Ditte Lockhorst

E-Learning in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises across Europe Attitudes towards Technology, Learning and Training

There is little doubt that e-learning has had a major impact in large companies, both in allowing the extension of training provision and in facilitating professional development activities. However, the picture is far less clear when it comes to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Technology and attitudes of managers and employees seem to form potential drawbacks to e-learning initiatives in SMEs. Questionnaire data have been gathered from more than 400 owner-managers of SMEs in 7 European countries. Furthermore, 105 owner-managers and 5 employees from 105 of these firms have been interviewed on aspects of e-learning in their company. The overall picture of e-learning in small firms across seven European countries was fairly negative: owner-managers generally did not show positive attitudes towards technology, learning and training in companies. These attitudes are strongly related to technology infrastructure in the company and vary among companies of different size and from different economic sectors. L’apprentissage électronique dans les petites et moyennes entreprises au niveau européen Attitudes par rapport à la technologie, à l’apprentissage et à la formation Wilfried Admiraal Université d’Amsterdam, Pays-Bas Ditte Lockhorst Université d’Utrecht, Pays-Bas Il ne fait pour ainsi dire aucun doute que l’apprentissage électronique a eu une importance considérable sur les grosses sociétés, d’une part en permettant d’élargir les mécanismes d’apprentissage et d’autre part en facilitant les activités de développement professionnel. Ceci dit, la réalité est loin d’être aussi évidente quand il s’agit des PME (petites et moyennes entreprises). Il semblerait que la technologie et les attitudes des dirigeants et des employés sont des ombres potentielles au tableau du développement des initiatives d’apprentissage électronique dans les PME. Nous disposons de données de questionnaire, recueillies auprès de 400 propriétaires exploitants de PME de 7 pays européens. En outre, nous avons également interrogé, dans le cadre d’entretiens, 105 propriétaires exploitants et 35 employés de ces entreprises sur les différents aspects de l’apprentissage électronique dans leur société. L’impression générale qui s’en est dégagée — à savoir sur ce type d’apprentissage au sein des petites entreprises, dans les 7 pays européens concernés - a été plutôt négative. En effet, les propriétaires exploitants ont dans l’ensemble affiché des attitudes négatives en ce qui concerne la technologie, l’apprentissage et la formation dans les sociétés. Ces attitudes sont étroitement liées à l’infrastructure technologique de la société et diffèrent selon la taille et le secteur économique de chaque société. La enseñanza electrónica en las pequeñas y medianas empresas por toda Europa Actitudes hacia la tecnología, enseñanza y capacitación Wilfried Admiraal Universidad de Amsterdam, Países Bajos Ditte Lockhorst Universidad de Utrecht, Países Bajos Sin duda alguna la enseñanza electrónica ha tenido un gran impacto sobre las grandes empresas, al ampliar los medios de aprendizaje y facilitar las actividades de capacitación profesional. No obstante, el panorama es menos claro cuando se trata de las pequeñas y medianas empresas (PYME). La tecnología y las actitudes de los directores y empleados aparentemente ponen trabas a las iniciativas de enseñanza electrónica en las PYME. Se dispone de datos recopilados de encuestas a más de 400 directores propietarios de PYME en siete países europeos. Además, fueron encuestados 105 directores propietarios y 35 empleados de 105 de dichas empresas sobre los aspectos de la cuestión de enseñanza electrónica en su compañía. El panorama general de la enseñanza electrónica en siete países europeos fue bastante negativo: los directores propietarios por lo general no demostraron una actitud positiva hacia la tecnología, enseñanza y capacitación en las compañías. Estas actitudes están estrechamente vinculadas con la infraestructura tecnológica de la compañía y varían según el tamaño y el sector económico de cada empresa. E-Learning in Europas kleinen und mittelgroßen Unternehmen Standpunkte zu Technologie, Lernen und Ausbildung Wilfried Admiraal Universität von Amsterdam, Niederlande Ditte Lockhorst Universität Utrecht, Niederlande Es gibt wenig Zweifel, dass E-Learning bisher große Auswirkungen auf die Ausweitung des Ausbildungsangebots und die Erleichterung der beruflichen Weiterentwicklungsaktivitäte n in großen Unternehmen hatte. Das Bild ist jedoch im Bezug auf kleine und mittelgroße Unternehmen (KMUs) nicht ganz so klar. Technologien und Standpunkte von Managern und Angestellten scheinen potenziell Hindernisse für E-Learning-Initiativen in KMUs zu erzeugen. Mit Fragebögen wurden Daten von 400 tätigen KMU-Geschäftsführern in sieben Europäischen Ländern gesammelt. Darüber hinaus wurden 105 tätige Geschäftsführer und 35 Angestellte aus 105 dieser Unternehmen über Aspekte des E-Learnings in ihrem Unternehmen befragt. Das Gesamtbild des E-Learnings in kleinen Unternehmen in sieben europäischen Ländern war recht negativ: Die Geschäftsführer zeigten im Allgemeinen keine positive Haltung gegenüber den Technologien, dem Lernen und der Ausbildung innerhalb der Unternehmen. Diese Standpunkte stehen im Zusammenhang mit der technologischen Infrastruktur im Unternehmen und hängen von der Größe und dem Wirtschaftszweig des Unternehmens ab.

Design Elements for a CSCL Environment in a Teacher Training Programme

In the design of a Telematic Learning Environment (TLE) in which student teachers learn collaboratively, we consider three clusters of design elements as important: the Telematic Work Environment, the guidance of the instructor and the task instruction. We will have a look at the way group and task behaviour, triggered by these design elements influence the collaborative outcomes. Experiments have revealed that the technical environment is not as important as we had expected beforehand. This research shows that the task instruction (pre-imposed structure, role taking and intrinsic motivation for the task) and the group process itself have far more impact on the online collaborative work of the student teachers.

CSCL in teacher training: what learning tasks lead to collaboration?

Professional teacher communities appear to be positively related to student learning, teacher learning, teacher practice and school culture. Teacher collaboration is a significant element of these communities. In initial teacher training as well as in‐service training and other initiatives for teacher learning, collaborative skills should be addressed in, for example, collaborative learning tasks, supported with technology. In this study, eight learning tasks of three initial teacher training programmes were investigated concerning the collaboration of 41 student teachers. Various task elements (structure, learning goal and content) affected the participation of student teachers in the tasks, their interaction, and the nature of their communication. The results indicate that reflection‐oriented tasks stimulated participation, and in combination with task structure also interaction. Structured tasks which required critical reflection on personal experiences and perspectives triggered task‐related communication and a deep level of information exchange.

Affordances of teacher professional learning in secondary schools

ABSTRACT It is commonly understood that teachers in secondary school should develop throughout their career in order to stay as an essential factor in student learning. Schools can offer opportunities to link teachers’ professional learning to their school practice with a positive impact on teachers’ motivation to learn and the effectiveness of their learning. In this field study, teachers, school leaders, policy-makers, educational consultants and educational scholars were asked for their perceptions of conditions for teacher learning in school and of interventions in school to enhance teacher professional learning. These conditions and interventions were understood as affordances in schools that enable and support teacher professional learning. The main affordance in school these stakeholders mentioned was an open, but critical way in which teachers share their practices, collaborate and reflect upon their teaching practice. Collaborative practices seem to stimulate many interventions of teacher professional learning in school. Two implications of this finding are discussed. First, we suggest that the maximum teaching time should be reduced, team teaching should be more implemented or classes should be scheduled in such a way that teachers can meet. Second, distributed leadership approaches match with our findings about the role of school leaders in teacher professional learning.

The Sense of Community in School Scale (SCSS)

Purpose – Teacher communities might create excellent conditions for teacher learning in schools, such as a teacher dialogue. The way teachers perceive and interpret these conditions seems to be crucial for their effects on learning. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to develop and test the Sense of Community in School Scale (SCSS).Design/methodology/approach – The SCSS was completed by a sample of 271 Dutch school teachers and student teachers and related to self‐reported opportunities for teacher dialogue. It was hypothesized that sense of community and teacher dialogue were related, that teachers showed a stronger sense of community than student teachers, and that their sense of community was stronger related to teacher dialogue for teachers than for student teachers.Findings – Teachers showed higher scores on two of the six scales of the SCSS (group identity and meaningful relationships). For both teachers and student teachers, three aspects of sense of community (shared interaction repertoire, t...

Preparing pre-service teachers to integrate technology into K-12 instruction : Evaluation of a technology-infused approach

The quality of how technology is addressed in teacher education programmes is conditional for how student teachers apply technology in secondary schools after their graduation. Two technology-infused courses of one teacher education programme were evaluated. In line with studies on the development of pre-service teachers’ technological, pedagogical and content knowledge, two important enablers were distinguished: (1) teaching practice to enact what was learned in teacher education institution as well as to receive feedback from students on this enactment, and (2) modelling of teacher educators and teachers in school. Both enablers might require further development of knowledge and skills of both teacher educators and cooperating school teachers.

Teachers in school-based technology innovations: A typology of their beliefs on teaching and technology

In many innovations in technology and education in secondary schools, teachers are the crucial agents of these innovations. To select, match and support groups of teachers for particular school projects, school principals could be supported with insights into teachers’ beliefs about teaching, learning and technology. A teacher typology has been developed based on an online questionnaire completed by 1602 teachers from 59 Dutch secondary schools. Teachers are grouped on the basis of their beliefs about learned-centered teaching and attitudes towards technology, which underlie the school innovations that form the context of the current research. Five teacher types are distinguished: 1) Learner-centered teachers with technology, 2) Teachers critical of technology use in school, 3) Teachers uncomfortable with technology, 4) Teachers uneasy with learned-centered teaching and 5) Teachers critical of a clear-cut stance. This classification of teachers into these five types could be used to select or match the right group of teachers to a particular intervention or to organize different professional development activities for different types of school teachers.

A Framework for Designing a Model for Learning in Small and Medium Enterprises

Previous research has indicated that formal learning activities, such as online courses and face-to - face training are, in many cases, not appropriate for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Therefore in the European Work and Learn Together project a model for learning in SMEs is being developed that is based on the concept of the community of practice. This paper describes a framework for designing this model for learning in SMEs. The principles of communities of practice are used to derive the basic elements. The initial design is based on three clusters of fundamentals (basic elements, framework and presence).

Design Elemens for A CSCL Environment in a Teacher Training Programme

In the design of a Telematic Learning Environment (TLE) in which student teachers learn collaboratively, we consider three clusters of design elements as important: the Telematic Work Environment, the guidance of the instructor and the task instruction. We will have a look at the way group and task behaviour, triggered by these design elements influence the collaborative outcomes. Experiments have revealed that the technical environment is not as important as we had expected beforehand. This research shows that the task instruction (pre-imposed structure, role taking and intrinsic motivation for the task) and the group process itself have far more impact on the online collaborative work of the student teachers.