This document discusses a study on the influence of hierarchical position on individuals' activity and performance in communities of learning. The study hypothesized that individuals in higher hierarchical positions would be more active and perform better. It analyzed data from 264 participants in an online training program, finding that those in higher positions did contribute more and receive higher grades. However, the measurements were limited. Future research could use more in-depth analyses like social network and content analyses to gain further insights.

1. Diversity in Communities of Learning
The Influence of Hierarchical Position on
Individuals’Activity and Performance
Martin Rehm
EDiNEB 2010, London
10th of June, 2010

3. Organizational Training
•contributing to the competitive advantage of
organizations
•traditional methodologies continue to dominate
è ambiguous results
•superiority of collaborative learning methods
è“ hothouse for new ideas and thoughts”
(Schlager, Fusco & Schank, 2002)

4. Community of Learning (CoL)
•“engaging in collaborative learning and reflective
practice involved in transformative learning”
(Paloff & Pratt, 2003, p. 17)
“
ins-and-outs”
“
Expert” “
Novice”
“
up-to-date”

5. Diversity
+ sharing of experiences & effectively processing
new information
(Jehn & Bezrukova, 2004)
— create varying degrees of anxiety è inhibiting
cognitive functioning
(Jehn, 1995)

6. Hierarchial Position
•“major obstacle to collaborative learning
processes”
(Romme, 1996)
•ambiguous research results

7. Research Hypothesis
• H1: Positive Relationship between Hierarchical
Position & Level of Activity
(Edmondson, 2006; Owens, et al., 2000; Yates & Orlikowski, 1992)
• H2: Positive Relationship between Hierarchical
Position & Performance
(Bunderson, 2003b; Gijselaers, et al., 2006;)

8. Setting
• Global training program (“
Economics”
)
• 14 weeks of e-Learning
• 30 CoLs
• 264 participants
– 90 “
Low”position
– 100 “Middle”position
– 74 “
High”position
• asynchronous discussions forums:
– Café-Talk
– Content-Related (real-life tasks)

9. Hierarchial Position & Level of Activity
18,00
16,00
14,00
12,00
Average Contributions
10,00
Café-Talk Forum
Content-Related Forums
Total
8,00
6,00
4,00
2,00
0,00
"Low" "Middle" "High"
http://disney.go.com/toystory/#/characters

10. Hierarchial Position & Performance
10,00
9,00
8,00
7,00
6,00
Average Grade
Participation Grade
5,00 Exam
Final Grade
4,00
3,00
2,00
1,00
0,00
"Low" Middle" "High"
http://disney.go.com/toystory/#/characters

11. Implications
• better able to anticipate behaviour
• valuable input to design collaborative activities
•è “
hothouse for new ideas and thoughts”
(Schlager, Fusco & Schank, 2002)

12. Limitations & Future Research
•“surface level measurements”
(Stijbos, et al., 2006)
•“subjective performance measurements”
(DeChurch & Mesmer-Magnus, 2010)
èSocial Network Analysis
èContent Analysis
èCluster Analysis