6. Results and conclusions II: The work with European knowledge resources

6.1. Rethinking the role of the European knowledge resources

It is also essential to give a picture of the reorientation that the WLP project has gone through concerning its contribution to European knowledge development on workplace learning and partnership-based cooperation. This section discusses the adjustment of European knowledge resources to the diversified approaches to piloting and knowledge transfer in the participating countries. Below, this reorientation is firstly discussed with a focus on three main products – the WLP Manual, the WLP Tools and the WLP Course. Then, a similar account is given on the reworking of the “WLP Web” into “WLP Web Resources”. Finally, an overview is presented on the reorientation of the main products from the initial ideas to the final stage.

6.2. Rethinking the role of the WLP Manual, the WLP Tools and the WLP Course

In the light of the above it is appropriate to characterise the final shaping of the WLP Manual, the WLP Tools and the WLP Course as group picture.

a) The WLP Manual

In the original plans the idea of a "WLP Manual" was closely linked to the assumption that the use of the WLP tools would open relatively similar possibilities for piloting and that the partners could make use of common organisational formats for partnership development. In this respect the idea of a “WLP Manual” was seen as a handbook-like tool that would support the transition from preparatory analyses to planning of further developmental steps. This supportive role was to be complemented with multimedia inputs.

In the light of the experiences that the WLP project made with more diversified agendas for piloting and dissemination the project agreed to revise its concept of the WLP Manual. In the final stage it was considered more appropriate to produce as “WLP Manual” a brief guide to the knowledge resources of the WLP project.

In this respect the WLP Manual covers the following themes:

1. Value of workplace learning and partnership cooperation in different countries,
2. Use of the results of the WLP project in the development of partnership cooperation,
3. Understanding the diversity of partnership concepts and different evolutionary stages,
4. Identifying different patterns for promoting networked learning,
5. Changing role of web-based support for workplace learning and for related piloting,
6. Use of case stories and multimedia products as means to promote knowledge sharing,
7. Making targeted use of the WLP Course and of related tools and facilities,
8. Conclusions and recommendations for further Research and Development activities.

Parallel to this it was agreed that the WLP multimedia resources would be made available as a separate resource area on the WLP website. Also, in this context, it was agreed that the diversity of the piloting and dissemination agendas would be highlighted by opening specific gateways to the WLP knowledge resources (and also to the WLP multimedia products) from the WLP Partners’ Areas.

b) The WLP Tools

In the original plans the Learning Potential Analysis (LPA) tool was emphasised as a key instrument for preparing the grounds for partnership cooperation between training providers and partner enterprises. In particular the prospect for creating a basis for rotation of trainees between participating enterprises was highlighted.

In the light of the experiences that the WLP has made on exploring the grounds for piloting and for launching actual pilot activities the role of such tools had to be seen in more relative terms. Firstly, the partnership prospects varied more broadly and the kind of networking that was considered possible did not necessarily involve the element of rotation.

In this respect it was essential that the WLP project introduced a wider gallery of pragmatic tools that fulfil the following functions:

1. The Learning Potential Analysis (the LPA tool) prepares the ground for discussions on partnership cooperation.
2. The Learning Provision Review (the LPR tool) draws attention to the different views that training providers may have on workplace learning and enterprise representatives on training provisions. This gives rise for cross-valorisation of the learning opportunities.
3. The Learning Achievement Review (the LAR tool) provides an insight into the long-term learning gains in workplace learning.
4. The Workshop tools support regional dialogue workshops for discussing organisational and pedagogic scenarios for partnership cooperation and for agreeing on the next steps.

c) The WLP Course

In the original plan the idea of a “WLP Course” was closely related to the use of preparatory tools and to the cooperation arrangements based on rotation of trainees (and to respective pedagogic support and organisational supervision). However, on the basis of the more diversified piloting phase, the WLP project had to review the usability of the WLP Course. In this context the project had to reconsider how the concept of such a course could best respond to the different needs of potential users to deepen their knowledge on workplace learning, partnership cooperation and related innovation concepts.

In the light of the above the WLP Course is based on a relatively open structure. Therefore, it can be used as a basis for a training course or as a guide for self-organised learning. It has the task to promote European know-how on partnership development and the use of related tools and facilities. The WLP Course is based on four Learning Areas:

Learning Area 1: Partnership Creation and use of basic analyses,

Learning Area 2: Planning of partnership-based learning arrangements,

Learning Area 3: Support for partnership-based learning activities,

Learning Area 4: Making use of web services and web platforms.

The general aim of the WLP Course is to promote continuing professional development of teachers, trainers and other interested professionals in the related learning areas. The learning tasks start with issues that have been discussed in the WLP project, offer a perspective to deepen one's knowledge and open prospects for further learning. In this respect the course links the results of the WLP project to some parallel developments. As such, the WLP Course has been developed as a general framework. However, in order to serve practical purposes it has to be adjusted to context-specific needs. Therefore, the framework is accompanied by a pedagogic planning tool and with a ‘customisation tool’.

6.3. Rethinking the WLP Web Resources

One of the basic tasks of the WLP project has been to develop a working concept for "WLP Web" that provides access to the ideas, tools and services that are available for developing workplace learning and partnership cooperation. In this respect the WLP project has gone through a remarkable learning process (see section 4 and the Process development Report).

In this context it is worthwhile to emphasise the character of this learning process as overcoming certain tool-drive views. In this respect the WLP project has been searching for a strategy to empower the training providers and partner enterprises as users of web resources in order to enhance the quality of workplace learning. This requires an effort to overcome the following tool-driven approaches:

a)Use of Web tools as 'push technologies' to promote the groundwork tools of the WLP project (notably the LPA tool ) to prepare the grounds for partnership creation;

2. Use of social software as 'learning technologies' to enable reflective learners to shape their own personal learning environments and related uses of portfolios,
3. Use of Learning Management Systems’ to equip training providers and partner enterprises with 'management tools' that make it possible to negotiate local learning designs and related learning arrangements;
4. Use of 'home-made applications' that try to give a light-weight support kit for further local piloting with pedagogic supervision of individual learning and with organisational arrangements for partnership cooperation.

In the light of the experiences of the WLP project it is essential to emphasise the following aspects in linking the work with web resources to the users’ perspectives, to promotion of partnership cooperation and to European knowledge transfer:

1. The WLP project has worked with regional partners that had very different backgrounds regarding use of web resources. In some cases there was a lack of familiarisation with web resources whilst in other cases there was a readiness to start active piloting. In this respect the WLP project needed a differentiated approach to the development of web resources for different users. Altogether, the collection of a joint multimedia resources and the emphasis that is given on Partners’ Areas serve as bridging measures to create a common ground.
2. The WLP research partners have been in a different position vis-à-vis local piloting and/or contributing to European knowledge resources. In this respect the diversity of piloting agendas (in the national context) enabled the research partners also to contribute to different areas of joint knowledge resources. In this respect the gradual evolution of the web resources has made it possible for the national research partners to link their work to web services and to produce specific applications (e.g. resource bases at del.icio.us).
3. The WLP website had been used as a project-internal website for developmental purposes during the project work. At the final phase of the project certain revisions were agreed in order to make the joint results more accessible for external users and to meet different users’ interests (regarding the utilisation of the materials) and preferences (regarding accessing and using web resources). These agreements emphasised the role to be given to Partners’ Areas (as gateways to the resources on the WLP website or to related national websites using national language), to aggregated resource areas (left hand menus), to specific applications (top bars) and to alternative modes of presenting resources (index folders, wiki pages and blog entries with attachments).

6.4. Concluding remarks

Altogether, the gallery of main products of the WLP project had been designed as a mutually supporting set of tools and instruments. As has been indicated, the original plans were based on the idea to pilot with German-based tools (and on ‘Europeanisation’ of the developmental steps to be followed from this starting point). However, as has been reported above and in the Process Development Report, the working concept of the project had to be modified to take into account the different preconditions for national piloting and transfer-promoting activities. Consequently, this modification has led to somewhat different set of tools although all the designed components have been maintained in the gallery of the WLP tools and instruments.

This change in the whole gallery of tools and instruments is made transparent in Table 11. The overview that is presented in the table characterises firstly the original plans and the underlying assumptions. Secondly the table presents the final stage of the main products and the related ideas on their usability in promoting workplace learning partnerships.

Table 11: Changing views on the role of the final products of the WLP project

The main products of the WLP project WLP Tools WLP Manual WLP Course WLP Web

Original plans

WLP Tools (i.e. the LPA tool) as central instrument for pre-paring the ground for partnership-based cooperation. WLP Manual as a handbook that helps to use tools and to disseminate information on pilot cases. WLP Course as a focused course material for promo-ting the know-how on partnership development. WLP Web as promotion media and tutorial environment for sharing knowledge on partnerships.

Underlying assumptions

The main thrust of innovation lies in the use of tools and in promoting relatively similar piloting agendas with relatively similar organisational models. WLP Web as web applications for ‘end users’.

Final stage

WLP Tools (con-sisting of several tools) are offered as preparatory instru-ments that can support the social processes of partnership creation. WLP Manual as a brief guide that helps to relate the joint knowledge re-sources and other products to the development of partnerships. WLP Course as a relatively open lear-ning environment for linking the learning areas identified by WLP project to the work of the project and to other sources. WLP Web as a set of web resources that give access to the-matic resource areas, to support tools and to web services that pro-mote European knowledge sharing.

Remarks on the usability

The main thrust of innovation lies in interpreting the diversity of preconditions for cooperation and in finding appropriate models for partnership creation and networked learning. This requires a multiple set of support services and facilitation for different user-interests. In this respect the gallery of WLP Tools provides tools for analysis and interpretation. The WLP Manual is a brief guide for reflective search processes. The WLP Course is a tutorial environment (for familiarisation with the material) and a reflective learning environment (for getting deeper insights into the WLP-related knowledge resources). WLP Web as a set of web resources for multipliers who are in charge of research, policy initiatives and local or regional customisation of the development concepts.