CSCL@Work: Making Learning Visible in Unexpected Online Places Across Established Boundaries

We introduce Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) at the workplace (CSCL@Work) as a conceptual framework for bridging the knowledge of researchers in the field of CSCL to work-based learning. Research in the field of Organizational Learning emerged in 1978, and gained further attention in the 1990’s when challenges centered on the creation of organizational cultures to support existing knowledge sharing. In contemporary firms, shepherding the creation of new knowledge is of equal importance, and is driven by two primary research questions. First, how do organizations create new knowledge when the answer to a particular problem is not available within the firm? Second, what cultures of learning must and do exist to support solving problems when the answer is not known within an organization? Contemporary answers to these questions must recognize that learning is an implicit, often invisible component of work, and explicitly decouple the construct of learning from its main western institutionalization, the school. To advance thinking in this area, we undertook a meta analysis of 8 CSCL@Work cases and developed 3 design theses: 1) Learning occurs in unexpected and unusual online learning places, especially through Social Media. 2) Learning activities incorporate feedback from diverse people, who are not available within traditional organizational boundaries; 3) learning must be made visible across established boundaries. Designing explicit construction of new knowledge needs to be integrated into workplace practices today through pedagogical and technological design.