Integrating E-learning with Performance Support: Workplace Learning as Extension of Work

Abstract — The paper is a case study of E-learning introduced in a chain of gas stations in Norway. First we develop a conceptual framework for the analysis that distinguishes primary work and secondary work. Next we describe the design process of the E-learning system (web portal for short), as it is integrated with an existing work practice and performance support system. Then we conduct an empirical analysis of the adoption process of the integrated learning environment at selected gas stations. The analysis focus in particular on the multiple information-seeking strategies the employees make use of during work and which they rely on as they alternate between primary and secondary work. The findings are discussed in terms of “gap closing” primary and secondary work, and co-existence of old and new technologies. Index Terms —Evolutionary prototyping, learning-on-demand, participatory design, technology-enhanced workplace learning. I. I NTRODUCTION Since the introduction of the World Wide Web in the mid 1990s, online (web-based) learning has attracted a great deal of interest in the service sector in Norway and many companies are now pursuing web-based learning for all or part of their staff. Therefore, we refer to E-learning as web-based learning and we use the terms “web-based learning portal” and “web portal,” to refer to the educational technology. This form of learning can strengthen the integration of work and learning when part of the work is computer mediated, which is increasingly becoming the standard for most workplaces. The paper presents and analyzes data from a three-year Norwegian project, Learning and Knowledge Building at Work carried out between 2001 and 2004. This project was organized as a consortium of two companies in the service sector, the Federation of Norwegian Commercial and Service Enterprises, and three research institutes (one being the University of Oslo). A goal of the project was to introduce web-based learning in the two companies. One of the companies is the gas station division of an oil company (hereafter called ServiceCompany). A primary emphasis has been on using participatory design techniques during the planning stages and evolutionary prototyping during software development [14]. From the ServiceCompany’s point of view, web-based learning is a way to organize work to help reduce the high turnover rate among its employees. The average worker at a gas station stays in the company for about 12 months. Although the work at the gas stations is, for the most part, manual labor, it is thought that the addition of online training could extend this time by giving employees more enjoyable conditions in which to work. It was estimated that this could be achieved in at least two different ways: 1. Improving the interaction between customers and attendants; and 2. Providing online access to product information in a uniform way. Both of these goals are challenging. First, the work is not computerized. Computers are integrated in the cash register and through a single computer in the back office of the stations. Second, there are, to the best of our knowledge, no established theories of technology-enhanced workplace learning to guide our analytic efforts. We have developed a conceptual framework that integrates insights of a diverse (but compatible) set of existing theoretical frameworks that focus on different aspects of technology-enhanced workplace learning, namely situated action and apprenticeship learning [4, 17], learning on demand [7], computerized work [9], and gap-closing activity [6, 13]. This has helped us to identify secondary work characteristics, and to understand the similarity and complementarity of primary and secondary work. This paper will address the following: We start by identifying issues for workplace learning in order to develop a conceptual framework for analysis of educational technology adoption in a workplace and its early use. Next we describe techniques for involving users in the design process, followed by an evolutionary prototyping technique to incrementally deliver a web-based learning portal. Then, we make use of the conceptual framework to analyze findings from a field trial of a new web portal integrated with an existing work practice. At the end, we discuss our findings and compare our results to related research. II. I