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Friday, November 21, 2008

E-Learning Adoption in Organizations 4: Complexity of Practices

As outlined in yesterday's post, research undertaken by Bohlen and Beal (1957) indicated that complexity of practice is a significant factor in determining the value of a diffused idea or technology in organizations. They defined the following categories of complexity:

  • Change in material and equipment
  • Improved practice
  • Innovation
  • Change in enterprise
  • Cost

Change in material and equipment
By most measures, changes in materials and equipment are the simplest to implement. In the e-learning context, this could include changing from one authoring platform to another (i.e. from a commercially-available to an open-source content slide editor).

Improved practice
This second category of complexity, improved practice involves a change in methodology. An example of this would be moving from at traditionally content development cycle to a Rapid E-Learning approach.

Innovation
This category of innovation typically involved not only modifying the previous two categories, but also changes in regard to their use. An obvious example of innovation is an organization changing from an instructor-led learning and development approach to integrating e-learning into their strategy. Initially, this may look simple - the organization are merely changing the delivery channel(s) of content. But the adoption of e-learning demands a more sophisticated set of changes which affect everything from the theory and practice used to develop courseware, the skills and resources needed to develop materials, through to the impact of the innovation on the learners within the organization. Managing change successfully at this level requires the development of an effective adoption strategy to ensure learners are guided through the Innovation Decision Process. Ultimately, an innovation will only be successful if the intended audience adopt it.

Change in enterprise
The next category of complexity of practice typically involves many innovations. An example of a change in enterprise would be the adoption of Rosenberg's Smart Enterprise Learning and Performance Architecture.

Cost
An important factor to consider when implementing a new set of ideas or technologies is cost.

Those practices which cost little seem to be adopted than more rapidly than those which are more expensive.

(p.3)

Similarly, those innovations which provide the greatest ROI in the shortest time are more likely to be adopted. For example, if, after an initial evaluation, followed by a pilot or trial, an e-learning initiative is deemed to have enabled the upskilling of a greater number of workers than the equivalent ILT course, or the costs associated with training (time out of production for workers, learning resources, time and expense associated with travel etc), then it is highly likely that this innovation will be implemented more widely across an organization. Once such an initiative has been rolled out, innovations seem to reach a tipping point - "the levels at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable" (Walsh, 2007). Once this point is reached, we can say that the innovations have become embedded as well-used practice .

More...

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References:

Bohlen, J. M., Beal, G. M. (1957) The Diffusion Process, Special Report No. 18 (Agriculture Extension Service, Iowa State College) 1: 56-77. [Internet] Available from: http://www.soc.iastate.edu/extension/presentations/publications/comm/Diffusion%20Process.pdf [Accessed 3rd November 2008]

Rogers, E. M. (2003) Diffusion of Innovations, 5th ed.. Simon & Schuster International.

Walsh, Bryan (2007-10-12). A green tipping point Time Magazine. [Internet] Available from: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1670871,00.html [Accessed on 19th November 2008]

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