4-Plex Model
of Networked Learning
4-Plex Model Major Objectives
• Provide the infrastructure for an expanded community of
practice that transcends boundaries of particular
organizations and rigid disciplinary domains
• Offer ready and timely access to an arena for theoretical
discourse based on the mechanisms of cultural storage,
dissemination, interchange, and creative addition
• Provide transferable credentials as well as a ready
means for keeping these credentials current
• Carry out the preceding functions in a manner consonant
with the geographic, time, and developmental demands
of adult professionals
Four Major Components
•
•
•
•
Question
Theory
Test
Reflection
Matrix of Domains
• Are arranged in a matrix designed to
indicate a nonlinear movement among
each respective domain
– Question and test (or vertical) dimension of
the diagram is intended to represent the
practice domain
– Reflection and theory (or horizontal)
dimension is intended to represent the
academic domain
Question and Test Dimension
The Practice Domain
• Vertical axis is wherein problematic situations
are encountered
• In this arena, questions arise, as do processes
for evaluating the effectiveness of potential
solutions
• This dimension is designed to provide grounding
for theory and basis for evaluating the relevance
of learning through its direct application in the
workplace
Reflection and theory
The Academic Dimension
• Horizontal dimension offers an arena for
informing questions derived in the practice
domain with relevant literature and research
• Also a domain of abstracted or
“decontextualized” thought and reflection that
affords the chance to examine the problem from
multiple critical perspectives
• Theory also refers to theoretical reasoning and
reflection based on the development of cognitive
and epistemological competencies required for
knowledge work
Simultaneous Processing
• All domains are accessible from all other points in the
matrix at all times
• Each domain can be used separately or simultaneously
in both distal and local arenas
• Both academic and practice arenas can be engaged
simultaneously through appropriate technologies so that
problems encountered at work can be reflected on in the
academic environment or vice versa
• This dimension of the model is designed to tighten and
strengthen feedback loops between academia and
complex modern work environments
A/Synchronous Multi-Platforming
• Work at any point (or among points) of the
matrix can be accomplished by using any
appropriate technological media in both
synchronous and asynchronous modes
• Such media includes network platforms, phone,
fax, and email used whenever circumstances,
time, and geographic proximity warrant
• Dimension of this model is designed to address
the need for greater mobility and flexibility in
workplace learning through the leveraging of
appropriate technologies
Academic Community
• Dimension refers to ready access to academic resources such as
research libraries, networks, databases, journals, and books
• Also includes communities of scholars, practitioners, and
researchers engaged through college courses, degree programs,
and related support services
• This dimension of the model is designed to explicitly conceive of the
university as an “infrastructure for expanded communities of
practice” that extends beyond traditional practice arenas to
encompass various academic disciplines, economic sectors, and
social domains
• Can be engaged in either physical face-to-face settings or at a
distance via electronic means as circumstances warrant
• Aspect of the model is also intended to address the need for
increased mobility and time constraints of knowledge workers
Practice Community
• Refers to colleagues and team members within
organizations and also includes professional
networks outside of the organization
• Dimension of the model is to address the
workers’ need for full engagement in
professional networks as an integral component
of their learning and developmental process
• Also addresses the need for learning
accomplished outside the organization to be
more relevant to the practice domain
Example of the 4-Plex Model
in Action
• Central organizing principle of the model assumes that network
technologies are, first and foremost, enablers of simultaneous
functioning within all domains represented in the matrix
• Central point of the model is that learning, enabled by the use of
appropriate technologies, is now capable of occurring in both local
and distal arenas simultaneously, with virtually seamless feedback
between the domains of academia and practice
• Network technologies are viewed as more or less transparent tools
for dialogue and research
• Core competencies of academia and business are also preserved,
maintaining their respective autonomy while informing one another
in a seamless flow of questioning, theorizing, testing, and reflecting,
thereby reconceptualizing the relationship among theory, learning,
and practice