Practice Firms and Networked Learning: Matches and Mismatches

Abstract

This paper is concerned with how students describe their experiences of the Practice Firms Network learning environment (PFN) within a management course in a private institution of higher education in Brazil (Faculty Pitágoras-Mg). The work is derived from a broader study where I investigated the PFN concept as it is used in the Brazilian context. The students’ description of their relationship with the PFN model is made the object of study in a phenomenographic perspective (Marton, 1986; Marton and Booth, 1997). The paper discusses the data and results of the research and concludes that the model is potentially effective to link participants in management education but that it has yet to learn how to use more effectively the power of information technology. From students’ descriptions, flaws in the model derive from the following features: a) The model itself does not stress networked learning; b) The infrastructure does not support the design; and c) The teachers’ approach to the model is not congruent.