Summary of Maximize with Learning

In summary of Section IV it is found that learning organization concepts as proposed by Senge (1990a) address the problems in developing high-performance technology teams. Most of the problems in technology team building arise in the process of creating cultural change in schools rather than from the technologies themselves. The abundance of knowledge that exists in school systems is mostly implicit knowledge that resides with individuals, but to build learning teams and learning organizations, implicit knowledge must become explicit knowledge. Shifting the focus from individuals to a focus on teams is required for transforming implicit knowledge into explicit knowledge.

The most effective teams are "learning teams" that use a process of aligning and developing capacity to create results. Common denominators among team learning tools are strong leadership and investing time together toward building collaborative relationships. The team learning tool of dialogue requires high levels of trust and candor among the team members, and individual team members must develop an ability to listen. Many teams remain groups because of their inability to suspend their assumptions and place them in front of the team for examination and exploration.

Most processes for recording knowledge typically only document the outer layer of team processes, but technologies offer the ability to record the informal processes that took place in the practice of dialogue and the interactions that made the learning possible. Technologies promote new patterns of thinking, and when nurtured, a collective eagerness to learn together is reinforced with possible continual learning. Equally important to creating a learning organization is learning to unlearn. Past learning has often been based on outdated processes and on old paradigms that are harmful to the growth of the school system.

Through the use of technologies, a more informed, flexible and organic school system is possible. Team members are more likely to share information that has increased availability enabled by the technology, and this increases the school system's learning potential. School systems are able to put the "locus of control" with everyone when using technologies that are designed for collaboration and working in teams. Information is easily transmitted and shared through the use of the Internet, and this will continue to grow as other electronic communications media emerge. A major transformation of school systems toward the potential for technology teaming will include an interconnected series of networks designed as learning information systems. This transformation of the internetworked school system is dependent upon an interface of both people and an electronic infrastructure.

Systems thinking is required for connecting cause and effect relationships and for finding leverage for improving systems. Leverage is the term used to describe small changes in processes that can produce large results. Acknowledging interdependencies and the idea that everything is somehow connected is the first step in systems thinking. With systems thinking, educational leaders can manipulate the antecedents of a problem in a proactive nature rather than reacting to a problem after the systemic damage has already occurred.

Learning leaders who nurture and encourage meaningful change are needed. Learning leaders are teachers, designers, and directors of change according to Senge (1990a), and the fundamental core of leadership is building the school's culture while shaping its future. As discussed in Section III, leadership is the energy that holds learning processes in alignment and keeps processes of teaming, technology, and learning in motion. As with the positive energy force of the atom that holds everything in place, leadership must be ubiquitous in nature for sustaining continual learning among technology teams and their learning processes.

Section IV - Maximize with Learning
	Teaming	Technology	Learning
Implicit vs. Explicit Knowledge	In order to build learning teams implicit knowledge must become explicit knowledge. Requires shifting processes from a focus on individuals to a focus on teams.	Enables and increases the ability to make explicit knowledge implicit through sharing knowledge anytime, anywhere.	Knowledge is created as implicit knowledge by individuals, then made explicit and shared.
Team Learning	A process of aligning and developing capacity of teams to create results through identifying and challenging assumptions	Processes of immediate and perpetual dialogue and sharing various artifacts - work together - apart.	Collective intelligence that is potentially greater than the sum of individual intelligences of the team
Groupware and Learning	"Just in time" learning and the ability to obtain information as needed using a stored history of communications	Provides elaborate systems with indexing for finding information with little effort as well as conferencing systems.	Sharing best practices while collective energies and initiative create new knowledge and new team capacities. Not so much about spreading information
Cross-Platforms	Connecting team members so that the working spaces become shared spaces and the collective strengths of the team are less fragmented.	Teams use programs that allow them to view, create, modify, and enhance various information without loss.	An infrastructure more accommodating to explicit knowledge so that knowledge is more usable.
Knowledge	The transformation of information to knowledge that has shared context and/or understanding.	The use of electronic collaborative tools provides the means for capturing and storing knowledge created by teams.	More learning which translates to broader knowledge within the organization-information leads to learning that leads to knowledge.
Dialogue Using Technology	Knowledge from learning is seized by the team process tools as the learning transforms to knowledge.	Computer conferencing makes the most of electronic collaboration tools such as email, voice mail, and audio/video.	Enables the capture of informal processes such as dialogue, and the interactions that made the learning possible.
Leaving Evidence – Footprints	Captured knowledge and processes created by the team becomes sharable with future team members for further learning.	When a team uses computer conferencing to collaborate, a permanent, shareable, record of what they write and send to each other is created.	Team generated knowledge used in work becomes available to others without having to relive and repeat the learning processes.
	Teaming	Technology	Learning
Hyperlinked Organizations	Team members learn from each other and selected outside resources on-line. The process of linking captures previous learning.	Knowledge of relationships and topics can be linked in such a structure that learning can be shared rather than relearned.	The first aspect of learning is from an original view while the second aspect of learning is from a hyperlinked view that forms a web of items that address the same subject-matter.
Electronic Learning Organizations	The ease with which information can be transmitted from individual team members to others	Technological networks form a framework for communication flow among all participants of a learning organization.	Organizational memory is the result of captured organizational learning. Organizational learning in the context of organizational memory
Organizational Learning Processes	Belief structures that influence and shape interpretations of information and the resulting meanings of the information.	Technological networks form a framework for communication flow among all participants of a learning organization.	Information interpretation occurs when distributed information takes shape and the development of understood meanings.
Systems Thinking	Teams utilize computerized systems that are capable of eliminating delays that cause negative accelerations.	Major leverage can be obtained with simple information systems (computers) for improving communication, transferring information and building knowledge.	Required for connecting cause and effect relationships and it is important to think in terms of correcting the system instead of the people.
Leadership and Learning	Effective leaders shape the design of the organizational structure by forming and building teams for fulfilling the organization’s mission	Effective leaders reinforce placing the "locus of control" with everyone through using technologies designed for collaboration and working in teams.	Effective leaders model and encourage systems thinking for facilitating individual, team, and organizational learning.

Last updated: March 10, 1998