Organizational and Cognitive Design of (Technological) Learning Environment

Abstract

In order to survive in a period of rapid changes organizations must exploit their abilities to learn and innovate.The paper will explore how and to what extent the design of "educational systems" within organizations must consider the organizational context as a learning context in itself. In this perspec­ tive the design of any "educational system" must consider both the perspective of organizational design and the the specificities of the learning process highlighted by the recent researches in cognitive sciences. The design of any "educational system" must be strictly and coherently related to the design of the organizational context (for example, in terms of technology, reward and incentive systems, human resource practices, belief systems, communicative flows, access to infor­ mation, etc.); it will be suggested the need for the search for a organizational coherence between the educational features of the organizational context (and of the learning that goes on in that context) and those of the formal educational context, through the definition of a common design project (in terns of design principles, methodology, professionals involved, etc.) of the organizational learning environ­ ment. The design of a formal and non formal educational context should be a part of the entire organizational design and that also reify a theory of organizational learning. The work context should be designed to take advantage of the learning potential embedded in "normal" productive activities, through the growth of a cognitive and educational point of view to manage and reunite learning and working in organizational settings. The design of such rich learning contexts, in which a model of real cognitive apprenticeship could be applied, would be a very promising research area for the cognitive science of instruction also contributing to the creation of a new learning culture in organizational contexts.