E-learning, Social Media and Apprenticeship : Learning at Work in a Grocery Store

In this thesis I have explored how learning takes place in a grocery store. Based on a previous research of the E-learning program in a Norwegian supermarket chain, I aimed to do a further research in one of the supermarkets. The merchant in this supermarket had created a Facebook group in order to share information with his employees. I was curious about how that Facebook group could mediate learning in the supermarket. My research questions aimed to explore how training is organized, how informal learning takes place, and how knowledge is facilitated and by what means. I conducted a virtual ethnography of the Facebook group, and qualitative interviews with the merchant and three employees. The data indicates that apprenticeship learning is preferred as training method rather than conventional E-learning. The E-learning courses provided by the supermarket chain facilitate instruction and content delivery, and can relate to Web 1.0 technologies. Apprenticeship learning, on the other hand, facilitates social interaction and learning by doing, and can relate to Web 2.0. Another finding indicates that the Facebook group in the supermarket is a platform for information delivery rather than discussion, and is therefore used as a Web 1.0 tool rather than a Web 2.0 tool. In addition to the Facebook group, the workers in the supermarket use pocket notes in order to remember work routines and tasks. These notes might function as reminders for knowledge available in the world or as scaffolding for internalizing the knowledge in the head. Further, the informants make a clear distinction between information sharing and the Facebook group on the one side, and learning and training on the other. The Facebook group thus functions as a tool for living, while the E-learning courses and the apprenticeship learning function as tools for learning.