Final Reflection: Learning and Harmony

Harmony and jazz go hand in hand. Even the most complex solos or genre-
bending expansions of “free jazz” were born from a strong working knowledge of the
simplest melodies. To make the leap from simple melody to complex, progressive
harmony, musicians must trust themselves and lean on experts in their community for
advice and guidance. Such guidance evolves through communities of practice.
Communities of practice allow learners to foster creativity by providing “opportunities for
learning and experimentation, suitable levels of challenge, a secure and supportive
environment that encourages the progressive tackling of higher level problems, and a
good match between talent and demands” (Bareiter and Scardamalia, 1993, pg. 147).

My Action Research project allowed me to form a community of practice that

encouraged expert thinking and progressive problem solving through the use of
streaming media technology. Action Research is about change, and the change I sought
was to harness the individual melodies of my colleagues and create a harmonious
environment of shared experiences that would lead to deeper thinking about online
media in corporate education. By creating a community that supported shared expertise
and strong relationships, I looked to build a knowledge base within the group that could
be applied to future challenges. Jazz trumpeter, Bobby Rogovin, offers the idea that
“Something fresh will come up which you didn't even know you could play. That's what
playing is really all about, the magic that happens when you least expect it” (Berliner,
1994, pg. 217). In an attempt to inspire my colleagues to think creatively about online
media, I, too, was inspired by the fresh prospective provided by my research.

Organizational Change

I began my Action Research with a clearly defined goal: create a community of

practice built on a shared passion for online media and corporate development. However,
I was met with a difficult question. How can you invoke passion? Passion, to me, always
seemed like something that came from within. When I was hired by my organization to
spearhead the streaming media department, I was a soloist, alone on stage, playing to
an empty house. I needed an audience.

Sometimes the most effective way to encourage newcomers to join a community

of practice is to first gain an audience with them. The problem that led me to conduct my
research was that change was happening too quickly. Many of my clinical colleagues had
little or no experience in educational technology or digital media, therefore creating a
community that shared a passion for such technology proved problematic. Without a true
understanding of what it was that I was passionate about, newcomers had no instrinsic
motivation to join a new learning community. In studying Lave and Wenger's model of
legitimate peripheral participation, I felt that I could connect with colleagues on a more
personal level, while at the same time enouraging knowledge building.

At the core of communities lie individuals. Rather than continuing to reach out to a
large, unresponsive audience, I chose to cultivate more personal relationships with my
colleagues, which is a core value of our organization as a whole. As I progressed through
my Action Research cycles and changed my focus from broad classroom teaching to

J. Melillo – Reflection - 1
personalized scaffolded instruction, I saw a change in attitude among my colleagues.
Instead of taking it upon myself to seek out individuals and suggesting they employ new
technologies, people were bringing ideas to me. Initially, these ideas were project-based
and aimed at a particular change issue, but over time I received inquiries that affected
employees system-wide. Even “non-participants,” as described in my second cycle, began
to offer opinions and partake in open discussions about online media use in their
departments. What was encouraging was that even those who didn't participate in a
hands-on sense took their thoughts and ideas to others who did. Returning to jazz, it was
as if some learners wrote a great piece of music, but recognized that they needed
someone more technically proficient to play it. This was evidence that a strong sense of
community was being formed.

When I began my career in our organization, I was unaware of the dynamic

relationships that exist in a hospital environment. I always assumed that emergency
room nurses were separate from pharmacists, who were separate from intensive care
nurses, and so on. In fact, it's quite different. There exists a large learning community
that operates simply as “clinical staff.” As I learned by setting up the Sharepoint site
during my third research cycle, this community of practice is the backbone of our
hospital. I did not create a massive shift in structure or corporate culture through my
research, I merely added new instruments to the band. By encouraging colleagues to
learn about digital media as a communication and training tool, I helped to strengthen
the clinical community. Whereas before clinicial training was more departmentalized and
concentrated, now learners can log onto the clinical education Sharepoint page and view
lectures and demonstrations across all clinical disciplines, as well as seek out the
expertise of those in other departments. This type of shared expertise is also what helps
learners define their career path, and is valuable in the retention of talented employees.

Personal Change

Beginning my research and defining an appropriate research question proved

difficult for me because I sometimes struggle with assumptions. When I began the
streaming media program in our organization, very few people were participating. I was
left to wonder why, and to guess at possible solutions. I initially asssumed that my
colleagues were simply intimidated or disinterested. Had I continued to do this, I would
still be a band leader without a band. Action Research was an ideal solution because it
gave me the opportunity to look at changes that were taking place, and reflect on the
“Why.” As my research progressed, I realized that this type of meta level thinking was
important not only to existing education and training problems, but also as a way to seek
out future problems that are not yet apparent, which, as Bareiter and Scardamalia
suggest, is the definition of expertise (1993).

Having never been a teacher or instructor of any kind, I began my research under
the common assumption that I was there solely to disperse knowledge and information.
My colleagues knew little about digital media, and I was going to tell them everything I
knew. The problem was that I was still wrapped up in the heirarchy associated with
teacher/student relationships. Lave and Wenger's theory of legitimate peripheral
participation helped me rid myself of this notion. I believe that learning is a social
activity, and by inviting colleagues to share my stage and communicate passions and

J. Melillo – Reflection - 2
ideas on a more personal level, I was able to open a dialogue with them and encourage
the reciprocal sharing of expertise. I began to follow each interaction with a reflection in
order to better understand my role and the roles of my colleagues in our developing
learning community. It was through this reflective process that I thought to “make the
learning whole” (Perkins, 2009). New knowledge will always exist alongside the
knowledge and experiences that came before it. This was how I chose to model my
scaffolded instruction. I used reflections about my own experiences with digital media to
understand how newcomers in the community might feel. I no longer made assumptions,
but communicated more directly, which always gave me something concrete to reflect on.
Seemingly, this was a noticeable change in thinking, but why did it really matter?

What I began to notice at the center of our learning community was that I was
taking an interest in leadership. I once viewed leadership as if it were attached to job
title. Northouse refers to “Trait Versus Process Leadership” and “Assigned Versus
Emergent Leadership,” and states that, “The process viewpoint suggests that leadership
is a phenomenon that resides in the context of the interactions between leaders and
followers and makes leadership available to everyone” (Northouse, Year, Pg. 5). I feel
that I began my research as an individual who was viewed as an expert, yet I emerged
as a leader. Leaders don't always have to be experts in their field, because good leaders
recognize problem solving abilities in others, and also help identify the problems worth
solving. The quandry is that when one is deemed an expert, it's easy to become
complacent. Prior to my research, I had the tendency to look at my perceived expertise
as a free pass. My knowledge of online media helped me achieve problem reduction, but
never addressed the deeper training and education problems of our organization. Moving
forward, I will continue to use the process of iterative action-reflection to help identify
new problems in our organization, especially those problems that invoke the passion in
others necessary to build sustainable, expert, communities of practice.

Encore Performance

One of my core values in my work environment is autonomy. None of my research

would have been possible without having corporate leaders who value autonomy and
provide me with the freedom to develop my own best practices. Communities of practice
need to possess the same freedoms. Part of the process of progressive problem solving is
seeking new problems and experiences. Truthfully, it is unlikely that I will find all of these new
experiences in one organization, and there will come a time when I move on. De Contreras states
that, “These days, your best workers are likely to show more loyalty to their careers than the
company” (2008). I don't see this as a negative statement, but rather one that speaks to the ambition
and passion of experts. This begs the question, If a band member leaves, does the music stop? I will
continue to utilize the process of Action Research to further strengthen existing communities of
practice where shared expertise exists equally among all participants. Through this endeavor, I hope
to encourage newcomers to use knowledge sharing and strong relationships to emerge as leaders of
future communities, and allow these communities to work in harmony, without relying excessively on
one individual.

J. Melillo – Reflection - 3
J. Melillo – Reflection - 4