Social Capital and Value Creation in Learning Communities: Evidence from a Team-Lecture Hybrid (TLH) Instructional Strategy

Four cycles of a value creation conceptual framework including: immediate value; potential value; applied value; and realized value, were used to analyze the role of social capital in the creation of experienced and aspired value in collaborative learning. Students’ narratives on team development dynamics in a Team Lecture Hybrid (TLH) instructional design implemented from August 2011 to May 2016 were analyzed. The study covered 201 public affairs and healthcare administration students. in 40 in-class permanent teams, 15 courses, and straddling two US institutions of higher learning. The findings suggested an alignment between social capital and performance in in-class permanent teams. The social interactions created immediate, potential, applied, and realized value, and the results appear to validate the explanatory strength of the value creation framework in relation to social capital as a value creator and as value created in learning communities. The value created from social capital dynamics in the learning community aligns with the anticipated outcomes of TLH and appeared to support the TLH design theory hypothesizing improved performance when we combine active learners and an active instructor in the same learning community. In a mezzo learning environment, both students and their instructor created and benefited from social capital. The recommendation is for value creation drivers uncovered in this study to be given significant consideration when designing objectives, activities, structures, and cultures in learning communities.