Transfer of Learning Acquired through Communities of Practice and Blended Learning Activities

Author(s):

Aleix Barrera-Corominas(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

01. Continuing Professional Development: Learning for Individuals, Leaders, and Organisations

Format:

Paper

Session Information

01 SES 10 C, The impact of professional development on teaching practices

Paper Session

Time:

2015-09-10

15:30-17:00

Room:

428.Oktatóterem [C]

Chair:

Orsolya Kereszty

Contribution

Transfer of training to the workplace is understood as the application of knowledge acquired through training processes to the workplace and its maintenance in a certain period of time (Baldwin & Ford, 1988). Transfer has been analysed as the previous step to generate impact to the organisation in different models which aim is to know how training activities delivered by companies to it’s employees can affect company results (Kirkpatrick, 1959; Le Boterf, 1991; Pineda, 2000 & Phillips, 2006). Even though evaluate training impact is so important for companies; there are few that systematically this level. As American Society for Training and Development (cited by Ruona, Lemiach, Holton & Bates, 2002) shows, 77% of companies collect information about employees reaction, 38% of them evaluate which is the knowledge that employees acquire in training activities, and only 7% of these companies evaluate how this new knowledge is used on the workplace.

There are some specific models that focus it’s attention to know how much knowledge acquired on training activities is transferred to the workplace (Noe & Schmit, 1986; Olsen, 1988 & Holton, 2005), and this agree that there are 3 factors: employee characteristics, training design and workplace environment (Baldwin & Ford, 1988; Burke & Hutchins, 2007).

We also know that there are come other activities, different from training, where employees can learn and acquire new knowledge that can be usefully to improve his behaviour and how they develop their job. We are talking about knowledge acquired through participation in Knowledge Creation and Management processes, specifically in Communities of Practice (Kimmble & Hildreth, 2005; Gairín, Fernández de Álava & Barrera-Corominas, 2013). We understand Communities of Practice as a group of people with a shared interest or problem who informally interchange knowledge and experiences in order to learn and fin solutions (Wenger, 2006)

In this paper we present the results from on-going research which aim is to analyse which are the variables involved in the transfer of knowledge acquired by the participants of CoP in the frame of Department of Justice of the Catalan Government. We also recollected data from participants in blended learning activities in the same organisation. Through a comparative analysis between data recollected from participants in Communities of Practice and also from participants in blended learning activities we expect to understand if the variables that affect transfer of learning are the same in the case of those who participate in CoP and those who participate in blended learning.

Method

The purpose of this research is descriptive, because it seeks to provide an accurate description of which are the factors that can affect transfer or learning acquired through CoP and blended learning programmes in the framework of Department of Justice of the Catalan Government. To collect some data about which is the level of knowledge transferred to the workplace, and also some information about the variables that affect this transfer, we design a questionnaire addressed to CoP and Blended Learning participants, which contains three categories of indicators based on Burke & Hutchins (2007). These categories are: (1) Workplace Characteristics; (2) Participants Characteristics; and (3) Activity Characteristics. The full instrument is available at Barrera-Corominas (2014). Each indicator is measured with a Likert scale from 1 (totally disagree) to 4 (totally agree). During the analysis of data, liker scale was reduced in order to improve reliability. The final scale was 1 (which include level 1 and 2) and 2 (which include level 3 and 4). The analysis of the variables was performed using T tests for continuous variables and Chi-square in categorical variables. When distributions are small we use Manwhitney U test. As we say before, this is an on-going research, which will be complemented with some qualitative data collected from interviews and discussion groups where different stakeholders will be invited to participate.

Expected Outcomes

All participants were invited to complete the questionnaire. On that moment a total of 251 have answered the questionnaire, although we can see that not all the participants complete the full questions. The first results show that participants in CoP have a better perception of supervisor support to participate in the activities than the ones who participates in blended learning. At the same time, we can see that the indicators associated to the organisation environment have better results in the case of CoP participants. On the variables associated to participants’ characteristics, we can not see differences between the ones who participated in CoP and the ones who participated in blended learning activities. However, we can see that the attitudes of both participants when they finished the activity are lower than when they stared. If we focused the analysis on the variables associated with the activity, we can see that the most important differences between both groups of participants are that in the case of CoP the activities are more related with the workplace than in the case of blended learning. Anyway, this is an on going research and the final results may change when all the data will be collected and globally analysed.

References

Baldwin, T.T. & Ford, J.K. (1988). Transfer of training: A review and directions for future research. Personnel Psychology, 41, 63-105. Barrera-Corominas, A. (2014). Aprendizajes adquiridos por la participación en Comunidades de Práctica (CoP): elementos para su transferència al puesto de trabajo en el ámbito de la Adminsitración Pública. En A. Medina Rivilla, C. Rodríguez Serna & D.A. Ansoleaga San Antonio (Coord.) Desarrollo de las Instituciones y su incidencia en la innovación de la docencia. (pp. 1-2 ) Madrid: Editorial Universitas Burke, L. & Hutchins, H. (2007). Training transfer: and integrative literatura review. Human Resource Development Review, 6 (3), 262-296. Kimmble, C & Hildreth, P. (2005). Dualitie, distributed communities of practice and knowledge management. Journal of knowledge Management 9 (4), 102-113. Le Boterf, G. (1991). Ingeniería y evaluación de planes de formación. Madrid: Deusto Gairín, J.; Fernández-de-Álava, M. & Barrera-Corominas, A. (2013). Communities of Practice, Informal Learning and Impact in the Workplace: Catalan Public Administration Networks. En Educational Reflective Practices, Anno 3 N.2/2013, 33-53. Holton E. (2005). Holton’s Evaluation Model: New Evidence and Construct Elaborations. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 7, 37-54. Kirkpatrick, D. (1959). Techniques for evaluating training programs. Journal of the American Society for Training and Development, 13 (11), 3-9. Noe, R. & Schmit, N. (1986). The influence of trainee attitudes on training effectiveness: test of a model. Research in personnel and human resources management. 10, 345-384. Olsen, J.H. (1998). The evaluation and enhancement of training transfer. International Journal of Training and Development, 2(1), 61-75. Pineda, P. (2000). Evaluación del impacto de la formación en las organizaciones. Educar, 27, 119-133. Phillips, J. (2006). Invertir en el capital humano. Bilbao: Deusto Ruona, W.E.; Leimach, M.; Holton, E. Y Bates, R. (2002). The relationship between learner utility reactions and predicted learning transfer among trainees. International Journal of Training and Development, 6 (4), 218-228. Wenger, E. (2006). Communities of Practice. A brief introduction. Retrieved from http://www.ewenger.com/theory/communities_of_practice_intro_WRD.doc

Author Information

Aleix Barrera-Corominas (presenting / submitting)

UNIVERSITAT AUTÒNOMA DE BARCELONA, Spain

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