A taxonomy of social embedding - A systematic review of virtual learning simulations in vocational and professional learning
Introduction
Digitization’s impact on professional training and vocational education is receiving increasing attention, with digitization playing a twofold role. First, the digitization of occupational activities leads to the automation of routine activities, and the remaining work tasks become more complex. Hence, the respective domain-specific problem-solving skills gain in importance. Second, the digitization of teaching and learning processes can help to meet these changed requirements. There is broad evidence that the importance and necessity of digitization has been recognized by companies, and digitization is already widespread at the individual and strategic level (see also the “skill shift debate”, e.g., Bughin et al., 2018; Lund et al., 2021). It involves replacing routine processes that were previously performed by human workers with new technologies (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2014; Frey & Osborne, 2017; Morgeson & Humphrey, 2006). At the same time, the workplace is also becoming increasingly digital through the use of digital technologies in communication, coordination and collaboration.
The changes arising from this digital transformation have not been limited to working processes themselves; they can potentially also dramatically alter learning processes for work. Digital learning environments (DLE) based on learning platforms or on online- and virtual learning are on the rise and open up new opportunities. Particularly, virtual learning simulations (VLS) are seen as highly authentic learning experiences for professional and vocational learners as they imitate real workplaces and offer numerous technical opportunities to learn (Barkley, Major, & Cross, 2014). However, since the development of VLS is time- and work-intensive and also usually domain-specific, it remains to be seen how these new technical possibilities will affect the nature of work-related learning, especially as the degree of digitization varies greatly at individual workplaces. To justify their high development cost, VLS must offer particularly rich learning experiences in the workplace context in order to compete with learning options that are more favorable from a financial perspective.
A defining aspect regarding the quality of vocational and professional learning is its occurrence in social situations in which learning takes place as an interaction between an individual and the occupational environment. In this context, social interaction is important in two ways. Social interaction at the workplace helps satisfy social needs (Lave & Wenger, 1991), which can be considered crucial for well-being as well as for employee engagement and commitment (Cornelissen, 2016). Simultaneously, it supports the development of knowledge and skills. Here, research has emphasized the relevance of learning through social interactions (e.g., Lave & Wenger, 1991; Tynjälä, 2013) as well as the positive impact of social interactions on knowledge and productivity (Cornelissen, 2016). However, it remains unclear to which degree DLE, and in our context VLS as a particular subcategory of DLE, can adequately simulate social dimensions of occupational situations and foster social interaction in vocational and professional learning. Although social and collaborative learning is an ever-growing field of research and practice, there is a particular lack of theoretical frameworks to conceptualize social embeddedness within DLE. Social embedding in this context is understood as the degree to which characteristics of real-world social interactions are simulated during task solving (Gulikers, Bastiaens, & Kirschner, 2004). Although social embedding can be implemented in various ways into VLS, no systematic framework for analyzing approaches to social embedding in VLS is known to the authors.
The goals of this paper are, therefore, (1) to develop a theoretical framework to evaluate social embedding in learning environments i.e., a framework that focuses on interaction with humans or systems during task solving, and (2) to conduct a systematic review to find existing VLS in vocational and professional learning and categorize them according to the framework.
For this purpose, we first outline the theoretical foundations of social interactions, workplace characteristics, learning in authentic environments and classroom interaction. Based on this outline, we describe the development of a taxonomy of social embedding, which is based on the work of Deutscher and Winther (2019) and was adapted and extended for our aim. To make the levels of the taxonomy of social embedding more tangible and to give technical application examples, we then apply it to a newly developed virtual learning simulation (LUCA) and illustrate the degree of learner social embedding within that simulation. Subsequently, the steps of a systematic review are outlined. We then describe the identified VLS, categorize them within the adapted taxonomy and discuss our findings.
Section snippets
Elements of social embedding defined by a five-level taxonomy
To characterize the individual levels of the taxonomy of social embedding, we draw on different streams of research. More precisely, we consider workplace characteristics (Billett, 2001, 2002; Lave & Wenger, 1991) and Goffman’s (1959) definition of social interaction. Moreover, to cover learner embeddedness and immersion, the developed taxonomy draws on different streams of authenticity research (e.g., Deutscher & Winther, 2019; Gulikers et al., 2004). Finally, research on classroom discourses
Evaluating the degree of social embedding in VLS - the example of LUCA
As DLE become increasingly popular, evaluating their quality does not only mean assessing their didactical design. A further important question is the degree to which DLE can adequately support social embedding in the sense that they support social immersion in digital contexts technically. To assess this question, we use the developed theoretical taxonomy to evaluate how social embedding is implemented digitally in the field of vocational and professional learning. We examine this question for
Method
Having outlined the taxonomy of social embedding and an application example, we now describe a systematic review and categorize existing vocational and professional VLS into the taxonomic model. While there are numerous simulations in the vocational and professional field, such as business games, role playing games, case studies, etc., the number of VLS that authentically represent learners’ work environments digitally or virtually is limited. To identify VLS in the field of vocational and
Results
The systematic review and the steps of the literature search, selection and collection yielded 23 studies and 23 VLS in the field of vocational and professional learning. An overview of the included studies and the corresponding VLS can be found in Table 1. The nature of the selected studies is similar as they all refer to DLE using VLS in vocational and professional learning. Because no restrictions were placed regarding specific professions or industries, the overview contains VLS from the
Discussion and conclusion
The aim of the study was to collect and categorize existing vocational and professional VLS that authentically simulate the learners’ workplaces using a computer and/or potentially VR-glasses and with a special focus on the degree of social embedding implemented. Since social embedding can be viewed as a central driver of authenticity, particularly for vocational and professional learning, the question arises to what extent the identified VLS are able to authentically represent the social
Funding
This research study was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under Grant No. 21AP008A ‘Problem Solving Analytics in Office Simulations’.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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