self-regulated learning and knowledge sharing in the workplace

Anoush MargaryanLecturer in Learning Technology, Shell Research Fellow

Caledonian Academy, Glasgow Caledonian University ,UK

full paper

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Caledonian Academy – Shell Learningaction research partnership (2008/2009)

Prof. Allison Littlejohn, Shell Senior Researcher, Director of Caledonian Academy and Chair in Learning Technology

Dr. Colin Milligan, Shell and Caledonian Academy Research Fellow

Dr. Sebastian Graeb-Koenneker, Global Deputy Head of Design & Development, Shell Learning

Dr. Donna Hendrix, Knowledge Management Senior Analyst,Shell Learning

“Now, we own the means of production--it's in our heads. It's what we know and can do. Do we really want to turn that

over to the organization to decide? Or do we want to be the people who say `I'm going to take charge of my own learning. I'm going to be curious and pay attention to what's changing

and where things are going and I'm going to pro-actively prepare myself for those things, regardless of whether or not the organization tells me I need to learn this.` We shouldn't

be waiting to receive permission or be empowered. We should be seizing that power and doing everything with it

that we can“

Michelle Martin, The Bamboo Project

Emergent work practices: Bricolage, patchworking

Emergent environments: Distributed, dynamically-changing, technologically-mediated, complex or

chaotic

Emergent capabilities: self-regulation, self-organisation, operating in ill-defined domains &

across geographic boundaries, networking, peering, sharing

Emergent technologies: social, adaptive, intuitive

Do individuals have the capabilities and mindsets to be in charge?

“Education should above all consist in learning how to learn independently and eventually in unlearning. The former is arguably not even

possible in any meaningful and substantive way without the latter, and the latter is stronger and far more demanding that what is usually meant

by ‘critical thinking’ “

(Chokr, Unlearning or how not to be governed, 2009, p.6)

“The term which captures best what I mean by unlearning is perhaps Foucault’s notion of se deprendre, which I believe

presupposes something like desapprendre. As a preliminary characterisation, I would say that it consists in being moved by the desire and wilful determination not to be taken in.

Ultimately it is about unshackling oneself. It is about emancipating or liberating oneself from variously entrenched

and often unquestioned ways of thinking and doing by radically questioning, criticizing and rejecting the

assumptions and premises of much of what one has learned as part of the dominant and established system of

knowledge”

(ibid)

Forethought phase

Task AnalysisGoal setting

Strategic planning

Self-motivationSelf-efficacy

Outcome expectationsTask value/interest

Goal orientation

Performance phase

Self-controlTask strategies

ImagerySelf-instruction

Time managementEnvironmental structuring

Help seeking

Self-observationMetacognitive self-monitoring

Self-recording

Self-reflection phase

Self-judgementSelf-evaluation

Causal attribution

Self-reactionSelf-satisfaction/affect

Adaptive/defensive

Problem 1: most research in SRL is in formal instructional settings

Problem 2: Role of the collective in SRL not well understood

Problem 3: Impact of socio-cultural context not well understood

how experts self-regulate their learning in the workplace

how experts draw upon the collective in attaining their learning goals

experts’ perceptions of role of collective in learning

factors impacting experts’ motivation to share knowledge

Context: Production Chemistry CoP

Period: May-August 2008

Method: Questionnaire & interview

Survey sample: 37/672

Interview sample: 8/37

SRL in the workplace is deeply integrated with and guided by work tasks

SRL is not a clearly delineated process of planning, implementation and reflection

SRL is highly iterative

Goal perspective

“When I think about my learning needs I would speak to the skill pool bosses because the oil

industry is changing and it is identifying what is going to be needed in X number of years not necessarily what you are having to do right

now”.

Limited opportunities for systematic and deliberate reflection

Primacy of personal networks

Value to others is a motivating factor

“There is a part of me that thinks okay well if this person only knew that it could save them an extra couple of days of work and it will take me 5 minutes to write it down and send it to them. It is almost like a value investment ratio that I am

thinking to myself”.

“estimating the value you create is almost impossible. At best maybe one posting in ten you will get an email back

personally thanking you for it but even then you… don’t know what the impact is”.

differences and similarities in expert and novice patterns of self-regulation

nexus of individual and collective

methodologies and instruments to study self-regulation in real-world contexts in the workplace

Do individuals have the capabilities and mindsets to be in charge?