Technologies for Professional Learning

Abstract

Global, organisational and technological changes are transforming the world of work, which elevates the need for lifelong professional learning. Professional learning is expected to increase by 50% globally by 2040 (AlphaBeta, 2019). This demand is unlikely to be met through established forms of professional development, such as training and workshops that traditionally have enabled large numbers of people to reach a specific level of competency. There is a general recognition that simply scaling up conventional forms of professional development, such as training or degree programmes that require a long-term, full-time commitment, will not provide the volume or variety of professional learning needed. In the past, learning a standard curriculum has been helpful to enable large numbers of workers to learn skills and knowledge that apply to standard work practices. However, largescale training of a standard curriculum is not helpful for workers who need to learn specialist knowledge and individual work practices (Littlejohn & Margaryan, 2014). Each professional has to learn specific skills and knowledge to apply to niche problems and work tasks.

Informal learning from dealing with software-related problems in the digital workplace

“…Oftentimes, users have to troubleshoot and learn software by themselves in the course of their regular working tasks (Kiani et al , 2020), as it is challenging to cover these rapid developments with formal training (Kiani et al , 2020; Harteis, 2022). Second, while standard curriculums have been successful in training employees in standard work practices, knowledge workers increasingly have to deal with “fuzzy tasks” (Harteis, 2022, p. 417), as well as complex and niche problems (Littlejohn and Pammer-Schindler, 2022). Thus, problem-solving is a central requirement for knowledge workers, especially when dealing with complex software tools, but, at the same time, problem-solving is also considered an important source of informal learning in the workplace (Rausch, 2013; Kiani et al , 2020; Tynjälä, 2013; Tynjälä and Häkkinen, 2005).…”

“…In the present study, we investigate the antecedents of informal workplace learning from dealing with software-related problems in the workplace. For several reasons, it is assumed that informal learning will become increasingly important compared to formal learning (Littlejohn and Pammer-Schindler, 2022). First, software has become the most important tool for knowledge workers (Leiß et al , 2022; Littlejohn and Margaryan, 2014b, 2014a) and is subject to frequent updates and changes (Kiani et al , 2020).…”

“…Learning and problem-solving are complex phenomena that are influenced by various antecedents (Cerasoli et al , 2018; Jeong et al , 2018; Littlejohn and Pammer-Schindler, 2022; Noe et al , 2014; Tynjälä, 2008; Vu et al , 2022; Rintala et al , 2019). Thus, our study takes into account emotional experiences as well as the contextual factors of problem characteristics, team psychological safety and the location of work, in addition to the personal factors of the Big Five personality traits and self-efficacy, as potential antecedents of learning from software-related problem-solving.…”

Guest Editorial: Designing Technologies to Support Professional and Workplace Learning for Situated Practice

“…These changes come with a need for substantial and continuous workplace learning, and with the need for changes in how workplace learning happens [1]. Of course, digital technologies are already used to provide learning and training in workplaces [2]. However, most of these learning technologies have been developed for formal education (e.g., K-12 and higher education) rather than in workplace contexts.…”

“…Designing the future of workplace learning is an interdisciplinary challenge that mandates bringing together disciplines, such as the learning sciences, computer science, and humancomputer interaction, in ways that integrate work, learning, and technology [2]. Theories and methods from all these disciplines need to be brought together to identify problems and engineer potential solutions.…”