysis we can understand how change is created in the intersection between the use of new technologies and practices. PAPER 3 ICT support for workplace learning Maarten de Laat, IVLOS, University of Utrecht and Vic Lally, University of Sheffield This paper will focus on the question how 'e-resources' can be designed to support learning at the workplace. This is the place where valuable knowledge is being created and shared between the workers as they try to apply corporate knowledge and solve problems together. Organisations so far have spent a lot of sources and energy on the technical part of integrating and designing knowledge management and e-learning. However more investments in a pedagogical and social approach are necessary to make the use of 'e-resources' a success. We are interested in understanding and supporting these social learning process as the workers shape their collective activities using 'e-resources' like an online discussion forum. This paper will discuss how a more pedagogical approach can help workers to learn more effectively. PAPER 4 Epistemic activity, 'e'-resources and learning David Guile, Institute of Education The paper argues that EU policy will continually misunderstand the significance of 'e-resources' for individual and organizational learning and knowledge creation until ithe goals of policy encourage public and private sector enterprises to develop integrated frameworks for work, technology and learning. The paper outlines a conceptual framework for analyzing the use of 'e' resources to support knowledge creation and learning. Drawing on case study evidence, it (i) identifies the connections between management strategy, technology deployment and knowledge creation environments; (ii) outlines a range of emerging practices as regards the use of 'e-resources' to support working and learning inside the SMEs.