Learning Linkages and Flows between Individuals, Groups, and the Organization: Creating Programs to Foster Student Engagement in Learning

Continuous, “lifelong” learning is not just needed in individuals. Groups and organizations need to learn continuously as well. Although we know a fair amount about how individuals learn (Meltzoff, Kuhl, Movellan, & Sejnowski, 2009) and there is a growing body of literature about how groups and organizations learn (Scribner & Donaldson, 2001, Senge, 2006, Sessa & London, 2006), little is known about continuous learning prompted by the interface between individuals, groups, and organizations. We begin by identifying parallel learning constructs and processes at the individual, group, and organizational levels, and then we briefly discuss a few theories that have addressed learning flow between these three levels. Finally, we analyze a case of an interorganizational project team encompassing subgroups from a number of different universities who are charged with making change within their institutions and sharing their learning at the project team level. While the original aim of the project was to impact student learning, the project team (and the organization housing the project team) soon learned that in order to do so, they also had to concentrate simultaneously on student (individual), faculty (group), and university (organizational) learning as well.

Influences of National Culture on Continuous Learning: Implications for Learning Objectives and Performance Management

National culture influences the experience of continuous learning for individuals; this has implications for how the multinational organization might support continuous learning and consequent behavioral change. The chapter examines these influences through the comparative frameworks of national culture developed by Hofstede ( 1980 ; 2001 ) and in the GLOBE project (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, & Gupta, 2004). What cultural differences mean for the objectives and management of continuous learning is explored by contrasting job competence and performance management in Confucian Asia (e.g., China and Japan) with that of Anglo societies such as Great Britain and the United States. Insight into how multinational firms might support continuous learning and behavioral change is offered. To be effective in a fast-evolving, global environment, firms must strike a balance between consistency of global imperatives and adaptation to local needs.

University Education: Leadership Development In and Outside the Classroom

This chapter illustrates model student leadership development programs offered at institutions of higher education and discusses leadership competencies needed to succeed in today’s global job market and our diverse society. Highlighted programs are rooted in developmental theories, such as Chickering’s psychosocial theory; function within proven frameworks, including the Social Change Model of Leadership and Leadership Challenge; and include service-learning projects to optimize transformative learning and ethical leadership. The chapter concludes with areas for further research related to the sustainable impact of leadership development programs, as well as content and delivery methods of student leadership development programs that are tailored for diverse learners, including nontraditional-aged college students and students of varied cultural ancestry, such as Asian, Middle Eastern, and Indigenous Peoples.

Kegan’s Theory of Development Applied to Community College Students

The current study applies the developmental learning theory of Robert Kegan to the community college classroom. In focusing on the work of community college students, the authors will reflect on the observed cognitive abilities of incoming students and proceed to chart their growth as learners. While acknowledging that community college students represent an extremely wide range of age and experience, the authors chose to study “emerging adults,” those students who, in their late teens, are just at the cusp of achieving a complex view of themselves and others. The authors hope to show that such learners stand a much better chance of evolving into complex thinkers and effective problem-solvers when given a support structure (a bridge) to smooth their way.

Assessment Centers: A Blended Adult Development Strategy

This chapter addresses and defends a growing trend in the application of Assessment Centers as a management development strategy for adult learning and describes how innovations in technology can elevate a traditional assessment center design to allow for a comprehensive blended learning approach that supports multiple styles of learning and learners. Drawing on best practices, the chapter offers a guideline for designing and implementing an assessment center. The chapter also examines innovations in technology-enhanced assessment centers (TEACs) as a way to add to the fidelity and impact of an assessment center experience. The chapter includes client case studies and directions for practice and research.

E-Learning: New Opportunities and a View of the Future

E-learning refers to computer-delivered instruction including multimedia presentations, interactive simulations, educational games, and virtual classrooms. This chapter shows how e-learning can play an important role in lifelong learning to the extent that it is informed by research-based principles of instructional design and consistent with how people learn. The chapter provides an introduction to applying the science of learning to e-learning, summarizes a research-based theory of e-learning, summarizes research-based principles for the design of e-learning, and suggests future directions for research on e-learning.

Social Entrepreneurship: Learning Through Community Service

This chapter examines social entrepreneurship as a lifelong learning opportunity. It considers how people engage in, and learn from, social entrepreneurship as children, college students, mature adults, and seniors. Social entrepreneurship can start as early as childhood. The chapter examines how the field of social entrepreneurship developed and it’s link to corporate social responsibility. Social entrepreneurship is described as a learning process. Programs and methods for learning and supporting social entrepreneurship are described for people at different life stages. The chapter demonstrates that engagement in social entrepreneurship activities in one’s community or with one’s corporate colleagues can be a key to lifelong satisfaction and learning while repairing the world, locally or globally.

Assessing Learning Needs and Outcomes in Lifelong Learning Support Systems

This chapter describes methods of assessing the learning needs and evaluating the development of individuals within the context of a lifelong learning support system. Because lifelong learning is self-directed and informal in nature, we propose a needs assessment and evaluation design that is customized by participant. Participants are first assessed on various organizationally-relevant as well as lifelong-learning-relevant competencies and then linked, in a matrix format, to lifelong learning opportunities within and outside the organization that suit their competency needs. We then propose that, as learners engage in lifelong learning activities, they be periodically evaluated in terms of their improvement along different competencies. This information can be used to modify individuals’ lifelong learning program as well as, on the aggregate level, to inform decisions about how to allocate organizational resources and to provide evidence to support the system.

Learning Contexts and Contextual Learners: The Usage of Wireless Technology

Users of wireless technology are contextual learners. Wireless users learn from instant-and-anywhere feedback supporting informal roles of youth and adults or formal roles of students and employees. Just as learning contexts may be distinguished by kinds of wireless feedback, wireless users can also be differentiated into kinds of contextual learners who use different kinds of wireless technologies. Hence, we shall delineate how wireless services support learning contexts and technologies differentiate contextual learners.

Emerging Conceptualizations of Adult Training and Learning

The learning landscape is changing. Learning occurs throughout the day, utilizing new content areas and different methods for distribution. The purpose of this chapter is to highlight new directions in adult learning, differentiating it from more traditional forms of learning. Toward this aim, we focus on the what (i.e., content), how (i.e., delivery mechanisms), and why (i.e., issues driving change) of new directions in adult learning. We discuss recent trends in learning content, highlighting what areas are important for adults to know in today’s dynamic work environment. Then we review new directions in learning methodology, looking at how individuals access content (i.e., key evolving formal and informal delivery mechanisms). A discussion of underlying factors driving these workforce changes is then presented, specifying the issue of why there is a need for new directions. We end with points for consideration, drawing up years of training and education literature.