Bridget N. O'Connor

The Workplace Learning Cycle: A Problem-Based Curriculum Model for the Preparation of Workplace Learning Professionals.

Building on the conceptual foundations suggested in the previous two papers in this issue, this article describes the application of a workplace learning cycle theory to the construction of a curriculum for a graduate‐level course of study in workplace education. As a way to prepare chief learning officers and heads of corporate universities, the piece argues, one can engage students in the process of analyzing the learning and knowledge‐use in a work environment through the lenses of the pedagogical and curricular concepts in these and other writings. Moving beyond the traditional concept of “training” for specified competencies, the graduate program aims to enable students to understand and use the more generative concepts of workplace knowledge‐use, and to promote learning as an essential feature of organizational life.

Learning: The Experiences of Adults Who Work Full-Time While Attending Graduate School Part-Time

The experiences of students who are working full-time and going to graduate school part-time were the focus of this phenomenological investigation. Data analysis showed that these individuals, who reported high job involvement and strong career planning, were often stymied when they attempted to apply new ideas to the workplace. Those with strong social and family support reported feeling less stress than did those who did not, and preferred learning experiences in which they were active learners. Results from this exploratory study show that when individual characteristics, the academic environment, and the workplace environment are in alignment, individuals are most supported in becoming all they can be.

The Impact of Group Support Systems on Corporate Teams' Stages of Development

Through this quasi-experimental :field study, we investigated the impact of group support systems (GSS) on the development of two comparable corporate teams solving actual business problems. Tuckmans stages of development were the lens through which we viewed the team-building process. Tuckman maintained that teams go through a developmental schemata of forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning, and suggested that the way teams develop has a direct impact on both their task and social outcomes. Literature related to GSS and group processes, group characteristics, and task complexity provided the bases for the questions offered. In this field study, meeting sessions were audio-taped, transcribed, and used to paint a picture of the meeting process; to better understand what happened, we interviewed participants. Findings indicate that the two teams developed quite differently and that GSS impacted all stages, but most noticeably the storming stage. The commitment: of the teams to the assigned ...

Introducing the Office Systems Research Association's organizational and end-user information systems model curriculum

For the past two years, a dedicated team of information systems academics and practitioners have worked together to address the need for collegiate preparation of individuals who have skills related to being an information systems developer, troubleshooter, change agent, trainer, systems evaluator, and savvy business person. The Office Systems Research Association announces the publication of its four-year model curriculum entitled Organizational and End-user Information Systems (OEIS).