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(Mikroyannidis and Connolly, 2012);
(Mikroyannidis and Connolly, 2013). This paper
presents results of this work related to the
investigation of SRL in the workplace.
The remainder of this paper is organised as
follows. The case study of the ROLE test-bed in
question is presented, followed by the results
obtained from the survey conducted within this test-
bed. The lessons learned from the test-bed are then
discussed. Finally, the paper is concluded and the
next steps of this research are outlined.
2 CASE STUDY
The case study in question is focused on investigat-
ing the challenges and opportunities related with
SRL in the workplace. It was decided that the most
relevant research instrument for this purpose would
be to employ a questionnaire survey. The survey was
conducted in the context of the ROLE project among
the members of the British Institute of Learning and
Development (BILD). Effectively, the survey invited
the BILD members to talk about their use of eLearn-
ing and, in particular, specific aspects related to
SRL, as well as those related to PLEs and CLEs.
By way of introduction to this case study, it is
important to know that essentially BILD is a sub-
scription-based organisation that supports its own
community through a programme of Continuous
Professional Development (CPD). BILD has in
excess of 1400 members, all of whom work in the
area of Learning and Development. Further details
about BILD, as an organisation, can be found at
http://www.thebild.org.
In order to situate those who were surveyed for
this case study it is essential to describe the BILD
community constituents. The member organisations
vary in size from small enterprises, such as one/two-
man-band Limited companies and Partnerships, to
large corporate organisations that ultimately support
tens of thousands of learners. In this respect The
BILD is ideally placed to trial innovation in learning
and design approaches in a number of diverse learn-
ing scenarios. It can also be seen that BILD mem-
bers additionally represent the Private, Public and
Voluntary sectors thus covering a wide variety of
Business interest areas.
The survey-based approach of this case study en-
abled us to gather relevant information from partici-
pants in order to evaluate the emergent findings
using inductive investigative approaches via the use
of Grounded Theory.
3 SURVEY RESULTS
An online survey was promoted to in excess of 1400
BILD members through personalised emails inviting
recipients to participate in the investigation. The
survey was open for a period of 1 month. It was
noted that some 159 people completed the survey
during this period. In addition, a further 7 people
completed the survey after the closing date. It ap-
peared that, overall, responses were very positive
about the value of learning technologies. Preliminary
analysis of the survey indicated that the majority of
respondents had used some form of eLearning, for
example, with over half the respondents indicating
that they had used a Learning Management System
(LMS).
The deployed survey revealed an assortment of
information that related to the research topic. Fig-
ures 1-5 illustrate the collected information, whilst
the subsequent section 4 will describe the emergent
themes that were identified from the analysis of this
information. It also indicates some of the subsequent
research that may be possible to develop as a result
of analysing the survey results.
Initially, the survey disclosed the variety of busi-
ness sectors represented by the respondents (see
Figure 1). This respondent community covers a wide
variety of private, public and voluntary sectors, as
previously indicated, which was reinforced by the
respondents in terms of their specific sector types. It
is important to note, however, that many respondents
reported that they worked across several sectors that
included public and private. For example, a training
provider may have clients in multiple business sec-
tors such as Service Provision, Health and Local
Government and work in both the Public and Private
sectors, though their own organisation may be Pri-
vate Sector. Respondents were invited to select ‘oth-
er’ if they felt the Business sectors were inadequate.
61 respondents selecting ‘other’ worked in the Pri-
vate sector, 19 in the Public and 13 in both. 6 select-
ed all three sectors. It should be noted that ‘other’
was often selected in addition to Business sectors
from the list.
Respondents also described a very wide set of
job titles, often using multiple terms such as ‘Re-
search and training” or “Team Leader” and “Devel-
oper”. Figure 2 illustrates some of the recurring titles
used. It should be noted that the supporting descrip-
tions provided by respondents make it very difficult
to group respondents together. It seems that re-
spondents take on a wide range of responsibilities
around learning that may culminate in complex job
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