october 2011 - corporate distance education
TRANSCRIPT
ISSN 2179-8729
Year 1 Number 2 / October 2011
CORPORATE DISTANCE EDUCATION
Converging professional growth and company goals
http://www.fgv.br/fgvonline/revista
SUMMARY
04 - Corporate Universities: tracks taking new directions. Mary Murashima
26 - Interview Prof. Maria Tereza Fleury . Global Mindset and Distance Education
By Juliana Alvim
29 - Banco do Brasil Corporate University: the Open University of Brazil Pilot Project
Antonio Augusto dos Santos, Alexandre Marino, Marcos Tanure, Rafael Moré e Fabrício
Foganhole
42 Corporate Education: SEBRAE Corporate University and its learning tracks
Alzira de Fátima Vieira
53 Evaluation in distance learning: a corporate case study. Flávia Mello
68 Review: The next generation of corporate universities. Cristina Massari
EDITORIAL
In this second edition, Revista FGV Online (FGV Online Magazine) focuses on a theme of great
relevance when it comes to continuous education on the most different working fields: corporate
distance education.
Its first two articles emphasizes, mainly, the theoretical aspects related to the issue, while in the
others, the authors analyze Distance Education (DE) successful cases implemented on the
corporations they work or have worked.
Mary K. G. Murashima, deputy director and responsible for modeling and management of the
FGV Online corporate universities, outlines ideal pedagogical profile to implement a corporate
university.
Following, in an interview, Maria Tereza L. Fleury, EAESP director and FEA/USP professor,
attributes on the professionals that nowadays occupy leadership positions and about how DE may
contribute to develop the global mindset within the corporate culture. She was interviewed by
Juliana Alvim de Oliveira.
Gathering Five authors, the article elaborated by Antonio Augusto dos Santos, Alexandre Marino,
Marcos Tanure, Rafael Moré e Fabrício Foganhole, teachers, researches, and most of them,
professionals related to Universidade Corporativa do Banco do Brasil UniBB (Banco do Brasil
Corporate University, UniBB), shows its contribution to managing and financing the pilot project
of Universidade Aberta do Brasil (Brasil Open University) and the role played by DE on its teaching
methodology.
In the next article, Alzira de Fátima Vieira, manager of the Universidade Corporativa SEBRAE
UCSEBRAE (SEBRAE Corporate University - UCSEBRAE), describes and comments the structure of
the department under her guidance, focusing on the creation of communicative and interactive
actions meant to promote continuing education among the corporation coworkers. It also points
out the role of DE on the process.
atel, tell us about the importance of learning
evaluation in the corporations and the impact that a corporate education program, based on DE,
will have on the business. Starting by analyzing the Claro Telecomunicações case , her article
offers for discussion the matter of learning evaluation on corporate DE.
Allen, with innovative approaches aiming people development and expanding organizational
about the excessive
valorization of technological resources regarding and DE over learning issues.
Exploring the complementarities of the issues exposed, we invite you not only to participate of
this channel diffusion of academic knowledge as a reader, but also as an author. Revista FGV
Online (FGV Online Magazine) is open to your contribution and suggestions. With two themed
editions per year, our next issue will address Innovative Practices in Distance Education (know how
to subscribe your article)
Enjoy your reading!
Corporate Universities: tracks taking new directions
Mary Murashima (FGV/UERJ)
A corporate university is an educational entity that is a strategic
tool designed to assist its parent organization in achieving its
mission by conducting activities that cultivate individual and
organizational learning, knowledge and wisdom.
Mark Allen. The Corporate University Handbook.
Abstract
Considering the rising of a new scenery in which knowledge management and the new
information and communication technologies play striking role in corporate education
nowadays, this article intends to explore the possibilities of the so-called corporate universities
facing the new challenges presented to the organizational learning processes, with a real and
immediate possibility of adding value and creating competitive edge to the organizations.
Key words
Corporate university; distance education; knowledge management; organizational learning.
Resumen
Teniendo en cuenta el surgimiento de un nuevo escenario en lo cual la gestión del
conocimiento y las nuevas tecnologías de comunicación y información desempeñan un papel
importante en la educación corporativa en la contemporaneidad, este artículo tiene como
objetivo explorar las posibilidades de las llamadas universidades corporativas frente a los
nuevos desafíos presentados a los procesos de aprendizaje organizacional, como una
posibilidad real y inmediata de agregar valor y crear diferenciales competitivos para las
organizaciones.
Palabras clave
Universidad corporativa; educación a distancia; gestión del conocimiento; aprendizaje
organizacional.
Times of change
Every day the flow of information creation and utilization becomes more important to
firms endeavoring to deliver value to their customers and differentiate themselves from the
competition. For precisely that purpose, organizations have come to invest in their human
capital in order to secure gains in competitive advantage. This has been largely responsible for
the paradigm change in organization staff development since the 1980s, which has been
reflected in recent years in surprising growth in related initiatives and investments, and links
learning programs more closely to firms' real strategic goals and results.
As a result, new strategies and challenges have arisen for the teaching and learning
process, amidst the realities of the knowledge economy, which brings in its wake some major
-
the fact that performance evaluation is now bound up with a portfolio of job-related
qualifications; and the recognition that employees have come to take control of their careers
and to manage their own development.
What will be examined here is what is changing in the design of organizational
learning as mediated by corporate universities (CUs) and how that change is brought about
when firms come to take a proactive role in developing educational systems and setting up
corporate partnerships with the academic world with a view to creating a labor force capable
of operating successfully in the knowledge economy.
Knowledge management and value creation
Pedro Paulo Carbone, former executive manager of Banco do Brasil Corporate
of movement and change,
which is directed to the future in that it influences decision making and entails substantially
significant action.1 In short, what he reminds us is that knowledge can lead to value creation,
and this occurs as a function of various factors.
The first of these has to do with the fact that knowledge is forward looking. This
means that, albeit indirectly, knowledge makes it possible to deliver value to the customer,
who enjoys the benefits resulting from the use of products and services to which knowledge
has added innovation and improvements.
The second factor relates to the fact that knowledge influences decision-making,
which is to say that knowledge can be commercialized as a product or service, what is called
1 CARBONE, 2005.
the monetization of knowledge; which happens for example, when consultancy services are
provided or technologies are licensed.
The third factor has to do with the fact that knowledge entails substantially
significant action, which generates practical benefits in the customer's perception, as a
consequence of the previous two premises.
These premises lead to two rather interesting, and at the same time paradoxical,
conclusions. Knowledge is a social construct; it has no life of its own and does not exist
without the intermediation of the knower. That is, in the world of work, knowledge is
constructed and reconstructed continuously in the social interactions that occur within the
institution, in a constant process of movement and change and thus directed to the future.
Precisely for that reason, knowledge generates competitive advantage through
innovation and therefore is an asset which, together with various other components of the
organization, make up its intellectual capital an intangible asset, commonly classified as
nonfinancial capital. Now this is where the paradox arises, because this nonfinancial capital
takes on economic value at certain moments, for instance, when intangible knowledge
becomes a real value to customers by, directly or indirectly, producing competitive advantage,
and consequently economic gains for the firms, in the knowledge economy.
Accordingly, the scenario facing us today is one in which, in the name of the
knowledge economy, organizations are expanding their research investment capacity and
investing in continuously constructing and reconstructing knowledge, in the effort to nurture
a perennial cycle of innovation and that is the major challenge posed for corporate
education in the present day.
In globalized society, the world of business is driven by the constant need for
innovation, agility, flexibility, competitiveness and differentiation from competitors. Today it
is possible to enter into negotiations with countries or people anywhere on the planet,
instantly.
In order to stay competitive, companies have to be "connected" to the new social and
economic times. The world today operates in a new economy, the economy of the Knowledge
Society, where it is crucial to maintain competitiveness.
Given these new realities, where knowledge is the driving force in the economy,
organizations need to invest in specific means to enable their collaborators to keep pace with
the changes, which many do by setting up spaces for permanent learning within the
organization.
Corporate universities: competitive differential in globalized society
Annick Renaud-Coulon, founder and president of the Global Council of Corporate Universities,
argues that in the past decade we have seen the number of CUs in the world practically
double:
Today, corporate colleges are considered the fastest-growing sector
in higher education. Their numbers have more than doubled in the
last decade and now top 4,000. More than 4 million individuals are
studying at a company university.2
Today corporate universities range from those whose mission is to ensure uniformity
like the Motorola CU, which has standardized its training units down to the tiniest detail
through to those which are radically decentralized, like GDF-Suez, whose head offices in Paris
can simply influence, but not impose, local programs on its campuses around the world.
There are CUs centered on strategies for building major physical complexes, like
CUs like Dell's, which have opted strategically to be completely virtual.
Some CUs, like many in Brazil today, have only recently started investing and are not
yet autonomous business units, while the Infosys Global Education Center, in Delhi, for
instance, has already invested over $120 million, with plans for expansion and further
investments of over $150 million.
It is important to say that this growth in CUs is intrinsically bound up with a scenario
where knowledge management and organizational learning have become explicitly formulated
and systematized. This has set us the challenge of working together on new fronts with a view
of knowledge creation and utilization becomes more important to firms set on delivering
value to their customers and differentiating themselves from the competition.
2 RENAUD-COULON, 2008.
A survey by McKinsey & Company3 has shown that, in developing countries, only 25%
of new engineers, only 15% of new finance personnel, and only 10% of all other recent
graduates are properly prepared to work in multinational firms. That is to say there is a gap
which the figures sometimes show to be an abyss between regular training and
employability. Now one of the roles of corporate education is exactly to bridge that gap. Prof.
Vijay Govindarajan, of Tuck School of Management, Dartmouth, writes:
People in emerging markets, while often talented, suffer from what
we could call last-mile employability. They lack communications
work in teams, are extremely theoretical,
and are taught to be overly obedient. These are problems that
companies have to correct.4
Organizational learning: the new challenges
The new model of corporate education that links learning to firms' strategic needs is
based on the acquisition and development of competences be they know-how, skills,
attitudes, values or ethics in different thematic or "pillar" areas, which combine learning,
communication and collaboration techniques, techniques for creative thinking and problem
solving, technological knowledge, knowledge of global business, leadership development,
career self-management, and of course the technical know-how necessary to operate
successfully in the organization.
In that context the notion of learning could not continue the same as in the former
context of training departments. What must be sought in these new learning processes is
to decide one's own destiny, to invent a critical, creative subject, in the circumstances that are
5
Demo explains that the learning process must be committed to forming human
3 MARGOLIS, 2010.
4 Ibidem idem. 5 DEMO, 2000.
competence for autonomy in solidarity, a process in which the in-person or virtual class
ultimately becomes a secondary expedient and where mere rote teaching is still capable of
killing autonomy. In this regard, what is important in learning processes is a commitment to
enabling subjects to manage their autonomy.
Accordingly, our influence whatever the means should aim to enable the
participants in this process to deal critically and creatively with knowledge, towards a process
in which learning is "the formation of human competence to live in open environments, and
to design futures without limits 6
What does the practice of teaching show today? It shows that undergraduate and
postgraduate courses drift very easily towards the linear accumulation of knowledge and that
they are also easily imprisoned within the rigid confines of outdated curricula, and
bureaucratic and technicist experience, making it harder and harder to prepare people to act
promptly and effectively in the labor market. In fact, what is needed is a belief that all those
involved should expect and offer more.
The corporate learning process calls for a belief that, after having experienced the
limitations of merely updating technical qualifications, participants interested in knowing how
to think and in developing the competences of their business environment, will positively
welcome the challenges, and want an outline for the future.
Developing competences
A Corporate University is, first and foremost, the promise of a diversified setting for
permanent learning where competences are developed through opportunities to acquire new
knowledge through exercising skills, and through thinking about values and attitudes.
Also the term "corporate" signals that these broad opportunities are closely and
inextricably bound up with the organization's key strategy directions.
Therefore, the main goal of a Corporate University is to give support to the
organization's key strategies by developing and capacitating its collaborators, vendors, and
customers. On that assumption, it is up to the organization to decide for a Corporate
University or for localized training measures.
6 Ibidem idem.
If it opts for a Corporate University, the organization must state explicitly its position
and its expectations for the development and capacity building of its members and
collaborators. If it opts for specific localized training, the organization can launch the project
that meets its training needs in response to demand.
The assumptions underlying the most current proposals for competence management
hold the promise of a setting for diversified, permanent learning where competences are
developed through opportunities to acquire new knowledge through exercising skills and
thinking about values and attitudes and these opportunities are closely and inextricably
bound up with the organization's key strategy directions. In that regard, competence
management figures as a proposal with the potential to support and leverage business
management, besides attaining the firms' organizational goals by developing its human
capital.
Corporate education, therefore, is firmly based on the development of human or
professional competences,7 which are not limited to accumulations of theoretical or empirical
knowledge. These competences are also not limited to the task to be performed.
Competence is much more than that. Competence is the ability to offer solutions
grounded in the knowledge that has been acquired. Competence is a set of attributes
connected with the knowledge, values, skills, attitudes, life history, experiences, and beliefs
that weave into the web that expresses each person's potential performance. Accordingly,
competence cannot be reduced to specific know-how, because it involves life history,
socialization, educational background, and professional experience. It comprises:
General competences those designed to form people who are responsible,
autonomous, critical, creative, active citizens, who know how to manage their
professional life in line with the culture and the model of the organization they
work in;
Specific competences those directed to performing a specific activity, exercising
a function, and growing professionally and personally in specific areas of
operation.
Although different, general and specific competences constitute two sides of the same
7 s understood to be the ability to deploy, interrelate and put into action the values, knowledge and
Resolution No. 04/99)
coin, that is to say, when people develop competences for the success of the organization,
they are also investing in their own success as professionals and as citizens of their country
and of the world.
Competence management, however, also embodies the idea that it is in the work
environment that the competences necessary to achieving the organization's goals are
planned, developed, and evaluated. Those processes should originate in individual learning,
progress through group learning, and ultimately result in organizational learning. Accordingly,
when one speaks of competence management, one is speaking not just of human or
professional competences, but also of organizational competences;
Organizational competences these relate to the knowledge applied to, and
directed towards, effective performance, and express values that are key to the
organization's strategy, and consequently its survival (essential competences) in
addition to leveraging competitiveness by representing the value perceived by the
organization's stakeholders, thus differentiating it from its competitors and
making them difficult to copy (distinctive competences).
On the other hand, if these competences represent knowledge, skills, and attitudes
(inputs) that have to be mobilized by the corporate education process in order that they can
generate added value for the individuals and the organization (outputs), then that
contribution has to be monitored and measured; in other words, evaluated. In that respect,
performance management aligned with competence management constitutes a process
through which it becomes possible to compare the result achieved against the expected
outcome, so as to inform decisions on further training, salary adjustments, and promotions by
furnishing input for systematizing planning, monitoring an
performance in terms of the competences necessary to perform their activities, as shown in
the figure below:
FIGURE 1: Performance management
As the Corporate University is directed towards competence management, it is a place
where the competences necessary for the organization to achieve its goals are planned,
developed, and evaluated. These processes should originate in individual learning, progress
through group learning, to result ultimately in organizational learning.
Pillars of a new way of educating
The first steps towards building a Corporate University are to design the adult
educational frame of reference and the consequent investment in a model of competence
management.
The adult educational frame of reference means the way the firm expresses its
challenges in educational terms, so as to foster a network of excellence that can transform
knowledge into business results by way of people development.
The adult educational frame of reference underpins the methods, the actions, the
management, the governance that is, the whole educational context of the Corporate
University. In addition, it should contain the organizational values, and should encompass the
organizational and individual outlook, in view of the fact that knowledge is conveyed in
relations among individuals, between individuals and the organization, and between the
organization and society.
Having talked about organizations for the 21st century, let us now talk about
education for the 21st century. In 1996, Unesco brought together some of the world's leading
minds, among them Jacques Delors,8 in the International Commission on Education for the
Twenty-first Century Learning: the Treasure Within , in which
it points to four pillars which should sustain lifelong education in this new century.
The first of these is learning to know, because unlike the way things used to be
what matters more today is not the amount of knowledge codified, but developing the desire
and the abilities necessary to learn to learn.
The second is learning to do, given that learning and doing are largely inseparable. In
increasingly technified economies, where the informal economy is a constant presence, the
relatively simple notion of professional qualifications is left aside and supplanted by the
broader and more sophisticated notion of competences able to equip people to deal with
numerous situations and to work in teams.
The third is learning to live together, in response to the need to develop an
understanding of others and a perception of interdependencies, with a view to pursuing
common projects and preparing to manage conflicts.
The fourth is learning to be: the Commission stated that education should contribute
to the person's overall development. Accordingly, it is up to education to prepare not for the
society of the present, but to create a frame of reference of values and means for
understanding and acting in societies that we can barely imagine what they will be like.
What is easy to see is that all the key objectives of corporate education in the era of
the knowledge economy must be thoroughly aligned with the pillars proposed by UNESCO for
education in the 21st century - because what is sought are designs for futures without
limits...
Education and levels of mastery of performance
Another possible approach, which also aligns with Unesco's four pillars of education,
is Marc Rosenberg's notion of levels of performance mastery in learning strategies.9 He
8 DELORS, 1996.
9 ROSENBERG, 2006.
explains that many organizations are discovering that how people learn often varies with their
levels of expertise, which he lists as four: novice, competent, experienced, and master/expert.
At the first level, he claims, newer workers still unfamiliar with the job need more
formal, structured learning strategies because their main approach to learning is show me
how.
As their expertise increases and they gain knowledge of basic standards, their main
learning strategy comes to be help me do this better. At the next level, when they are able to
vary their performance in specific situations, their main learning strategy is help me find what
I need. At the final level are the masters or experts, who are able to create new ways of doing
the work and also to teach others, for which their main learning strategy could only be I will
do my own learning.
FIGURE 2: Levels of professional maturity and learning strategies
Rosenberg's proposal is summarized in the following diagram:
Novice competent experienced expert
What is interesting in this proposal of Rosenberg's is that, as people gain more
expertise, they have to be targeted by learning strategies that are more informal, but more
customized to their specific job functions and more suited to their individual learning needs.
In addition, they may be novices in one specific area of the job, for instance, but experienced
in another. This is another problem for CUs to address in the learning they offer.
The alignment between Rosenberg's ideas and the UNESCO education pillars is clearer
when visualized as in the figure below:
FIGURE 3: pillars of education and learning strategies
Thus, competence development originates in individual learning, progresses through
group learning, and continues in organizational learning. Knowing, doing, sharing, and being
constitute the four major domains of human or professional competences that prepare people
for the organization they operate in as collaborators, just as they prepare them for life.
Organizations are just as complex as people. Thus, while general competences are
designed to form people who are responsible, autonomous, ethical, critical, creative citizens,
who know how to manage their professional lives in keeping with the culture and the model
of the organization where they operate, so specific competences are directed to performing a
certain activity, to exercising a function, and to growing professionally and personally in
I will create my own learning
Help me find what I need
Show me how
Experienced
Expert/Master
Primary strategy
Rosenberg
Levels of mastery
UNESCO
pillars of education
sharing
being
Help me do it better
knowing
doing
Novice
Competent
specific areas of activity.
Training curricula and professional development tracks
A training curriculum identifies the capacity-building and development actions
consistent with the competences required by the positions in the organization. Put
differently, that means, in view of the competences required, selecting the bodies of
knowledge, skills and attitudes to be acquired and which will make up the training itineraries
of the various different occupational contexts in the organization.
Accordingly, training curricula should be developed by mapping all the competences
expected of collaborators in view of their respective strategic directions, a process which
should consider:
development of organizational and professional competences, which are obtained
by mapping organization macro-processes, so that supply of professional
development actions can be systematized;
development maps which will orient the educational actions that are planned
for collaborators recording systematically the processes and competences that
are critical for the various areas.
The world of work is in permanent change, requiring that professionals command
knowledge far beyond the specific know-how of the area they are operating in. Thus, work is
no longer reduced to a set of tasks, but encompasses everything that the individual deploys in
a given professional situation.
As the market is increasingly selective, workers are expected to be better and better
trained, for the simplest activities through to the most complex. Therefore, the training
itinerary, professional development or learning tracks must validate the competences that
workers develop in work situations.
In this context, tracks are intended to help the organization's collaborators pursue
their professional development pathways. They are integrated, systematic sets of development
actions, which deploy multiple forms of learning, with a view to the acquisition and
development of competences knowledge, skills and attitudes required to perform from day
to day at the different occupational levels and to achieve the strategic learning goals, which in
turn correspond to recommended development actions.
One can thus say that:
learning tracks are individuals' training and continued learning pathways,
traversed by means of series of development and capacity-building actions over
the course of their trajectory in the firm;
learning tracks enable managers to select development and capacity-building
actions, and to align them with the results required in their area and by the
organization as a whole;
learning tracks afford workers a broader view of their development and capacity-
building opportunities, enabling them to organize the programs they are offered;
learning tracks organize the strategies and educational structure of training
programs, by connecting them immediately with the competences to be
developed.
As each learning track signals the pathways to be traveled, its structure must be agile
and flexible, so as to respond to the changes that challenge the world of work. In order to
cope with this movement, organizations must describe their areas, as well as knowing and
recognizing the actions generated in them. That knowledge makes it possible to configure the
training itineraries, i.e., the pathways that each collaborator must travel in the process of
training, capacity-building, and recycling.
In this way, a learning track is an instrument that makes it possible to:
encourage and spread the culture of self-development;
raise standards of performance and quality;
establish knowledge management;
permanently make trained personnel available;
offer training directed to the firms' businesses;
provide continuing education.
However, it is very important not to confuse learning trucks with job descriptions,
career plans, succession plan or list of attributes of a function. On this view, learning tracks
must be constructed by a technical committee comprising the Corporate University and the
business areas which has to understand the organizational demands, deliver whatever is
necessary, communicate actions, involve leaders, and select and offer the best educational
solution.
Learning tracks should be designed in keeping with the curriculum, and should
provide:
organization, systematization and standardization of the educational offerings;
competence-based people management that makes training itineraries visible;
visible training itineraries related to each employee's role.
The structure of the Corporate University work plan should embody the following
underlying principles, which will underpin construction of the learning tracks:
adult education model;
concept and structure;
means (solutions) for learning;
partners;
systems of evaluation;
instructional design;
roles and responsibilities;
navigation environment;
model of governance.
The principles underlying a CU's model should be:
the CU will be a facilitator of learning and will present a map of options for each
competence;
people learn from relevance: the actions should be related to, and make sense in,
the application context;
study is self-directed;
it is the learner who decides what to learn and how learning should occur (room
for choice);
there are no prerequisites for those choices;
there is no predetermined start, middle, and end.
As regards their structure, each track should be connected with the competence or
strategic area whose descriptor should be made up of:
conceptual description of the competence or strategic area;
list of evidence actions and/or behavior that are observable from day to day,
and can reflect their level of maturity in the competence.
In addition, development tracks should be flexible and offer the Corporate University's
collaborators a map of options able to respond to the following questions: How? By whom?
and Who?, using a diversity of means of learning. Navigating the tracks should be free or
entail compulsory components and sequences. Whatever the circumstances, however, its focus
-development.
The sources and generate content for the tracks are various, and include particularly:
experts inside the organization;
experts outside the organization;
individual performance monitoring plans;
inventories inside and outside the organization;
disciplines of possible partners.
CU modeling and management at FGV Online
The Corporate University management model of the Fundação Getulio Vargas distance
education program FGV Online was designed on the basis of these underlying principles,
building on the conviction that learning is grounded in educational actions and establishes
parallels between knowledge and practice, leading to an understanding of this permanent
interdependence, where practice is ultimately what makes and remakes theory.
With the support of modern information technologies that underpin the various
distance education practices, a specialized team, and an adult education model, whose
conception is centered on the learner, on significant learning, and on competence
development, FGV Online offers resources, expertise, products, and solutions as outlined in
this article that can help organizations meet the new challenges posed by the so-called
The professional development tracks developed by the FGV Online embody the
following instructional architecture, in four dimensions:
FIGURE 4: Instructional architecture of the FGV Online learning tracks
1. Modalities these correspond to the possible educational models framing the educational
dynamics or solutions that make up each track: the in-person modality (with in-person means
of learning); the on-line modality (with oral, written, audio-visual and hybrid means), and the
blended modality (with in-person and distance education).
2. Levels of maturity these correspond to Marc Rosenberg's levels of professional maturity
novice, competent, experienced, and master/expert which call for different teaching and
learning strategies in order to develop each collaborator in their work environment.
3. Cognitive Skills these correspond to one of the categories of Benjamin Bloom's educational
objectives and are subdivided into processes that represent an individual's scope for learning
in the cooperative domain, and are presented from the simplest to the most complex in terms
of depth of learning: knowing, understanding, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and
evaluating.
4. Learning strategies these correspond to the scope for galvanizing the various cognitive
skills and, just like those skills, feature different degrees of complexity according to the
collaborator's professional maturity, ranging from the simplest to the most complex: reception
(emphasis on information reception), interaction (emphasizing the sharing of experience), and
production (favoring knowledge creation processes).
All these dimensions are considered when the educational solutions present in each
track are selected.
Each educational solution available in a track is linked to learning goals that vary
according to the levels of maturity, the cognitive skills entailed in the level, and the best
learning strategies to achieve the goals proposed, as follows:
FIGURE 5: Criteria for determining learning goals
Each level presupposes the previous level, and adds complexity to it. The same occurs
with the cognitive skills and learning strategies. Structured in this way for each sequence of
goals, the educational solution and track will put forward differentiated evaluation
instruments, from the simplest to the most complex.
In addition, the content of each form of learning should be linked to the strategic
directions identified when formulating the learning goals of each track. In this way, the
development tracks also express a concern for balance between the institutional architecture
and the means of learning used, always considering the various learning styles that vary with
Academic-organizational interface
Another interesting point in Rosenberg's proposal of levels of mastery is the main
strategy proposed for the masters/experts, which turns the learning proposal into a teaching
proposal, which is also included in the strategic goals of corporate education, and today sets
us a new challenge: traditional training used teachers whose knowledge was not specific to
the firm, who presented cases and concepts in a classroom to the organization's internal
members, demonstrated all their wisdom, and left.
What happens today, on the contrary, is that consultants and managers from the
organization itself are admitted not just to spread the concepts that they use every day in
their work environment, but also to adapt those concepts to the realities facing their trainees.
In that kind of scenario, the challenge stems from an initial complicating factor: the
outside academic specialist has mastered the processes of verticalizing knowledge he or she
is the owner of in-depth knowledge of concepts and techniques in a given area where it may
be vital to the firm to develop certain competences. Experts from within the organization, on
the other hand, operate comfortably on the horizontal plane within the model of organization
where they operate. Accordingly, the best scenario involves combining these strengths. That
interface is not usually easy in practice, however, but is absolutely necessary.
Today, emerging from the scenario of the new education and communication
technologies is a component that facilitates this synergy in constructing the content of
organizational learning: the instructional designer (ID). The ID is at home with different
methodologies and formats for developing learning, and can offer effective intermediation
between what is offered and whom it is offered to, in the best manner possible in the fabric
of corporate education, as shown in the figure below:
FIGURE 6: Synergic relationship between academic and organizational experts with
intermediation from the instructional designer
I will create my own learning
Help me find what I need
Show me how
sharing
organizational
expert
Organizational
construction
Academic
construction
sharing
Academic
expert
Help me do it better
knowing
doing
knowing
doing
Synergic relationship
Instructional design
That relationship can be illustrated by the following metaphor: the organization is a
large, blank tapestry screen, where the competence mapping and the activity of the experts
build up the design, the threads and colors of this outline pattern on the surface of the
screen; the academic expert is the thread that adds density and body to the tapestry, filling in
the empty spaces in the screen, but the instructional design is the needle that combines the
thread in the right spaces of the outline on the screen, selecting the best type of stitch for the
outline design and the chosen thread.
What is most important is that, from beginning to end, the embroidering of that
tapestry is regarded as a work of art.
Final design
It is true that in-person and virtual environments, inside and outside organizations,
run the risk of our embarking on merely reproductive education products, once the
Directing the inventiveness of new resources towards actions that really are able to
favor the assimilation of content, intuition, knowing how to think, and interaction among the
experts working in organizational knowledge management... That may be the greatest
challenge facing corporate education today, in the midst of any number of blank screens that
still need to be filled.
References
ALLEN, Mark. The corporate university handbook: designing, managing, and
growing a successful program. New York: AMACOM, 2002.
______. The next generation of corporate universities: innovative approaches for developing
people and expanding organizational capabilities [Pfeiffer Essential Resources for Training and
HR Professionals]. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, 2007.
CARBONE, Pedro Paulo et alii. Gestão por competências e gestão do conhecimento. Rio de
Janeiro: FGV, 2005.
DELORS, Jacques et al. Educação: um tesouro a descobrir. Relatório para a Unesco da
Comissão Internacional sobre Educação para o Século XXI. 4. ed. São Paulo: Cortez; Brasília:
Unesco, 1996.
DEMO, Pedro. Conhecer e aprender: sabedoria dos limites e desafios. Porto Alegre: ARTMED,
2000.
GLOBAL CCU. Available at: www.globalccu.com/index.html. Accessed on: 26 Aug. 2011.
LEVY, P. O que é virtual?. São Paulo: Editora 34, 1996.
LITTO, Fredric M.; FORMIGA, Marcos (Org.). Educação a distância: o estado da arte. São
Paulo: Pearson Education do Brasil, 2009.
MARGOLIS, Marc. Corporate learning. Newsweek, September 20, 2010, New York.
MASTER, Jeanne. Educação corporativa: gestão do capital intelectual através das
universidades corporativas. São Paulo: Makron Books, 1999.
NEWSWEEK EDUCATION. Available at: http://education.newsweek.com/index.html. Accessed
on: 26 Aug. 2011.
RENAUD-COULON, Annick. Corporate university: a lever of corporate responsibility. New York:
Global CCU Publishers, 2008.
RICARDO, Eleonora J. (Org.). Educação corporativa e educação a distância. Rio de Janeiro:
Qualitymark, 2005.
ROSENBERG, Marc. J. Beyond e-learning: approaches and technologies to enhance
organizational knowledge, learning, and performance. San Francisco: Pfeiffer, 2006.
Interview Prof. Maria Tereza Fleury
Global Mindset and DE Revista FGV Online interviewed the director of the São Paulo
School of Business Administration (Escola de Administração de
Empresas de São Paulo, EAESP), Professor Maria Tereza Leme
Fleury, a Social Science graduate with MA and PhD in
Sociology. She talks about the importance of developing a
global mindset among executives, and how business schools
can help build future leaders.
Maria Tereza, a specialist in Competence Management, argues
that executives must open up to new realities and cultures and
talks about the role of DE in leadership building among
ins.
What is a global mindset?
has to do with the ability to think about a complex world, a world with different cultures, and
how to move, to act and interact in a scenario that is so diverse and complex.
1. Researchers who have pondered the matter at institutions like Harvard Business School
and Thunderbird School of Global Management say that leaders who have a highly
developed global mindset are more likely to deal successfully with people from other
cultures. Do you agree with that, and why?
Certainly, because among other things there are two different aspects to this concept of
global mindset. One is the more strategic aspect, typical of leaders or managers who are able
to think in terms of different markets, to perceive opportunities, openings for expanding or
cultural dimension, seen in managers and leaders who are able to look at a different culture,
understand, think and achieve a completely different level of interaction from someone whose
mind is set on looking more at local matters. Professionals of that kind will be much more
likely to rise in their organization.
2. Why should executives in Brazil be concerned to develop a global mindset?
. Our
corporations whether they were national firms, state enterprises or multinationals were
concerned basically with the domestic market. As a result, the idea of thinking globally was
very remote from Brazilian managers and professionals. Few of them were expatriates, few
had that global experience. However, after all the deregulation that took place in the 1990s,
the restructuring of the economy, privatizations, entry of other firms, and internationalization
of Brazilian firms, it began to be a very pressing issue. That is to say, developing a global
mindset became a priority for our firms, whether they were once again private firms,
multinationals or public enterprises.
3. How should Brazilian executives and executives in general prepare themselves for
this?
Formal education helps, a lot. You can develop by taking courses where you come into
contact with other people of different nationalities, because that will help you to understand
a diversity of cultures. But personal life experience is also a concern. I feel you have to
combine formal education with life experience and, most importantly, experience that you
embrace with an open attitude. Some people are curious, interested, and are forever exposing
themselves to other realities, and then there are people who prefer to stay in their comfort
zone. I think you have to have that kind of open attitude.
4. Are corporations in Brazil now detecting and valuing those qualities in managers?
Yes, mainly firms that are competing in an international arena. They do value them and are
finding it difficult to secure managers of that kind for their staffs. In their efforts to develop
that kind of global mentality they look to the business schools (to discover how that kind of
global mindset can be developed). People (professionals) who have really developed a global
mindset are highly valued and command much higher prestige on the employment market.
5. Are firms concerned to develop a global mindset among their leaders?
Yes, companies are showing a concern with that, and they come to us for that kind of project.
First, they want to identify who the leaders are who offer that potential. They even want to
include international experience in the development pathways of those professionals, their
career plans. They encourage their employees not just to go and study at university, at
schools, to gain that kind of background, but also to gain that kind of experience by planning
to spend time abroad; that can be short-term projects or longer-term plans. This is quite
different from what we were seeing even just a few decades ago. Look at my own experience.
we looked for that kind of experience, of
residing, living abroad. After that, there was a whole generation that was far more
comfortable
also people in mid-career, looking for that kind of formative experience.
6. How can business schools, and more specifically distance education, develop a global
mindset in students and prepare future leaders?
I think you have to have programs directed to that purpose. In the FGV/EAESP, for instance,
we have a program specifically in International Management, designed for recent graduates.
On that course, students spend one year abroad and one year here, and gain a dual diploma,
from the FGV and a university in another country. We have other courses where students learn
exactly Cross-Cultural Management, so as to build a background in that direction. And we
have very interesting experiences with programs that are allied with both distance education
and with in-person learning. For example, we have the One MBA program, which is a global
MBA with five partner schools, where students alternate, part of the course at the school,
residencies in the Americas, Europe and Asia, with work that is done exactly using distance
education in the intervals. That work is done in multidisciplinary teams. That is a fantastic
experience, because you start to learn exactly how to develop and run projects with people
who are in different countries, who have different mentalities, who come from different
cultures, but who have to arrive at a common result. That is very useful training in
professional and personal terms. So, exactly by means of that kind of course directed to those
issues, and activities that promote interaction among professionals, distance education can
provide a very enriching experience. Of course it has to be complemented afterwards with in-
person learning and experience of living that situation, but I think the experience with DE
already offers fantastic gains.
7. Going a little further, how can DE contribute to developing a global mindset in
company culture?
It contributes exactly by offering courses on the subject, such as Cross-Cultural Management,
for instance, and also when DE manages to foster interaction among people who are in
different units, preferably in different regions and countries, or even on different continents.
When that kind of interaction is directed to conveying technical content, it adds in a wealth
of cultural experience that is very positive. Learning to work with a culturally diverse team and
managing to get that team to produce positive results is a very rewarding experience. And DE
can also contribute a lot by developing competences and developing that global mindset.
UNIVERSIDADE CORPORATIVA DO BANCO DO BRASIL: O CASO DO
PROJETO-PILOTO DA UNIVERSIDADE ABERTA DO BRASIL
BANCO DO BRASIL CORPORATE UNIVERSITY: THE OPEN UNIVERSITY
OF BRAZIL PILOT PROJECT
ABSTRACT
In 2005, Banco do Brasil Corporate University (Universidade Corporativa do Banco do Brasil,
UniBB) together with the Ministry of Education (MEC) and Institutions of Higher Education
(Instuições de Educação Superior, IES) decided to support and invest in the pilot project of
the Open University of Brazil (Universidade Aberta do Brasil, UAB). In that context, the pilot
project was presented with the UniBB partnering in that important initiative to offer the
general public access to, and inclusion in, higher education. The descriptive, qualitative
methodology applied here presents the case of the pilot project, particularly the part played by
the UniBB. The study results show that the UniBB played important roles in managing and
financing the pilot project, building alliances with municipal and state governments, MEC and
Brazilian state enterprises, and thus making the project workable.
Keywords: Corporate University; Distance Education; Banco do Brasil; Inclusion;
Management.
RESUMEN
La Universidad Corporativa del Banco do Brasil, en conjunto con el Ministerio de Educación (MEC) e Instituciones de Educación Superior (IES), en el 2005, acuerdan apoyar e invertir en el proyecto piloto de la Universidad Abierta de Brasil. Es presentado en este contexto, el proyecto piloto de la Universidad Abierta de Brasil, instituyéndose la Universidad Abierta de Brasil, como una entidad aliada de esta importante iniciativa de acceso e inclusión de la población a la educación superior. La metodología aplicada al trabajo se caracteriza por ser de investigación cualitativa, descriptiva y aplicada, donde será presentado el caso del proyecto piloto de la Universidad Abierta de Brasil, en especial la participación de la Universidad Corporativa del BB. Los resultados de la investigación demostraron que la Universidad Corporativa del BB ha desempeñado roles importantes en la gestión y en el financiamiento del proyecto piloto, promoviendo diversas articulaciones con municipios, departamentos, MEC y empresas estatales brasileñas, viabilizando así el proyecto.
Palabras clave: Universidad Corporativa; Educación a Distancia; Banco do Brasil; Inclusión;
Gestión.
INTRODUCTION
Corporate Education is one option for organizations wanting to build competence
among their members. As it is a form of education directed to the entrepreneurial context, it
can represent one way for organizations to leverage the formation of the competences
necessary to their activities.
Organizations have made use of people management programs meshed with
Corporate Education to go beyond merely subsidizing access to learning or offering
intermittent, localized training designed only to address the organization s tactical problems.
Similar to Corporative Education is the Corporate University (CU), which embodies
different concepts and characteristics in terms of its strategic scope for the organization,
especially as regards the continuity of related educational measures and its inclusiveness in
the public it serves. Despite these differences, the terms can be considered identical, and this
article takes the concept of Corporate University as its point of departure, to analyze it as a
proposal for permanent, continuing education.
Jeanne Meister (1999, p. 29) states that the CU is The strategic umbrella for
developing and educating employees, customers, and suppliers in order to meet an
organization s business strategies . It can function in various different (in-person and virtual)
formats, but its purpose is always to create a high-quality workforce by systematizing and
organizing information and learning experiences for human development.
Various different segments of society public banks, state enterprises, semi-
autonomous entities, state, federal and private universities, Ministry of Education, Ministry of
Labor and other players in the education segment are partnering around the CU concept in
order to maximize demand and thus carry through projects and reduce costs. It was this
growing awareness that gave rise to the pilot project of the Open University of Brazil
(Universidade Aberta do Brasil, UAB).
The pilot project constituted the first steps in creating and consolidating open
university system, whose present endeavors center on offering graduation courses with
teaching certification. Key to the founding of the UAB was the partnership with the BB, both
in terms of financing and of its know-how in supplying courses through its CU.
Distance education, a modality of teaching that makes intensive and organized use of
educational technologies and tools to optimize processes and support supply of courses and
which, when applied to a CU, is a strategic modality for organization managers launching
courses can be decisive in making courses feasible.
After briefly contextualizing the pilot project of the Open University of Brazil and the
BB's participation in developing it, this article takes the UAB pilot-course as its study object.
Accordingly, it characterizes the Banco do Brasil Corporate University (UniBB), an organization
that partnered in founding the UAB; and the UAB, an important initiative in expanding access
and population inclusion in higher education.
The sections below address the theoretical foundations underlying the analysis to be
pursued in the course of the study, and present the subject to the reader. In order to present
this section clearly it has been divided into two parts: Corporate University and Distance
Education.
Corporate University (CU)
A Corporate University is a people-development system aligned with competence-
based people management. For this purpose, the organization should make use of
competence management not just in people development, but in all human resource sub-
systems: recruitment and selection; attracting and retaining talents; job orientation and
modeling; career planning; evaluation and performance; and lastly, benefits and remuneration
(EBOLI, 2004).
General Motors was the first firm to found a CU, the General Motors Engineering and
Management Institute (GMI), in 1926. Its first class graduated in Engineering in 1946, but it
was not until 1962 that it gained accreditation from the North Central Association of Colleges
and Schools, and only in 1982 that it became independent. Finally, in 1997, it changed name
to Kettering University. At present, GM provides training only to executives and Class A
employees, and not to vendors or customers (BRANCO, 2006; RICARDO, 2007; TARAPANOFF,
2004).
In Brazil, CUs are present in many types of public and private national and
multinational organization, and in various industrial and service sectors. Some of the existing
Corporate Universities in Brazil are shown in Chart 1.
CHART 1: Corporate Universities in Brazil
ABM, ABIPTI, ABRAMGE, Abril, Accor, Alcatel, Alcoa Alumínio, Algar, ALL-Logística, AMESP, Amil, AON, ARBRAS, ASSOCIL.
Leader Magazine, Light, Lojas Renner, Losango. Marcopolo, Marinha do Brasil, Martins, Mcdonalds, Metrô-SP, Microsiga, Monsanto, Motorola.
Banco Central, Banco do Brasil, Banco Real, Bank Boston, BASF, Bematech, Beneficiência Portuguesa, BIC, BNDES, Bompreço, BOSCH, Brasil Telecom/Oi, Braskem, Bristol.
Natura, Nestlé, Novartis. Oracle, Orbitall, Origem, Oxiteno, Perdigão, Pernambucanas, Petrobrás, Piccadilly. Redebahia, Redecard, Rede Globo, Renner, Rhodia, Roche.
Carrefour, Caterpillar, CEF, CEPEL, Citigroup, Coca-Cola, CONFEA, Correios (ECT), CNI-IEL, Credicard, Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, Coelba.Dana, Datasul, DPaschoal.
Sabesp, Sadia, Secretaria de Administração/Fazenda/Saúde do Estado da Bahia, Santander, Santista, SEBRAERS, Serasa, SECOVI, SEMCO, SEPRO, SESI, Siemens, Softway, Souza Cruz, Syngenta.
Elektro, Eletronorte, Eletropaulo, Elevar, Elma Chips, EMBASA, Embraer, Embratel, Ericson, Facchini, FIEC-CE, FIESC-SC, Fischer América, Fleury, Ford. Gessy Lever, Globo, GM, GVT
TAM, Telemar, Telemig Celular, Tigre, Transportadora América, Tupy Fundições, TV-Bahia
Habib s, Hewlett-Packard, Hospital Albert Einstein, Hospital Sírio Libanês, HSBC, IBM, Illy Café, Imbev, INEPAR, Instituto Gênius, INESS, ISVOR/FIAT, Itaipu Binacional, Itaú. Klabin, Kraft Foods, Krüger
Ultragaz,Ullian, Unibanco, UniDistribuição, Unidus, Unilegis, UNIMED, Unimetro, UNIPREV, Unisys, VARIG, Vale, Vallé, Visa, Vivax, Vivo, Volkswagen, Volvo, Xerox, 3M
Source: adapted from EBOLI, 2003.
One important characteristic of the CU is the continuous nature of the learning it
offers, i.e., the organization offers continuous professional development connected with its
business goals (EBOLI, 2004). Corroborating that idea, Meister (1998, in ALPERSTEDT, 2001)
highlights its intensive and permanent nature as the distinctive characteristic of the education
offered by firms that have CUs.
Contrary to the association that first springs to mind, CUs do not perform the same
function as traditional universities, for which teaching, research and extension activities are
normally inseparable. Note, however, that the CU should not be considered a threat to the
traditional university. On the contrary:
[...] the most successful CU experiences are those that partner with universities that have the competence to add value to these corporate programs, mainly by virtue of their expertise in research (knowledge production) and education (knowledge assimilation), and thus contribute to enabling the firms to circulate and apply the knowledge considered critical to business success more competently and productively (EBOLI, 2008, p. 13).
It is important to note that a CU can have its own physical structure or use the
facilities of another institute of higher education under agreement, thus increasing the
organization's dependence on such institutions. Such a decision secures lower initial
investment costs in physical structure, but entails paying the cost of using the other
institution's space, which may be especially high when the contingent to be trained is large.
Lastly, distance training is also important, because it can offer benefits by reducing costs
associated with using physical infrastructure, whether the organization's own or another
institution's.
Now that the CU has been presented as an important initiative in training and human
development, particularly in the organizational environment, the next section sets out
principles of distance education in the context of the learning process.
Distance Education (DE)
Distance education is a modality of teaching where teacher and student are distant from each
other in place, and often also in time. Of the definitions available in the literature, one
possible choice is given by Moore & Kearsley (2007, p. 1):
The basic idea of distance education is simple enough: teachers and students are in different places for all or most of the time that they teach and learn. Because they are in different places, in order to interact with each other, they are dependent on some form of communications technology.
Use of DE by teaching institutions does not date from very long ago. In the late 19th
century, private institutions in the USA and Europe offered correspondence courses directed
to the teaching and problems of occupations of little academic content (LITWIN, 2001). In
1892, for example, the University of Chicago set up a correspondence course and, in the early
20th century, the Calvert Day School in Baltimore developed a kindergarten course of this kind.
By 1930, 39 United States universities can be identified offering distance courses.
In the 1960s, distance universities began to compete with in-person universities,
particularly after the Open University opened in the United Kingdom, advancing an
educational proposal with a complex design using print and television media to offer intensive
courses in periods when conventional universities were in recess (LITWIN, 2001).
In Brazil, DE began in 1923, with distance education being offered by the Rádio
Sociedade do Rio de Janeiro, founded by a group of members of the Brazilian Academy of
Science, commanded by Henrique Morize and Roquete Pinto. In 1936, the station was
donated to the Ministry of Education and Health, which in 1937 set up the Serviço de
Radiofusão Educativa (Educational Radio Broadcast Service) (DÍAZ BORDENAVE, 1987). DE
emerged and grew in response to a considerable accumulation of educational needs: literacy
training, increasingly early entry into the labor market, populations isolated from urban
centers or prevented, for various reasons, from accessing the conventional forms of teaching
(LITWIN, 2001).
Vianney, Torres & Silva (2003) explain that, in 1997, the MEC formed a group of
experts to draft regulations to Article 80 of the basic education law, which regulated distance
education in Brazil. As a result, several laws were passed Decrees 2.494 and 2.561 of 1998;
Ministerial Order 301, also of 1998, and Resolution 1, of 2011. It was only with Decree 5.622
of 2005 (the same year as the UAB pilot project), that Brazil formulated more ambitious DE
goals, constituting the present-day scenario in which education is promoted and access
offered nationwide through DE (BRASIL, 2011b).
For that purpose, the various different teaching methods, resources, tools and
technologies that are applied to optimizing in-person education offer the prospect that DE
can preserve all the qualities of a good education which will enable people to develop their
cognitive, social, emotional, professional and ethical capacities and live in society in full
citizenship.
METHODOLOGICAL PROCEDURES
Methodology represents the thinking pathway and the practice pursued in addressing
reality, i.e., it includes simultaneously, [...] the theoretical approach (the method), the tools
for making knowledge operational (the techniques) and the researchers' creativity (their
experience, personal skill and sensitivity) (DESLANDES & MINAYO, 2008, p. 14). Accordingly,
in order to achieve the purpose of the study, the research methodology must be described.
This study is eminently qualitative in that it does not use statistics tools to analyze
the study problem. Neither, following Richardson (2007), does it set out to enumerate or
measure homogeneous units or categories. This qualitative approach explores the dimension
of meanings, of non-visible realities, which first have to be revealed and interpreted by the
researchers themselves (DESLANDES & MINAYO, 2008).
There are three dimensions to scientific research: historical, descriptive and
experimental (BEST, 1972 in MARCONI & LAKATOS, 2007). These authors state also that
descriptive research is based on processes of describing, recording, analyzing and interpreting
present phenomena, which are directed to their present functioning. This study can thus be
considered descriptive, given that it analyzes the pilot project of the Open University of Brazil
and the participation of Banco do Brasil Corporate University in setting up and carrying out
that project.
This study is classified as still exploratory, because the goals it seeks involve probing a
variety of matters relating to the research object in order that the knowledge thus acquired
can help advance the study and generate recommendations for future work.
Lastly, in terms of the taxonomy presented by Vergara (2009, p.41), the research is
bibliographical, documentary and case study-based. Research is bibliographical when
systematic study of the subject is conducted using publicly-available bibliographical material.
It is documentary when the sources consulted are documents, personal records and others.
Case study, following Tull (1976), permits in-depth examination of a particular situation in
order to identify variables and their inter-relations which otherwise may not be perceived. Tull
also stresses that the depth and detail of the information obtained by case study are
practically impossible to achieve by other research methods. The case study method is suited
to this research as the intention is to investigate the UAB pilot project, and more precisely the
participation of the Banco do Brasil Corporate University.
BANCO DO BRASIL (BB) AND THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF BRAZIL (UAB)
Corporate Universities represents an important initiative by organizations to train and
develop their personnel in order to perform their activities better, and it is in that light that
the Banco do Brasil Corporate University will be presented here. Associated with the UniBB is
the pilot project of the Open University of Brazil, which to day constitutes a key government
education policy to promote distance courses in higher education, more precisely to train
teachers to work in the basic education system.
Accordingly, recognizing the relevance of the UniBB in founding and developing the
UAB in b MEC, Institutions of
Higher Education (IES), and state and municipal governments Open University
System will be characterizes as a teacher and vocational training project for Brazil, and the
UniBB as a key element in making that project workable.
Open University of Brazil (UAB)
The Open University of Brazil was set up by the Ministry of Education in 2005, in
partnership with the National Association of Directors of Federal Institutions of Higher
Education (ANDIFES) and state enterprises, through the State Enterprise Forum for Education,
with a focus on higher education policies and management. This was a policy measure to
interconnect the Distance Education Secretariat (SEED/MEC) and the Distance Education
Directorate (DED/CAPES), with a view to expanding higher education, as part of the Education
Development Plan (Plano de Desenvolvimento da Educação, PDE) (CAPES, 2011).
The UAB is an integrated system of public universities using distance education
methodology to offer higher education courses to strata of the population that find it difficult
to access a university education. Courses are offered to various different target publics, but
priority is given to teachers working in basic education, followed by directors, managers and
workers in the state and municipal basic education systems.
In this way, the UAB system is designed to favor interconnection, interaction and
workability among initiatives that foster partnering by the three levels of government (federal,
state and municipal) with public universities and other interested organizations, while
providing alternative mechanisms for financing, introducing and carrying out undergraduate
and postgraduate courses under consortium arrangements. The figures in Table 1 shows the
UAB quantitatively in terms of centers, courses and enrolments, demonstrating the potential
of this system in Brazil.
TABLE 1: Numbers of centers, courses and enrolments in the UAB
Region No.
Centers
No.
Courses
Enrolments
2008
Enrolments
2009
Enrolments
2010
Total
Enrolments
Mid-
West
47 63 1,928 5,463 11,609 19,000
Northeast 197 178 9,596 31,296 51,589 92,481
North 79 70 3,507 6,842 10,259 20,608
Southeast 157 173 13,750 30,103 50,463 94,316
South 110 123 5,955 14,379 27,147 47,481
Total 590 527 34,736 88,083 151,067 273,886
Source: CAPES, 2011.
Lastly, a number of measures in the UAB system are directed to consolidating and
expanding student access to quality public higher education by pushing back geographical,
physical and financial limits. In coming years, the government is to offer greater support for
teacher training so as to meet demand expressed in pre-registration through the Plataforma
Freire, federal government and teachers. In addition to that support, the
UAB will be able to meet social demand for places in public higher education.
Banco do Brasil Corporate University (UniBB)
corporate education system has existed since 1965. Over that time,
it has offered opportunities for personal and professional development to all its employees.
The learning programs and measures rest on philosophical and organizational
principles and are directed to the following purposes:
excellence, contributing to their employability and capacitating them for processes of
professional advancement; to give support to professional performance; to improve
organizational performance, making the firm competitive; and to train successors to Banco do
Brasil technical and managerial staffs (UniBB, 2011).
Production of, and access to, knowledge are anchored in the company strategy and in
the various career opportunities. The means used are: in-person training offered at the
regional management offices; learning by way of various in-person and distance educational
technologies (web, print media, video, corporate TV, and computer-based training); programs
in partnership with ;
which offer access to books, specialized periodicals, a video bank, a thesis, dissertation and
monograph bank; a virtual portal giving access to digitalized publications, a virtual library,
continued professional development tracks, on-line training, etc.
In 2003, t 4th People Management Forum, which included participation by
employees from the local, state, regional and national levels, yielded solutions for
democratizing access to in-house and external qualification opportunities. Among the projects
generated as those solutions were being constructed was the pilot project of the Open
University of Brazil,
through distance education by orienting these to vocational career needs.
During the forum it was found that of the 153 opinions expressed regarding the BB
Corporate programs, 29.41% of those relating to its undergraduate (and even
specialization courses) called for expansion of the number of scholarships granted by the
company, in addition to pointing to the difficulties experienced by employees located in the
regions North, Northeast and Mid-West regions in accessing higher education programs, for
lack of supply in those regions.
In view of those realities, the UniBB invested first in offering a distance MBA. In all,
three distance MBA courses were offered, the first in 2003. With more than 12,000
enrolments, the first phase was so successful that it led to the MBA II. Leading public and
private universities contributed to operationalizing and offering these courses.
The MBAs form part of the BB project to offer both undergraduate and postgraduate
distance education courses in administration, developed in modular, semi-in-person teaching
systems with interactive content supported by technologies such as the web, teleconferencing,
videoconferencing, television, integrated using the computer. On these courses, students are
monitored by an active tutoring system with allied use of technology, which makes it possible
to monitor performance and activity flows directly, making it easier to identify possible
learning difficulties.
Public and private teaching institutions also partnered in developing the project, along
with government agencies involved in the program, state and federal public banks and other
public bodies that contributed to optimizing the program.
Distance undergraduate courses are given on a model conceived by a network of
federal and state public universities to make distance undergraduate courses available in the
fields of interest to the bank. This helped foster a gradual transition from granting
scholarships for in-person undergraduate courses to the semi-in-person, distance
undergraduate studies model.
On the recommendation of the Ministry of Education, the courses used technology
developed by the Rio de Janeiro State Center for Higher Education (Cederj), a consortium of
state and federal universities in Rio de Janeiro State. Cederj was set up as part of a
government policy to offer higher education by distance education to junior-high and high-
school teachers in Rio de Janeiro State.
The methodology developed by Cederj
grouping micro-regions so that those interested in entering Cederj distance education need
travel no more than 50 kilometers. That same methodology will be applied throughout Brazil.
Building on the know-how acquired by Cederj, the pilot project culminated in an
undergraduate course in Administration being offered, at a distance, with a minimum
duration of four years, three of which related to the common core of an administration
course, and one devoted to majors: Bank Management, Business Strategy, Agribusiness and
Sustainable Regional Development, and Public Management.
The program, which was launched nationwide in the second semester of 2006 with
the participation of 25 federal and state public universities, offered approximately 10,000
places. Partnering with state governments, community leaders and city governments produced
a synergy of actions, prominent in which were the activities of Andifes, whose contribution
assured conditions indispensable to materializing federal and state university participation in
the UAB.
Lastly, the UAB system can be said to be a model of education system for Brazil, and
at present contemplates various undergraduate and specialization courses offered by federal
and state universities, serving students in the five regions of Brazil at more than 800 teaching
centers. This whole UAB universe has been possible only with the assistance of the Banco do
Brasil, through its Corporate University, which responded to demand from its employees by
partnering with the Ministry of Education, state and municipal governments and universities
and, as a result, offering quality higher education courses.
FINAL REMARKS
Banco do Brasil considers that distance higher education permits urgent capacity-
building for its employees to act on a market that is growing exponentially, both in new
technologies and in the complexity of bank services. Accordingly, the world today requires
workers ready to act in different contexts, not just trained to an operational level, but and
most importantly endowed with competences directed to conjunctural analysis and decision
making.
In that light, distance education, which should be student-centered, is regarded as
offering professional development strong in self-discipline, self-learning and individual
thinking. At the same time, students must test their hypotheses and research their methods of
action in freedom, and also have a virtual environment available in which they can compare
their points of view with the learning community.
Since the founding of the Personnel Selection and Development Department (DESED)
more than 40 years ago, through to the current work of the UniBB, the BB educational
process is oriented towards the student as the author of learning, the importance of dialog,
teamwork, the affective relation in teaching, formation of critical awareness, development of
creativity, and the refinement of ethical conduct.
With the expansion of the MBAs and the partnership with the MEC in setting up the
Open University of Brazil,
has taken new directions, as it has for the population of Brazil as a whole. It now permits
large numbers of people to graduate, and offers opportunities to put in place a system
focused on quality public education for people located in even the most remote towns in
Brazil, .
From this standpoint of socio-environmental responsibility, the BB has supported the
initiative and is ready to invest in the logistics of the project, pooling its efforts with
municipal and state governments to foster support for the installation of teaching centers at
strategic locations, as well as for training tutors and setting up equipment for teaching via the
Internet.
In addition, DE opens up new opportunities for capacity building and development of
BB employees, particularly by the virtual modularization of teaching content that to date has
circulated exclusively in classrooms. This content can be formatted in electronic media and
then, at a second stage, returned to and reinforced in workshops or learning encounters in a
productive mixture of virtual and in-person learning, thus gaining in amplitude, affordability
and educational efficacy.
Future studies should present the results and indicators for the classes graduating
from the pilot project, which concluded its academic activities in the second semester of 2010.
Those figures will demonstrate the success of this partnership by the Banco do Brasil with
other public agents.
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EDUCAÇÃO CORPORATIVA: A UNIVERSIDADE CORPORATIVA SEBRAE
E SUAS TRILHAS DE APRENDIZAGEM
CORPORATE EDUCATION: SEBRAE CORPORATE UNIVERSITY AND ITS
LEARNING TRACKS
Alzira de Fátima Vieira
Postgraduate in Economics (UCB); Specialization Diploma in Micro and Medium-sized
Business Consultancy Training (FIA/USP), Specialization Diploma in Integrated Sustainable
Local Development and Local Production Cluster Management (ILO and ECLAC); graduated in
Business Administration (UPIS). Currently manages SEBRAE Corporate University (UCSEBRAE).
Abstract
This article presents SEBRAE Corporate University, founded in 2008 with the mission of
undertaking educational activities to develop the skills of its internal and external
businesses. UCSEBRAE has built on a virtual structure to set up interactive and communicative
activities to foster continuing education. Its learning tracks maps out options over a wide
range of resources, serving trainees as a guide and enabling them to plot autonomous
pathways to their goals.
Keywords
Corporate university; continuing education; e-learning; development of competencies;
entrepreneurship.
Resumen
Este artículo presenta a la Universidad Corporativa SEBRAE, creada en el 2008, cuya misión es
promover acciones educativas para el desarrollo de competencias de sus colaboradores
internos y externos, contribuyendo con el alcance de los resultados del SEBRAE junto a las
micro y pequeñas empresas. Apoyada en una estructura virtual, la UCSEBRAE creó acciones
interactivas y comunicativas destinadas a promover la educación continuada. Sus Rutas de
Aprendizaje constituyen un mapa de opciones con amplia diversidad de recursos, sirviendo
como guía para el educando y posibilitando la construcción de un camino autónomo que lo
conducirá hacia sus objetivos.
Palabras clave
Universidad corporativa; educación continuada; educación a distancia; desarrollo de
competencias; emprendedorismo.
INTRODUCTION
The ever-changing world of work calls for knowledge that extends far beyond area-
specific learning. In the same way, work is no longer restricted to a specific set of tasks, but
encompasses everything the individual activates in a job situation. The market is increasingly
selective, and employees are expected to attain ever higher levels of training ranging from the
simplest activities to the most complex. Driven by constant advances in the business
environment, this dynamism requires that organizations and workers integrate their efforts in
building effective mechanisms to meet new needs in real time as they emerge. This has given
rise to a new concept: the Corporate University (CU).
with the advent of an increasingly globalized market, pressuring organizations to invest in
At present, some three hundred Brazilian or multinational, public or private
organizations have set up their own CUs. Eboli writes:
Corporate education is a system of training guided by skill-based people management, which is thus intended to instill and develop in internal and external collaborators the skills considered critical to ensuring that business strategies are feasible by fostering a learning process bound to business purposes, values and goals (EBOLI, 2010, id.).
SEBRAE CORPORATE UNIVERSITY
In its 39 years of existence, SEBRAE (Brazilian Service of Support for Micro and Small
Enterprises), has steadily built strategies and refined its organizational teaching and learning
practices to train and develop internal and external collaborators. In the light of the
experience accumulated over that trajectory, it set up SEBRAE Corporate University in 2008
with a view to filling existing gaps in its educational actions.
The purpose of SEBRAE Corporate University is to foster the continuing education of
its direct and indirect collaborators, in order to serve entrepreneurs and micro and small
businesses with excellence, as an indispensable condition for entrepreneurial activity geared
increasingly to the complex demands of contemporary society.
In the past three years, building on a virtual structure which permits different levels of
interaction, UCSEBRAE has set up a number of learning formats, which permit communicative
and interactive action among and with its target publics and, most importantly, by those
target publics with the context they are acting in.
Also underlining the conception behind UCSEBRAE, its chosen teaching policy is one
that seeks to foster learning through exper
to transform the content and bring it to life.
On this approach, UCSEBRAE has been introducing a number of paradigm changes
into SEBRAE culture:
Students are the agents of their own learning and chiefly responsible for how it
proceeds;
Study options which formerly were almost totally limited to in-person courses
have been adapted to different situations. Alternatives which express the multiplicity
of means of learning;
Students are encouraged to exchange impressions with other students, using a range
of different collaborative tools, chat-rooms, virtual communities, in-person
encounters, group work and so on;
Learning actions necessarily draw a parallel between theory and practice, contributing
to more significant, contextualized learning; and
upgrading essential occupational, managerial and area-specific competences.
The results achieved with these measures are beginning to emerge through the
intensive interaction between learning and internal and external experiences or through the
development and spread of new knowledge, particularly:
Intensified communication and interaction, with more knowledge sharing and
socialization occurring on an organized, collective basis;
Significant reduction in investment in travel and living expenses, as a result of the
redistribution of investment in a diversity of formats favoring distance education;
A more universal training process, and increased numbers of participants in the
activities offered;
Training activities are more systematically publicized and better managed;
A variety of learning methods are used, to contemplate individual differences of style,
timing, location and pace of learning; and
Development is continuous, sequential and contextualized, and a culture of
permanent assessment is favored.
different needs and expectations. It was decided to make content available gradually, starting
with the collaborators, in September 2008, and expanding a year later to the councilors and
directors and later, in March 2010, to the accredited collaborators, a total public estimated at
14,000 people.
The figures for this period show 23,000 participations in the various modalities
offered. The development and introduction of the Learning Tracks contributed to this result,
bringing to the institution the concept of broad, open education, as will be explained in detail
below.
LEARNING TRACKS
The notion of a track brings to mind the marks left behind on a trodden path, a trail,
a trace. The concept of Learning Tracks, coined by the French philosopher Guy Le Boterf,
relates to flexible, alternative pathways to foste
writes that Le Boterf:
Draws an analogy between putting together a learning track and
weather forecasts and the map of available options to plot a course to the port of destination (FREITAS, 2005, p.7).
In the same way, using a map of the learning options traced out in advance to guide
them on their way, professionals can choose a pathway to be travelled from a given starting
point which may be the result of an evaluation of their competencies, development
expectations, career growth motivations and how they wish to diversify their experience to
their point of arrival.
UCSEBRAE built up this process on the basis of its Competencies Evaluation System
(Sistema de Avaliação de Competências), an integral part of the People Management System
(Sistema de Gestão de Pessoas, SGP), which was introduced in 2002 and describes the generic
competencies (by occupational area), specific competencies and managerial competencies
The essential competencies and strategic guidelines specified by SEBRAE were also
used as a supporting framework for that process.
Although competency descriptions were used as a frame of reference, the Learning
Tracks reach beyond occupational boundaries, because they entail freedom and autonomy in
Unlike training grids, tracks contemplate other means of learning besides traditional
in-
For knowledge acquisition purposes, these means include books, teaching or
commercial videos, articles, case studies, in-job training, technical visits and missions, on-line
disciplines, and so on.
In-house and outside experts were deployed in developing this process. Both were
tasked with mapping, within the scope of the subject matter assigned to them, all the forms
of and opportunities for learning that could be placed at the disposal of organizational
learning.
That building process resulted in fourteen Learning Tracks and some 700 web-based
learning options for SEBRAE collaborators.
Note that this array of options was not intended to be exhaustive, but to be renewed
and development expectations, thus offering a differential contribution to accomplishing
The Learning Tracks thus represent a partnering between institution and collaborator,
each assuming their responsibility for the process of competency development (FREITAS,
2002).
SEBRAE offers learning opportunities and creates a favorable environment. Employees
make their choices, set out their pathways and are responsible for their own development.
Below is an example of a Track, showing the learning solutions available in one field
of knowledge.
Track: Micro and Small Businesses
Field of Knowledge: Economics of MSBs
Government Procurement and MSBs Opportunities under the General Law of Micro and Small Businesses and federal government regulations (Decree 6204/07) Book Where are the MSBs in Brazil? Book Vol. 1. Book Vol. 2. Book Competitiveness in the trade, service and tourism sectors in Brazil: outlook to 2015. Book Talk Scenarios for MSBs in Brazil 2009-2015 Talk Impacts of the General Law on MSBs in Brazil. Acting Knowledge Area Action Plan: Economics of MSBs On-line Discipline Economics applied to MSBs On-line Tips How MSBs function. On-line Tips How the informal economy functions. On-line article MSBs and government procurement. On-line article MSBs in the Brazilian economic context. On-line article On-line article Faulty income distribution and MSBcoin. On-line article MSBs sell R$2.6 billion to the federal government. On-line article Microcredit: from panacea to strengthening MSBs. On-line article Microcredit: truth, myth and fallacies.
That is, on the learning path from early training to postgraduate studies, the Learning
Tracks must validate the competencies people develop in their working situations.
Accordingly, in the context of training at SEBRAE Corporate University, the Learning
Tracks are inten
pathways. They are systematic, integrated sets of development actions which draw on multiple
means of learning directed to the acquisition and development of the competencies
knowledge, skills and attitudes that are both required for the day-to-day performance of
business goals. The Learning Tracks thus:
ng and continued professional development
pathway, by way of a series of development and capacity-building actions over the
course of their career path in the enterprise;
Allow managers to select development and capacity-building actions, aligning them
with the results demanded by their field and by the organization as a whole;
Afford users a broader view of their development and capacity-building opportunities,
thus enabling them to select the programs offered to them; and
Organize the adult education strategies and structure of the training programs, linking
them immediately with the competencies that are to be developed.
Every Learning Track is tied to a competency or a SEBRAE strategic theme and
comprises various different learning solutions or means of learning, which correspond to
recommended development actions. These learning solutions are framed by three different
types of instructional architecture: directive, informative and guided discovery. Each type
displays specific characteristics and builds on certain specific educational premises.
The content of each proposed means of learning must be linked to the fields of
knowledge identified when the learning goals of each track are formulated.
The tracks also reflect a concern to strike a balance between the instructional
styles, as shown below:
ACTION realm of action
This form of learning allows the trainee to enter into personal commitments what to start
and what to stop doing that must be kept to assure continued refinement of the
competency. Each field of knowledge offers a corresponding ACTION menu.
On-line articles
Articles connect with a field of knowledge. This is another form of learning used in
building a track. As reinforcement for the learning, trainees answer two questions:
What lessons do you draw from this article?
What do you propose to apply in your day-to-day activities?
On-line courses (self-study)
Trainees enrolled in an educational solution will have until the end of the current
cycle to compete it. It will be up to them to choose the best time to browse the on-line
content, do the evaluations (tests set within the content itself) when they deem appropriate,
and to conclude the action
on-line course offers a pre- and a post-test, for reference, or a compulsory final evaluation of
the learning.
In-person courses
These are forms of learning pursued in the classroom and always connected with a
field of knowledge. In-person activity includes a pre- and a post-test. They may also involve a
pre-activity (on-line course, articles, book reading).
Investigative challenge
This option begins by describing a problem to be solved by the trainee. A properly
conceived challenge is feasible and motivating, and requires that trainees think beyond any
understanding based on memorization. The description of the problem/challenge thus
embodies the instructional goals.
The solution to the problem will be sought by guided research in selected resources
on the subject (manuals, norms, procedures etc.) available on the Intranet/Internet (or even by
accessing other materials such as books, videos etc.). In addition to these resources, strategies
for addressing the investigative challenge may include collaborative interaction with other
trainees or facilitators/tutors. Trainees have to compile and summarize this information
search/research (using tables, forms, notepads etc.).
On-line discipline
Addressing a specific field of knowledge, this comprises a variety of means of learning
self-study content (articles, videos, books), tutorials, discussion forum and chats all
correlated with the field of knowledge. Trainees must enroll in a virtual class with starting and
ending dates set in advance by SEBRAE Corporate University. These classes are programmed in
accordance with demand mapping. Disciplines are subject to a formal certification process.
On-line tips
Always addressing a specific field of knowledge, the tips enable trainees to apply the
knowledge/skill they relate to in their day-to-day activities. As reinforcement for the learning,
trainees answer two questions:
What lessons do you draw from these tips?
What do you propose to apply in your day-to-day activities?
On-line case studies
These are analyses of day-to-day situations, to which they offer solutions, and can be
conducted individually or in groups. Each case study is connected with a concept, which will
be presented on conclusion of the activity and be related to a field of knowledge identified
when the learning goals are formulated.
Books
-line and physical libraries,
the Pearson Library and other sources, and are identified by author and publisher. All books
recommended should be related to the specified fields of knowledge.
In-person/on-line talks
Content may be conveyed by in-person or on-line talks, which always relate to one of
the specified fields of knowledge.
Policies and procedures
Trainees may acquire knowledge by reading legal, normative, procedural or other
documentation relating to their day-to-day activities. Such documents are usually connected
with practices specific to SEBRAE.
Fast-track training
This is a new category of on-line training programs built up using new processes and
courseware. They are developed by SEBRAE in-house experts in specific subjects. This
category is defined by the following criteria:
Course modules can be completed in less than three weeks;
They make use of PowerPoint;
They use simple evaluation, feedback and tracking tools;
Media components, such as voice, may be included to facilitate study; and
Learning modules may span one hour or less, and often less than thirty minutes.
Video
Commercial films and training videos available on the market may be used to
ity.
CONCLUSIONS
SEBRAE Corporate University has adopted an educational approach that seeks to
the course content, thus facilitating assimilation. This approach is underpinned conceptually
by the basic theory of adult education: teaching for adults as a function that lays the
foundations for an educational process where, to begin with, what is to be learned is defined
by the institution and how it is to be learned whether via web class, tutorial, books, in-
person or mixed courses
constitutes a partnership between SEBRAE and its collaborators, each assuming their share of
responsibility for the process of developing competencies (knowledge, skills and attitudes)
which, when applied, will yield results.
That said, UCSEBRAE has opened the doors to knowledge by adopting multiple means
of learning, among them distance education. It has opted for guided learning, indicating
with the assistance of technology various pathways or Learning Tracks, which emphasize
content relating to the business of SEBRAE, whose mission is to foster entrepreneurship and
sustainable development for micro and small businesses.
UCSEBRAE began with an educational model excessively centered on the in-person
format, but has moved to an open model with multiple options and no prerequisites. In this
way, students do not have to hold any specific job position in order to access the knowledge
required for that occupational space.
UCSEBRAE has thus come to offer a variety of different means of learning, which
learners can group in whatever way makes most sense to their realities, and in parallel has
adopted a tutoring process wh
fostering exchange among learners, and creating an environment attractive to students with
an interest in keeping up to date.
After operating this system for two years, UCSEBRAE noted that some students are
still unable to administer their working hours in order to devote time to professional
development, even at a distance, and that this is the main reason given for non-attendance
and cancellation of on-line disciplines. Other students are resistant to virtual learning and
insist on learning exclusively in the in-person format. Learners with this profile ignore all
offers of distance education, self-study and even learning resulting from day-to-day
interaction. A third portion of this public, the Google generation, has grown up with Internet
at home and thus not only follows the courses, but demands more and more interactivity.
Recognizing these differences and noting the reactions of these diverse publics,
UCSEBRAE has moved ahead in differentiating the means of learning it offers, subdividing the
concepts, which are easily updated and accessed, in an endeavor to bring together learning
objects developed by other people and other institutions.
UCSEBRAE is introducing a personnel recognition policy, which is still at an early trial
stage, but will consider training to be career growth, a likelihood that seems to meet the
needs of those who do not feel sufficiently motivated solely by the opportunity to access
knowledge for professional qualification. In some cases, a credit hours system will be
date.
REFERENCES
EBOLI, Marisa et al (Orgs.). Educação corporativa: fundamentos, evolução e implantação de projetos. São Paulo: Atlas, 2010.
FREITAS, Isa Aparecida; BRANDÃO, Hugo Pena. Trilhas de aprendizagem como estratégia para desenvolvimento de competências. In: ENCONTRO NACIONAL DA ASSOCIAÇÃO NACIONAL DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO E PESQUISA EM ADMINISTRAÇÃO, 29., 2005, Brasília. Anais. Brasília: Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Administração, 2005, p. 7.
LE BOTERF, Guy. Desenvolvendo a Competência dos Profissionais. Porto Alegre: Artmed, 2003.
Universidade Corporativa SEBRAE. Disponível em: <www.uc.sebrae.com.br>. Accessed on: 6 May 2011.
EVALUATION IN DISTANCE LEARNING:
A CORPORATE CASE STUDY
Flávia Barroso de Mello
Abstract
Learning evaluation is a frequent debate topic among education theorists, and with
the advent of distance learning, especially in a corporate context, the discussion is ongoing.
Today there are still very few companies that have managed to implement a process that allies
learning evaluation with analysis of the level of impact that a Distance Learning-based
Corporate Education program will have on their business. In this context, starting with an
analysis of the case of Claro telecommunications, this article investigates the problem of
evaluating corporate distance learning, observing how Claro evaluates the results of the
training courses that are administered to its collaborators via e-learning, and analyzing this
methodology. What is conducted, in other words, is a meta-evaluation.
Keywords: DL (Distance Learning), Corporate DL, E-Learning, Evaluation, ROI in T&D.
Resumen
La Evaluación del aprendizaje es un tema de debate frecuente entre los teóricos de la
Educación y en la EAD, inclusive corporativa, la discusión se mantiene. Hasta hoy, pocas
empresas logran implementar un proceso que vincule la evaluación del aprendizaje al análisis
del nivel de impacto que un programa de educación corporativa, basado en EAD, tendría en el
negocio. En este contexto, a partir del análisis del caso de la empresa de Telecomunicaciones
Claro, este artículo propone problematizar el tema acerca de la evaluación en la EAD
corporativa, observando cómo Claro evalúa los resultados de los cursos y capacitaciones
impartidos para sus colaboradores vía e-learning y analizar esta metodología. O sea, realizar
una meta-evaluación.
Palabras clave: EAD, EAD Corporativa, E-learning, Evaluación, ROI en T&D.
1 Introduction
The development of computer networks and, particularly, the advent of the Internet,
have paved the way for economic, political, social and cultural changes that have shaped a
new model of society based on information, knowledge and learning. This new, totally
globalized and networked society is the outcome of a mutation in civilization that has
affected the way people relate to each other, has altered relations of time and place, and has
established new formats for the production, preservation and distribution of knowledge.
Ever more rapid and integrated Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)
have revolutionized teaching and also learning and, together with online Distance
Learning (DL), have posed a need to rethink the pedagogical models of teaching and learning,
teachers' roles and evaluation methodologies designed to meet the needs of traditional
teaching.
The impacts of this scenario in the corporate context have prompted new rules and
require that firms position themselves differently. Lucena & Fuks (2000) explain that, in the
digital age, corporations are the outcome of the relationships among people internal and
external to their environments. That is to say, they are the products of a continuous process
of communication and information exchange no longer limited to the physical domain of
their organizations. Their borders are steadily being diluted and a new model of production is
taking shape, no longer centered on the product, but rather on the needs of those to
consume it. Here, as pointed out by Pinto (2005), competitiveness is no longer bound up
exclusively with the attributes of price and products, but comes to depend much more on
how human resources perform.
Corporations pressured by mounting demand to update their present work models
and, most importantly, by the competitiveness of the market and the need to cut costs can
be said to have pioneered the use of DL in their training programs.
Accordingly, Corporate Education is one of the most promising frontiers of DL in
Brazil today. One of its modalities, e-learning, is a widely used tool in firms' education and
training programs. It is designed to deliver quality, flexible, rapid, low-cost training in the
organizational competences necessary for personnel to operate in the globalized economy and
networked society.
However, it is clear that many firms have not yet managed to develop, or to adjust to,
a model for evaluating the results in both learning and business performance obtained by
implementing e- -
151 firms that used e-learning in their training programs. Evaluating and measuring learning
outcomes still constituted a major challenge for 48% of them. Meanwhile, 55% had made no
These data are also reflected in the academic context. After the e-learning boom of
the 1990s, large numbers of academic studies have discussed the tool's implementation and
management phases. However, there is a lack of studies addressing evaluation of results in
terms of the teaching and learning process and how it relates to firms' operating results.
This study intends to help bridge that gap. While limiting itself to a case study of the
multinacional telecommunications firm, Claro, it aims to answer the following questions: How
does Claro evaluate the outcomes of courses and training given to its collaborators via e-
learning? What means can be suggested for analyzing this model of evaluation systematically,
critically and impartially?
The main goal is to describe the evaluation methodology applied to courses and
training given by Claro to its collaborators via e-learning, and to examine that methodology
in other words, to conduct a meta-evaluation. In addition, as Corporate Education is one of
the areas addressed by FGV Online, analysis of the Claro case is also designed to collaborate
with thinking about the process of evaluating results, and to contribute to improving FGV
Online's own evaluation tools, which are a critical success factor for it to strengthen and
consolidate its presence in this area.
For that purpose, an exploratory, descriptive study was conducted. The qualitative
methodology employed was based on unstructured interviews of the Claro education and
training staff applied in order to collect information about the firm's Corporate Education
model, focusing on e-learning and blended-learning tools, and the respective evaluation
methodology.
In June 2009, we interviewed Claro's Education and Training Manager, Eduardo
Aparecido Silva; Education and Training Specialist, Midori Oriashi; and Corporate Education
Specialist, Marga Guimarães.
2 DL, Learning and Evaluation: Theoretical Considerations
E-learning is a complex phenomenon not limited just to the classroom. In the
corporate context particularly, learning can be understood on the definition given by
Rosenberg (2008):
Is a basic human activity that takes place everywhere and every day.
Every role or function within an organization has some form of
learning attribute and the people who do the work are constantly
learning (p. 3).
Training, meanwhile, i of tools to facilitate learning, which
facilitates performance
At present, e-learning is used not just in training, capacity-building and vocational
programs designed to develop and improve competences, but also figures as one of the key
tools supporting knowledge management programs, so as to spread of organizational culture
in corporations, as proposed by Rosenberg (2008).
E-learning can thus be defined on a broader view, as not just part of the corporate
training program, but integral to firms' learning architecture and performance, as Rosenberg
(2008) suggests:
E-learning is the use of internet technologies to create and deliver a
rich learning environment that includes a broad array of instruction
and information resources and solutions, the goal of which is to
enhance individual and organizational performance (p. 72).
As noted by Ricardo (2005), some preliminary measures must be taken in order to implement
a DL program. Three are particularly important: analysis and diagnosis of the initial needs,
technical and budget feasibility evaluation and, lastly, alignment with the firm's strategic
guidelines. From there, it is possible to define: the modalities of the educational process
whether distance (e-learning) or semi-in-person (blended learning) and the
pedagogical/andragogical approach, which, as suggested by Filatro (2008), will determine the
(distributive, interactive or collaborative) technological tools to be used, the types of
(synchronous or asynchronous) communication tools, the (informational, supplementary,
essential, collaborative or immersive) models of learning and instructional design (ID) and,
lastly, the learning and performance evaluation model. This is to say that, by the end of any
training or knowledge management program, what any firm wants to know is whether it is
possible to correlate what people are learning with business results. The final goal, therefore,
is to turn entrepreneurial competences into real business assets.
Just as with defining a model of education, so analyzing and choosing a model of
evaluation hinge on what is understood by learning and how people are understood to learn.
Authors who discuss evaluation in DL are practically unanimous in advocating more
constructivist approaches in evaluation processes applied to virtual learning environments
(VLES) to prioritize collaborative and meditative evaluation, with educational processes
directed to understanding and designed to encourage and orient students towards producing
ge, by exploring the proposed questions in depth, by offering
opportunities for new experiences, reading or whatever procedures can enrich the subject
The challenge in corporate education is to ally learning evaluation with analysis of the
level of impact that a Training and Development (T&D) or Knowledge Management (KM)
program will have on the business. Tangible results and measurable indicators can be
developed by implementing the Return On Investment in training model (ROI in T&D in %).
The total cost of a training program is made up of diverse costs, and Return on
Investment in Training (ROI in T&D in %) is a measure that assists in ascertaining these
programs' effectiveness. ROI in T&D can be measured according to the following formula
(Palmeira, 2008; p. 101):
ROI = Net Benefits (Benefits-Costs) x 100
The current literature offers many methods for measuring ROI in T&D allied to
learning evaluation that are suited to a diversity of corporate contexts. The classical
methodology that gave rise to the subsequent publications is Donald Kirkpatrick's, which uses
four scales at different levels of evaluation: level 1 reaction or satisfaction; level 2
learning; level 3 behavior change; and level 4 results.
Building on the scales of Donald Kirkpatrick and Jack Phillips, Palmeira (2008)
developed a model of evaluation, which as Palmeira herself suggests is considered to suit
the Brazilian corporate context. This model features four levels of evaluation, as in Figure 1
below:
FIGURE 1: Model of evaluation for training, capacity-building and vocational programs
Adapted from Palmeira (2008; p. 44)
Level 0 underlying strategy
Determines what organization and individual goals the training or capacity-building program
is to support.
Level 1 reaction
Evaluates where the participants liked the training, calling into question whether or not the
program should continue. This type of evaluation is well known and conducted by most firms
that today give training programs.
Level 2 learning
Palmeira agrees with the constructivist line of thinking that regards learning as yet another
moment in the teaching-learning process, as discussed earlier in this article.
Level 3 impact
At this level, Palmeira groups analyses of changes in behavior/applicability, results and ROI
properly speaking.
3 The Claro Case
3.1 E-Learning at Claro
With more than 50 million customers, 150 owned retail outlets, 3,000 authorized
agents in Brazil, and also operating on the corporate market, Claro stands second in the
ranking of mobile telephony firms in Brazil. In all, it has approximately 55,000 collaborators,
including associates and partners.
The mobile telephony market is one of those that has grown most in Brazil in recent
years: firstly, in response to repressed demand for these services in all economic classes and,
secondly, as a result of investment by service providers and other firms in the sector in
expanding, modernizing and improving the quality of the products and services offered to the
consumer. It is also one of the most aggressive, dynamic and competitive sectors, mainly
because of two factors:
the market is young, with private firms entering the sector late, from the end of the
1990s onwards, when the federal government privatized the Telebrás system.
the industry is constantly innovating, with new data and voice transmission
technologies emerging rapidly in Brazil, because share control is in the hands of world
giants of the mobile telephony industry.
This dynamic scenario with a constantly shifting market where competitive advantages
quickly become commodities, and there is a resulting need to keep a vast and permanently
up-to-date sales team distributed nationwide are the key factors that, for the past five
years, have been driving the development of a distance learning project in Claro. The demand
was to develop a model of Corporate Education (CE) that would bring together knowledge,
learning, organizational performance and development of talents, for the final purpose of
seeking a leading market position, initially focusing on the frontline teams, comprising
associates at the owned stores.
The first diagnosis performed by the education and training team identified a need to
integrate the positioning of training and brand, thus matching the education and training
structure to the firms' strategies, as suggested by Figure 2, below:
FIGURE 2: Brand positioning and positioning of training at Claro
In addition, the initial diagnosis pointed up other needs, which were contemplated and
worked into a new proposal:
replace the traditional model of RH trainer who concentrates and distributes all
knowledge, by multidisciplinary teams comprising focal points and content developers
from the client areas themselves;
standardize teaching material, which formerly varied with the profile of the trainer
and the regional sales office;
reduce the very high, disorderly costs;
adjust the amount of content, which was sometimes excessive, sometimes thin;
bring training closer to the realities and everyday activities of sales personnel.
Now, from both educational and financial points of view, the e-learning and blended-
learning modalities of education were ideally suited to meet the needs diagnosed. It was also
clear that e-learning could be inserted into the organizational culture as a practical, effective
knowledge management tool, given that it is able to convey and model business processes on
a large scale, as well as encouraging staff self-development, particularly because it is always
available for consultation.
The adult education model adopted was based on three levels of capacity-building,
focused on the individual learning pathway:
Level 1 formation
At this level, the new collaborator receives basic information about the organization, Claro's
strategic positioning and knowledge indispensable for the business to function.
Level 2 training
Here personnel acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to perform their day-to-day tasks.
It involves constructing and maintaining knowledge, while using opportunities to strengthen
the brand pillars and the company strategy.
Level 3 development
This level is characterized by expansion of the knowledge necessary for decision-making. This
enables the personnel managing change, people, clients, technology, businesses and processes
to act as agents of strategy implementation.
els. For the
informative courses, the e-learning modality was used. For training focused on building
specific skills, the modality selected was blended learning.
In addition to the courses with informative promotional content, the needs of each
area were inventoried and specific curricula were developed for the various channels of the
retail and corporate segments.
Since the first course was launched in 2006, all Claro's promotional activities, as well
as all launches of new services and more sophisticated appliances, are being supported by
virtual training, in asynchronous form. These are not self-enrollment courses, i.e.,
collaborators are enrolled by the e-learning team at the request of the managers of each area,
and are informed about the training to be given.
Natural reluctance to accept the new model of vocational capacity-building, especially
the new technology, which was unprecedented in Claro's business culture, was quickly
overcome, as shown by the growing interest from the various areas of the company in
developing content for the teams. Over the year 2007, 247 online courses were launched, and
the number has continued to increase significantly in subsequent years.
At the implementation stage of the "development" level, the "e-learning portal" was
converted into a complete corporate education portal, based on the Knowledge Management-
focused model of learning and performance architecture.
Priority was given first to capacitating managers and leaders in order to involve them
co-responsibly and jointly with the education and training area, for the management and
training of associates and partners, by taking a role not just as business managers, but also as
educators.
In order to give support to formation of leaders, a "leadership portal" was then
implemented. This continually-updated virtual space with specific content for each of the four
key company values innovation, entrepreneurship, customer service, and focus on results
in addition to courses to develop other competences.
The "leadership portal" consolidates the characteristic of e-learning as a great spreader
of business culture. Its content includes nine vídeos up to 5 minutes long offering lessons on
leadership, business and business culture. These videos form part of the collection of 39
vídeos of world leaders, plus 24 courses by Harvard ManageMentor, in addition to articles and
presentations on leadership.
For associates, with the idea that they should manage their own careers, the
"development pathways" program was introduced in 2008, offering courses in planning a
career trajectory, in addition to forums, articles and links for enrolling in virtual and in-person
workshops.
3.1.1 Evaluation of Results
This study analyzes specifically the metrics used in evaluating results applied to the
'formation' and 'training' levels of Claro's education and training model, as regards both
learning outcomes and operational results.
Of the courses available at these levels, 98% involved some kind of evaluation. Those
with no evaluation tools are generally designed to disseminate endomarketing campaigns or
internal company information.
Two types of evaluation are applied applied to courses at Claro, mainly with a view to
a analyzing learning in the cognitive domain:
a) Content evaluation
Applied compulsorily at the end of each course, content evaluation involves between
5 and 12 multiple-choice questions which are random, i.e., they vary for each student who
accesses the course. The minimum passing score is 80% correct answers (example available in
Annex 5).
b) Reaction or satisfaction evaluation
Also applied the end of each course, reaction or satisfaction evaluation is not
compulsory and, as the name suggests, is designed to identify whether the student was
satisfied with the course in terms of the content, teaching material, learning, motivation etc.
(example available in Annex 6).
Right after the blended-learning courses were launched, so as to gauge outcomes in
terms of learning and satisfaction, and to evaluate the success of the educational model
implemented, Claro ran a pilot project with four groups of new-intake sales personnel from
from the company's own stores, who were trained as follows :
A "pilot" class trained using blended learning.
trained in person, with the methodology and tools used
before implementation of blended learning.
Below are the results observed:
Content Evaluation
Content evaluation indicated that the "pilot" class, trained on the blended-learning
model, reached the stores with 16%
were trained in person, as shown in the graph below:
Graph 1: Result of Content Evaluation - Pilot Class
8.85 8.07
7.06 7.3
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Pilot Class Class A Class B Class C
16%
Percentage Approval Rate
Percentage approval in the "pilot" class was also significantly higher than in the
others, as shown in Table 1:
Table 1: Results in terms of Students Approved - Pilot Class
[#Esta imagem tem um erro: à direita, inclui outro em português, que não consido eliminar]
Reaction Evaluation
Reaction evaluation was applied only to the "pilot" class. The average satisfaction
score was 4.8, a result indicating 96% satisfaction.
Graph 2: Result of Reaction Evaluation - Pilot Class
In addition to the results of the evaluations applied on completion of training, it was
observed in subsequent months that turnover was lower in the "pilot" class than in the others.
Complementary analyses of gains to scale, cost reduction and adhesion to the new
Classes Total Trained Approved %
Pilot 18 15 83
A 29 21 72
B 34 12 35
C 28 11 39
model indicated significant positive results from implementing the e-learning based CE model.
from the course launched in 2006 through to the first quarter of 2009, there were
1,167,371 participations in e-learning courses at Claro. That means that the 40,000
eligible associates and partners had taken an average of 29 courses each, at an
average of nine courses per year.
the cost of in-person training at Claro is R$ 56,00 per student per day. With blended
learning, that cost falls to R$ 30,00, i.e., savings of 46%.
participants were required to travel 50% less from their workplaces.
from 2008 to 2009, virtual training grew by 32%.
compared with 2008, 28% more new courses were launched.
could be evaluated on the basis of certain quantitative metrics. However, Claro does not yet
have a model of evaluation that establishes that relationship systematically and objectively.
4 Final Remarks
In the case of Claro, presented in this article, it can be seen that care and planning went
into implementation of the e-learning-based model of education, as recommended by Ricardo
(2005) and Filatro (2008):
analysis and diagnosis of the initial needs;
budget assessment;
alignment with company guidelines;
definition of the modality of education and of the pedagogical approach, which
would give support to the choice of model of evaluation.
The operational results obtained, including cost reductions and gains to scale, in addition
to large-scale adhesion to the new tool by leaders, associates and partners, demonstrate
successful implementation of the project, and signal that the company opted for the model
best suited to its needs. The costs, which were almost halved, and the number of training
courses taken by each associate and partner, would not have been possible on a model of
education based 100% on the in-person modality.
As regards evaluation, a subject which this article set out to examine, both strong and
weak points can be seen in the model chosen by Claro.
The learning evaluation methodology adopted can be seen to be appropriate to the
adult education approach initially proposed, which focused on developing skills and forming
specific concepts to be applied in day-to-day work situations. That is to say, the intention is
that when Claro associates or partners take a course whether informative or to develop a
specific competence via e-learning or blended learning, at the end of the course they should
be able to reproduce the skills and knowledge acquired. This was confirmed by the pilot run
with the four classes of new associates, as described earlier in this article.
The methodology used today could be complemented by providing more inputs to
measuring the efficiency of the teaching and learning process. If diagnostic evaluation is
included, particularly in courses to develop specific skills, then students' initial knowledge of
the subject proposed and their progress can be determined. This contrasts with content
evaluation, which is applied at the end of the course.
Just like most of the companies using e-learning today in their CE model, Claro has
no metric for measuring business results associated with e-learning outcomes.
For more complete and tangible results regarding the efficiency of the educational
model adopted by Claro (or of any model of education and training used in a company), it is
necessary to identify statistically the degree of correlation between the e-learning and
performance of the associates directly benefited by it.
One of the models that could be adopted for this analysis would be the ROI in T&D
proposed by Pereira (2008) and presented in the literature review in this article.
What is fundamentally important, before any educational action, is to identify the
variables to be evaluated. It must be emphasized though, that these are not standard and
should be related to the performance indices that Claro is interested in measuring. For
example:
improvement in customer service;
rate of complaints to Anatel, the regulatory agency;
degree of satisfaction among customers served by the customer service call center;
commercial targets reached by telesales;
commercial targets achieved by Claro's network of stores, and others with direct
impact on company business.
After training, the goals achieved and the concrete benefits resulting from the learning on
the course should be ascertained so that they can subsequently be expressed as monetary
values to be applied to to the ROI in T&D formula, as in the example in Annex 4.
Certainly, some practical factors may constitute obstacles to gathering the necessary
information for analysis; for example, different databases, i.e., data on e-learning available in
a system which does not " talk" to the performance management system, intangible metrics,
and so on. Accordingly, it is important to plan and provide for analysis of ROI in T&D in
advance, from the start of the corporate DL project.
In the case of Claro, analysis of ROI in T&D could be started in a pilot project,
circumscribed to one of the areas of the firm that is benefiting from the e-learning. The
purpose of this pilot would be to point to the critical impacts and factors relating to this
model of results evaluation, for subsequent adjustment and expansion to the rest of the
company.
Lastly, this study set itself to analyze the evaluation methodology used by Claro,
which is present in the informative courses and in those designed to develop specific skills, at
r, that
does not end the discussion on the subject of e-learning in the corporate context of this
company. On the contrary, it opens up possibilities for further in-depth studies of the
"development" level, which is where the "leadership portal" and the "development pathways"
portal both of which have already been implemented have their place. At that level, the
adult education approach certainly needs to be different, as does the evaluation methodology
used, which should include collaborative and networked tools, given that these are directed to
formation for more authentic learning that combines thinking and action.
5 References
CASTELLS, M. Internet e sociedade em rede. In: MORAES, D. (Org.). Por uma outra
comunicação: mídia, mundialização cultural e poder. Rio de Janeiro: Record, 2003, pp. 255-
288.
FILATRO, Andrea. Design instrucional na prática. São Paulo: Pearson Education do Brasil,
2008.
HOFFMAN, Jussara. Avaliação: mito e desafio: uma perspectiva construtivista. Porto Alegre:
Mediação, 2005.
LUCENA, Carlos; FUKS, Hugo. Professores e aprendizes na Web: educação na era da internet.
Ed. and org. Nilton Santos. Rio de Janeiro: Clube do Futuro, 2000.
PALMEIRA, Cristina Gomes. ROI de treinamento, capacitação e formação profissional: retorno
do investimento. Rio de Janeiro: Qualitymark, 2008.
PINTO, André Luís de S. Alves. Eduardo e Mônica. In: RICARDO, Eleonora Jorge (Org.).
Educação corporativa e educação a distância. Rio de Janeiro: Qualitymark, 2005.
RICARDO, Eleonora Jorge. Educação corporativa a distância: algumas reflexões. In: _____.
Educação corporativa e educação a distância. Rio de Janeiro: Qualitymark, 2005.
ROSENBERG, Marc J. Beyond E-Learning: Approaches and Technologies to Enhance
Organizational Knowledge, Learning, and Performance. San Francisco: Pfeiffer, 2006.
Sites consulted:
TELECO. Available at: <www.teleco.com.br>. Accessed on: 31 Aug. 2011.
PORTAL E-LEARNING BRASIL. Available at: <www.elearningbrasil.com.br>. Accessed on: 31
Aug. 2011.
CLARO SITE. Available at: <www.claro.com.br>. Accessed on: 31 Aug. 2011.
The next generation of corporate universities - Splendid Learning
Why technology doesn't matter.
Roger C. Schank
By Cristina Massari
The Next Generation of Corporate Universities Innovative Approaches for Developing People
and Expanding Organizational Capabilities.
Editor Mark Allen
Why Technology doesn't matte
Now that corporate universities are a reality, attention is turning to their future. What
directions will these institutions take? What will the trends be? What role will technology play
in that process? These are the subjects that editor Mark Allen ponders in the book,
Generation of Corporate Universities Innovative Approaches for Developing People and
number of different approaches, move forward the discussion of organizational strategies for
personnel development.
The book is organized by subject area and divided into modules, so that readers can dip into it
and read the articles according to their area of interest. There are four sections: corporate
universities as strategic business partners; internal corporate university functions; distinctive
settings for corporate universities; and next-generation corporate university functions. Roger
ning
application of distance teaching methods to corporate universities, discusses and questions the
importance and function of the technology used in present models.
In presenting Schank's article, Editor Mark Allen highlights the importance of the subject it
addresses by questioning the fact that, for e-learning courses, completion rates of around
60% are considered satisfactory. In his article, Schank says that present models of corporate
course management have concentrated more on the "e" than on the "learning". In other
words, the priority has been to apply the technology, rather forgetting that the real purpose of
these programs the actual learning must not be neglected.
For 35 years a professor of computer science, Schank directs the Institute for the Learning
Sciences. Given his background, he might be expected to write about technology, but he
prefers to steer his article towards the discussion of e-learning, using examples of how to
make avail splendid learning technology resources at
the service of models which construct situations that come close to day-to-day corporate
routine.
porate university
-
person methodologies blended learning he feels have
become buzzwords.
Schank argues that the technology is no longer that important; what is fundamental is to
guarantee that people are learning and assimilating the right things. Concern with how this
content is to be delivered should come next, and as a result of the learning programs. What
has to be discussed, he says, is not the technology, but the learning. Accordingly, he addresses
issues intrinsic to the challenge of transforming corporate training as it was being done
regularly into something that has now come to be transmitted electronically.
What lies behind companies' mass migration to e-learning are the finances. Electronic
corporate training has made it possible to save tons of printed paper, even though entailing
sizable investment in technology. Schank adds that, in the beginning, this new imposition was
not completely welcome; rather it was received with mistrust. The trainers had to be trained,
and the investments were significant. In practice, moreover, it was realized that it entailed
more than simply transposing content printed on paper to a new platform using multimedia
and with tools that need to be explored and, more importantly, mastered in order to construct
knowledge.
blended learning
just combining e-learning methods with traditional in-person techniques that cannot be
transposed to the virtual or digital dimension, the conclusion reached was that not everything
should be or is suited to be made available online. The blended-learning solutions he
identifies inc -to-face sessions, [and] web-based training
participants' interest for a period of three weeks (or
more or less). He splendid learning e.
There is no combined solution, Schank says, because technology is the answer to nothing in
we built was delivered
Adding that courses
can be set up in offline and online formats, and the Internet can be used in both cases to
distribute tasks, pathways etc.
Splendid learnig means that whatever you deliver is the same online or offline he says, that
what should be in mind is to construct authentic experiences in learning by doing, guided by
monitors and with as much realism as can be brought to bear.
Moreover, to the extent that the content presented in the courses undergoes a process of
transposition from one language to another, it has to be exploited intelligently so as to
maintain students' interest. Schank warns that the content has to be intelligently interesting.
People participate out of interest in the subject, but they will only stay with it if they feel
motivated.
If learning is seen as the outcome of hard work, and the scope for play is ignored, everything
becomes more difficult. The notion that learning is the result of effort and hard work has
consolidated over generations: memorization was part of the education process, obliging a
whole generation to learn Latin, for instance. Now, however, most of that generation has
passed away. Nonetheless, it is not just a question of making things more fun. What Schank is
stressing is the need
Some things are basic to awakening this desire to engage, says Schank: fascination, curiosity,
amusement, determination, confusion, emotional identification, anticipation, stimulus,
excitement. It is no coincidence that these are exactly the sensations that a good film or a
good book will arouse.
Schank, adding that curricula have to be reviewed in order to turn content that may not have
been very interesting to start with into something that will secure engagement.
Schank notes that, when curricula are being prepared, students are generally not heard about
what they would like to learn. He therefore argues that there should be greater approximation
between source and receptor so that an affinity or at least a harmony of interests can be
established.
Schank regards it as wrong to assume that an online course should be a prerequisite for
participants to achieve a certain level of knowledge which they will do everything in their
power to attain. That is not true, because the course is doomed to be left aside when
students' attention is diverted to something they consider more interesting. The great
challenge for these programs is thus to achieve their results on their own merits, against the
competition, whether virtual or face-to-face. As distance learning by electronic media is often
accessed remotely, generally in the receptor's home, its main rivals include a good film, a TV
program, or any other book-
That is why online courses have to hold the participan
halfway.
Schank draws attention to the need to pursue excellence in the quality of online course
preparation. And how is this to be done? He proposes starting with trying to discover and
target points of interest to the student. This he justifies by saying that, in many cases, it is
students' determination to learn a subject to speak a language, drive a vehicle that really
makes them progress in that subject. But interest is sustained as long as students identify
relevance in the subject matter which only occurs while they perceive that they are
progressing and have still not learned enough. Accordingly, he suggests that true learning is
motivated by advances, driven by changes and accomplishments.
So where does technology come into all this? Technology is the instrument used to make
learning possible in a way that is interesting to students:
means they will come with an attitude. Those who build e-learning had better be prepared for
Schank warns.
It is thus clear to Schank that there has to be a change in viewpoint: the process of
developing the content of e-learning programs must contemplate the target public's interest,
and focus on the students. After all, it is for them that the course is being designed. Also, he
adds, it is not just e-learning that needs to progress in that direction, but education as a
whole.
Another characteristic that he points to as important is emotional identification. In order to
create this emotional identification with the receptor, e-learning will have to seem real from
the outset, by presenting situations that have a relationship with authentic concerns, in an
environment that approximates to real conditions. Nor can it be a war game. That is not the
reality of workplace routine. What does one see from day to day at work? Arguments,
frustrations, decisions to be taken under pressure, conflicts among team members, and so on.
In an e-learning program, realistic situations should appear visually so as to foster
story-centered curriculum
enable students to experience the study object (which is what they're interested in).
Supporting reading should assist that mission. Schank concludes his article by giving examples
of how technology has been used successfully to support the development of programs and
projects.
part of book Innovative Approaches for
Developing People and Expanding Organizational Capabil
published by Pfeiffer (432 pages. ISBN: 978-0-7879-8655-1. US$ 80. www.pfeiffer.com).