Perceived usefulness and outcomes of Intranet-Based Learning (IBL): developing asynchronous knowledge management systems in organizational settings.

This article introduces two studies showing the perceived usefulness reported by the participants of Intranet Based Learning (IBL) (N=226) and the effectiveness of IBL measured by the outcomes of two instructional groups and the control group in a Korean private company (N=132). It is suggested that additional aspects of IBL need to be considered when instructional trainers design asynchronous knowledge management systems. Implications for utilizing IBL are further provided.

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Intranets, which originally grew out of industry, are widely used in learning communities where knowledge, skills, and learning experience need to be shared (Ali, 2001). As technological development progresses, industries have attempted to develop innovative knowledge management system using intranet portals. For example, organizational knowledge is shared through intranet portals as an organizational memory information system (Duncan & Weiss, 1979). As a result, developing innovative knowledge management practices has become important and essential in providing training.

In the area of human resource development, the role of knowledge management is related to providing training on skills to maximize work performance, and giving rewards or incentives to enhance motivation to work. With the advent of information technology, trainers and administrators in organizations have pursued alternative methods of providing training. In particular, providing training has been linked to the issues of (1) adopting innovative technologies, and (2) facilitating trainees to learn various skills to engage in organizational tasks. Using innovative technological infrastructure such as the Intranet has widely been acknowledged as a useful medium, facilitating trainees' learning processes (Ali, 2001). In many organizations and industries in Korea, considering alternative ways of delivering training has become essential because of the issues related to maximizing the effectiveness of organizational training and learning. Recently, the role of knowledge management in Korean industries has taken a shift in the format of delivering training from direct, and lecture-based learning (LBL) to indirect, asynchronous, and self-paced learning. Intranet-Based Learning (IBL) is frequently adopted by Korean industries in providing learning programs and training. Technological advances are used to provide solutions to innovative learning not only in school settings but also to training in corporate settings. As other researchers have suggested, an efficient way of providing learning involves providing just-in-time learning via the Internet or Intranet (Pan et al., 2003). For example, Korean students in K-16 settings are eager to learn foreign languages, computer skills, or other career related classes via online education media (eBizgroup, 2000). Likewise, IBLin industries is used to deliver skill management, foreign languages, and other work related training such as work ethics (e-Bizgroup, 2000). This wide and frequent application of IBL seems to indicate that IBL can be utilized and provided to diverse learners from K-16 to learners who are employees in private sectors in Korea. In this article, we introduce IBL, examine its effectiveness of delivering learning materials, and propose developing a knowledge management system in training employees in private sectors.

Trainees in private sectors are faced with a dual role. As employees, they need to fulfill various job-related tasks. As learners, they need to demonstrate that they have acquired organizational knowledge, skills, and abilities. In other words, they basically need to meet the needs of training criteria provided by their company both as learners and employees. Therefore, they need extra time and effort to engage in learning while engaging in job-related tasks. Using IBL, the learning environment can be facilitative for learners to utilize sufficient resources (ChanLin, Huang, & Chan., 2003). In the perspectives of learning theories, IBL can be explained by theories of constructivist pedagogy and self-regulation.

Constructivist pedagogy is widely addressed to explain how a learner's knowledge is constructed from their experiences. According to the constructivist pedagogy, learners accomplish their objectives by actively exploring the learning environment and engaging in learning activities (ChanLin et al., 2003). Although unclear issues exist as to whether online learning can be considered active learning (Mayer & Moreno, 2002), learners are expected to engage in active learning not only behaviorally but also cognitively. Thus, the learning environment in IBL may be limited (e.g., not being able to create learning experiences from live situations), but being able to choose the contents of learning and to control the pace of learning seem to suggest that IBL is somewhat a compromised form of active learning.

Researchers shed some light on how trainees' self-regulation impacted their attitudes toward the training. It was found that employees who were highly motivated to learn organizational knowledge and skills were more likely to participate in training than were those who are less motivated (Dubin, 1999: Tharenou, 2001). Therefore, motivated learners are expected to demonstrate continuous participation in IBL utilizing self-regulation and self-directed learning as their strategies.

The present study explored the key knowledge sharing system at a private company in Korea where training for employees needed be provided in IBL format. The company consisted of approximately 1,300 employees who had been working for 1 to 25 years. About 98% of the company workers in the company were college graduates.

In major industries in Korea, demonstrating a certain level of TOEIC score is frequently required. The employees are required to demonstrate their English proficiency, and demonstrating high English proficiency skills is often used as another assessment for job promotion (Gilfert, 1996). As researchers pointed out, many learners of English as a second language adopt strategies to enhance their English learning (Gallo-Crail & Zerwekh, 2002; Oxford, 1996). In the present study, learners engaged in online learning activities using a program called the Cyber Learning Center (CLC) for 6 months of the training period. The goal of establishing the CLC was to encourage employees to learn various job related skills, such as English and problem solving in work settings. English as a second language adopted as a target outcome learning subject in the present study was primarily composed of (1) practice items provided in multimedia format and (2) strategies helping learners improve listening and reading comprehension as well as writing skills. The learning materials were provided in the Intranet format, and thus, the employees were only allowed to access the learning materials from their work place. To understand to what degree the strengths of the Cyber Learning Center can be capitalized on, surveys on the trainees' perceived usefulness were administered.

Study 1

The evaluation of general learning materials provided via the Intranet was conducted to the employees (N=226) who used the CLC frequently. The objectives of the training were to help employees experience job related learning and training materials (Lee, 1997). The employees had direct experiences in IBL from the general training materials. In an attempt to establish an on-line training module, the preliminary study was conducted. The goals of the study were to investigate perceived usefulness on how IBL can be utilized in the issues of accessibility, self-directed learning, and the effectiveness of IBL. Specifically, the following research questions were raised:

Research Question 1. Would IBL be assessed as user-friendly compared with LBL? How would IBL influence the way trainees manage their work and time?

Research Question 2. How might IBL impact the learners in the way they use self-paced learning in achieving their learning outcomes?

Research Question 3. In what areas might IBL prove to be efficient?

The results showed that participants perceived IBL positively. In particular, participants expressed that (1) they would have more learning opportunities than LBL (92.0%); (2) they would control the workload more effectively in IBL than in LBL (91.1%); (3) they would benefit from just-in-time learning more from IBL than from LBL (86.8%); (4) they would experience more diverse learning activities in IBL than in LBL (80.5%); and (5) they would be able to access learning materials and activities more promptly and conveniently through IBL than LBL (74.3%).

Participants also expressed that IBL was useful because of increased accessibility to Intranet from work (98.2%), reduced overtime workload (71.8%), and the efficient ways of allocating time (67.2%).

The evaluation of IBL revealed that IBL might be efficient for learners specifically in controlling instructional time (84%), selecting learning contents (80%), controlling the pace of learning (67%), and creating content-specific learning strategies (53%).

The result of preliminary study showed that (1) overall participants perceived providing trainings via the intranet positively, and (2) they thought that the trainees could benefit from training delivered through the Intranet.

Study 2

The preliminary study was based on participants' perceived usefulness toward IBL. The follow up experiment was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of IBL by measuring the outcomes of different instructional types.

Method

Participants

One hundred and thirty-two employees of a private company participated in the study. The participants were from corporate headquarters. They were full-time employees consisting of newly recruited persons and employees holding managerial positions.

Materials

Knowledge assessment materials. Before and after providing experimental interventions, the participants' English proficiency levels needed to be assessed. In this study, TOEIC preparation tests purchased from the Educational and Testing Services were administered. ATOEIC test consists of two sections (i.e., listening and reading comprehension) totaling 200 questions. The listening comprehension section consists of 4 subsections: (1) describing situations in the photographs presented, (2) completing short conversations, (3) general comprehension of short conversations, and (4) general comprehension of a short talk. The reading comprehension consists of 3 subsections: (1) completing sentences, (2) finding incorrect sentences, and (3) general reading comprehension (See Gilfert 1996, for more description).

On-line learning environment. The Cyber Learning Center was created by a commercial multimedia education company. The IBL group engaged in self-paced and asynchronous learning by experiencing the learning materials provided in the text, audio, and visual format.

Design and Procedure

Participants were the employees of a private company (N = 132), and they completed general knowledge assessment on English proficiency using TOEIC. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: those who received learning materials provided via the Intranet (i.e., the IBL), (2) those who received training by lecture (i.e., the LBL). and (3) those who did not receive any form of learning materials.

The IBL group participated in learning via the Cyber Learning Center. The LBL group participated in learning in class before or after their work. The objectives of learning in both the IBL and the LBL groups focused on strategies of improving listening and reading comprehension and writing skills. The instructional period for both the IBL and the LBL lasted for approximately 6 months. Control group participants (i.e., no-learning group) did not receive any English learning materials.

Results

Using TOEIC scores as a dependent measure, the two-factor ANOVA revealed a main effect for instructional type.

As figure 1 shows, participants who engaged in IBL overall scored higher than did those who received extra group learning and those who did not receive any English learning. Results of the analysis of variance (i.e., p-values, F-values, and degrees of freedom) are presented in Table 1.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

There was no main effect for conditions (i.e., before and after). The two-way interaction effect was not significant. The follow-up questions were also asked to investigate what can improve the effectiveness of IBL. The participants thought that additional features needed to be provided to facilitate their learning. The learners thought that providing the following tools and information would be helpful: Frequently Asked Questions (50%), discussion room where learners can interact and exchange ideas (25.9%), electronic bulletin board (15.2%), email address of the administrator (14.3%), and direct contact information to the administrator (12%).

Conclusions/Implications

The present studies explored (1) how learning via the Intranet can contribute to maximizing its usefulness to the trainees in corporate settings (i.e., learners of English as a training subject), (2) whether learning via the Intranet (i.e., IBL) is more effective than traditional in-class learning (i.e., LBL) or no learning type.

Some limitations of the present studies were (1) the inherent nature of IBL and (2) the learners as trainees who had dual roles. By its definition, IBL is inherently learner-controlled. It would be difficult to give a full experimental control to the IBL group. For example, it would be impossible to assign the number of interruptions to the learners while they were engaging in learning activities. It was not clear to what degree learners persistently engaged in learning. Another limitation of the studies was that participants of the present studies were employees of a private company. That is, their roles as employees of a private company were not only to engage in job related tasks but also to complete the training materials. Therefore, future studies need to consider whether the employees engaged and disengaged in learning voluntarily (i.e., being able to maintain a self-paced learning) or involuntarily (i.e., being unable to maintain a self-paced learning for external reasons, such as other job-related tasks) in measuring the effectiveness of providing learning and training via the Intranet. Despite these limitations, the preliminary study and the follow up experiment lend some support to the findings related to the perceived usefulness and the outcome of effectiveness of IBL.

That is, the preliminary study on the perceived usefulness of IBL reveals that IBL can capitalize on its flexibilities with time, the pace of learning, and the place where learning occurs. The second experiment measuring the outcomes of different instructional types shows that the trainees can benefit from learning via the Intranet with additional facilitative features (e.g., ways of sharing questions and thoughts). The implication for instructional designers and training administrators in private sectors and organizations is that knowledge management from a training standpoint needs to focus on asynchronous, self-paced, and just-in-time learning by utilizing the Intranet. Most importantly, knowledge needs to be shared among the trainees in conducive ways by making the knowledge management system available any time, and managed in a way that is reusable and expandable both by learners as trainees and by trainers.

Table I ANOVA Table Showing the Effects of
Different Types of Learning

Source                       SS        df        NIS

Instructional Type        333125.19       2   166562.59
IBL (n=44)
LBL (n=44)
No Learning (n=44)

Time (Before vs. After      9940.91       1     9940.91
repeated measure)

Group X Time               83052.84       2    41526.42
Error                    3845547.72     258    14905.22

Total                    4271666.67     263

Source                       F         Pr

Instructional Type       11.17 ***    .0001
IBL (n=44)
LBL (n=44)
No Learning (n=44)

Time (Before vs. After     .67        .41
repeated measure)

Group X Time              2.79        .06
Error

Total

* p<.05, ** p<.01 , *** p<.001

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DongHun Lee, Counselor Education University of Florida. Sunwoo Kang. Educational and Counseling Psychology, University of Kentucky.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addessed to DongHun Lee at dhlee@ufl. edu.