Traditionally, in economic organizations learning plans are derived from job profiles, roles employees obtain in the organization, and skills that HR development departments have determined and allocated to each job profile. The main issue that researchers see in this context is that the heterogeneity of employees, of learners, is not considered and has consequently a negative effect on learning outcomes and performance. Traditional learning plans (in my organization they are called “role-based curricula) do not consider differentiated learning in terms of pre-knowledge, learning preferences and background or orientation of learning. As we learned in course module 4, traditional learning formats (e.g. classroom trainings) make it very hard to address differentiated learning and to meet individual learning demands.

However, an organization must understand its responsibility to ensure that every employee is transformed, progresses and is able to understand and engage with the knowledge that is relevant to the employee. Instead of getting employees through static curricula, the employer has to make sure that every employee is able to represent the knowledge that meets the needs of the employee’s job profile and the organization as a whole.

Digital ecologies allow organizations to personalize and adapt learning experiences and instructions and this course introduced solutions to redesign learning in the digital space to tailor make learning experiences and instructions. However, in organizations, there is a cultural change required in order to transform traditional learning plans and formats to more tailor-made learning experiences in a digital space. Therefore, I would like to introduce the “learning facilitator” as a new role or job profile that is now trending in organizations in order to meet the demands in context of learning transformation.

Definition learning facilitator

"Anyone who facilitates the acquisition of knowledge and competences by establishing a favorable learning environment, including those exercising a teaching, training or guidance function. The facilitator orientates the learner by giving guidelines, feedback and advice throughout the learning process, in addition to assisting the development of knowledge and competences."

- Chochliouros, I., Heliotis, G., Spiliopoulou, A, Agapiou, G (2009)

Learning facilitators are employees in an organization who have the task to actively and directly help colleagues to create an atmosphere for learning, get to their learning goals, and to encourage discussions and interaction among learners within the organization across team or department borders. (Soyoung Kim, Minyoung Kim, Junhee Hong (2010)) 

Roles of facilitator; Source: Cserti, R. (2019)

Learning facilitator in an organization is not a teacher or trainer. Instead, learning facilitation is “the act of engaging participants in creating, discovering, and applying learning insights” (Adhikari, Sandesh (2019)) and guiding employees in an organization through their individual, personalized learning process by introducing and establishing a differentiated learning environment. 

Learning facilitation - Differences between facilitation and teaching; Source: Adhikari, Sandesh (2019)

The transformation of learning from a traditional curriculum view to a differentiated learning approach requires a fundamental cultural change in the organization. In my organization, learning facilitator drive this transformation of the organizational culture by delivering the idea that every employee does not necessarily have to obtain the same skill set, competencies and knowledge even though they have the same job profile. As described in course module 4, learners (in this example employees in an organization) don’t have to be the same to be equal in terms of efficiency.

This video describes how BOSCH interprets and implements differentiated learning in the organization’s culture:

Learning facilitators establish not only new ways of learning but also new ways of collaboration and communication. For example, learning facilitators can provide guidance for teams to practice critiquing. Employees may not be used to evaluate their team members’ outcomes. Given to the idea of recursive feedback and critiquing that has been introduced in this course, learning facilitators are responsible to encourage employees to consider their own work by drawing comparisons with the work of their colleagues and to empower them to practice new habits of giving and receiving feedback in context of a new learning culture in the organization.

Based on the idea of differentiated learning of course module 4, learning facilitation can help organizations deliver on the promise of democracy by giving all employees the same opportunity to reach their aspirations and learning goals to further develop on their current and future job. Learning facilitation is a trending topic, there are already courses available to become a certified learning facilitator. Personally, I plan to further shape and install the role of learning facilitator in my organization. I believe that learning facilitation is not necessarily connected to a full-time job. Learning facilitation might be even more effective if it is part of leadership and connected to a manager profile in the organization. I am excited to see how learning facilitation is developing in economic organizations. :-)

Sources:

BOSCH USA (2020): Learning and Development, URL: https://www.bosch.us/careers/why-bosch/learninganddevelopment/

Cserti, R. (2019): Essential Facilitation Skills for an Effective Facilitator, URL: https://www.sessionlab.com/blog/facilitation-skills/

Chochliouros, I., Heliotis, G., Spiliopoulou, A, Agapiou, G (2009): An Innovative E-Learning Platform for Vocational Training of European Local Police Forces, URL: https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/innovative-learning-platform-vocational-training/11899

Sandesh Adhikari (2019): Facilitation Vs Teaching: 20 Differences We Must Know!, URL: https://www.publichealthnotes.com/facilitation-vs-teaching-20-differences-we-must-know/

Smith, Kathleen (2017): Teachers as Self-directed Learners, URL: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-10-3587-6

Soyoung Kim, Minyoung Kim, Junhee Hong (2010): Integrated Design of Web-Platform, Offline Supports, and Evaluation System for the Successful Implementation of University 2.0, URL: https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/integrated-design-web-platform-offline/38307