Digital Workers’ Preferences Towards the Informal Learning Ecosystem for Distributed Workplaces

Supporting informal workplace learning in distributed work settings with socio-technical systems is an emerging paradigm in technology-enhanced learning. Based on the recent EU research projects IntelLEO and Learning Layers, this paper addresses some key challenges of cross-settings workplace learning and outlines some technological functionalities as opportunities to overcome these challenges. The key problem addressed in this paper was identifying which learning opportunities provided by such systems the workers would approve, and how the different opportunities of socio-technical systems might support the learners as a learning ecosystem. The survey was conducted with workplace learners from the domains of Educational Technology, IT-Management and Human-Computer Interaction to estimate their preferences to socio-technical system functionalities for learning in distributed workplaces. Based on the survey, a Bayesian dependency model of the socio-technical system functionalities was modelled which positions scaffolding interactions as mediators of self-directed sensemaking and co-creation.