I believe from my experience but also from the literature, that many knowledge workers will prefer working virtually (Malhotra, 2021) or in a hybrid work environment that offer them flexibility. As organizations move into their future of work (FoW) environment with virtual or hybrid structures, online collaboration for learning will be key. Malhotra (2021) argued that collaborative learning is one of the key stimuli for employee motivation in the FoW. Accordingly, organizations will be challenged with presenting work as collaborative opportunities with individuals working within and outside the organization supported by technologies that are enabling large-scale collaborations. However, younger generations entering the market has not yet developed the critical skills to work in this futuristic environment, nor may have the maturity to assume their social presence in virtual settings.

Facilitation, as demonstrated in my previous team experiences and by the literature, produces effective and successful online collaborative learning experiences. Facilitative activities can be designed to enable participation in team discussion, supported by encouragement to express thoughts, ideas, and feelings to create a sense of community (Schaefer et al., 2019). As organization designs their Future of Work (FoW) collaborative learning opportunities, I also believe facilitation skills should be taught, especially with younger generations, to develop peer facilitators to support online collaborative learning in the workplace, thus contributing to employee retention.

In a previous course, Leading Change in Digital Learning, Insell’s (2022) project team introduced a digital backchannel toolkit for individuals in organizations to collaborate within a digital learning community. The backchannel included expectations of behaviours, social presence prompted by a facilitator, and collaboration goals. Their collaboration tool was “an opportunity to integrate new symbols, languages, and practices from the organization culture” (Insell, 2022, para. 10) into their own “sandbox environment” (Insell, 2022, para. 10) or digital sub-culture included in the backchannel. Establishing a digital backchannel can be a workshop that would include learning activities such as developing a team charter with team values, mission statement, and goals. And the backchannel could leverage any social media applications (i.e., Slack, WhatsApp) for an ongoing collaboration.

Thus, the digital backchannel toolkit from Insell (2022) prompted the idea of a collaborative learning toolkit inclusive of facilitation tools, along with training and communication materials for employers to be considered as ways to disseminate my research findings. This is a topic that has relevance in the workplace even if employers and knowledge workers may not yet understand entirely its significance. Providing them with specific and tangible solutions will be helping them transitioning into FoW and retaining their workforce.

References:

Insell, P. (March 13, 2022). Implementing Digital Backchannels – A Toolkit. Paula’s Blog. From https://malat-webspace.royalroads.ca/rru0221/implementing-digital-backchannels-a-toolkit/

Malhotra, A. (2021). The postpandemic future of work. Journal of management, 47(5), 1091-1102. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/01492063211000435

Schaefer, T., Rahn, J., Kopp, T., Fabian, C. M., & Brown, A. (2022). Fostering online learning at the workplace: A scheme to identify and analyse collaboration processes in asynchronous discussions. British Journal of Educational Technology, 50(3). https://www.psycharchives.org/bitstream/20.500.12034/2170/1/Schaefer_et_al-2019-British_Journal_of_Educational_Technology.pdf