Learning environment designs at the boundary of school and work can be characterised as integrative because they integrate features from the contexts of school and work. Many different manifestations of such integrative learning environments are found in current vocational education, both in senior secondary education and higher professional education. However, limited research has focused on how to design these learning environments and not much is known about their designable elements (i.e. the epistemic, spatial, instrumental, temporal and social elements that constitute the learning environments). The purpose of this study was to examine manifestations of two categories of integrative learning environment designs: designs based on incorporation; and designs based on hybridisation. Cross-case analysis of six cases in senior secondary vocational education and higher professional education in the Netherlands led to insights into the designable elements of both categories of designs. We report findings about the epistemic, spatial, instrumental, temporal and social elements of the studied cases. Specific characteristics of designs based on incorporation and designs based on hybridisation were identified and links between the designable elements became apparent, thus contributing to a deeper understanding of the design of learning environments that aim to connect the contexts of school and work.
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Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) is a politically guided and stakeholder-driven process involving a range of actors (i.e., planners, stakeholders, scientists, and citizens). Theories of boundary objects offer a lens to understand how actors, in the context of decision and policy-making in organizations, can coordinate without consensus. This seems particularly relevant when institutions and communities are relatively young, and the body of knowledge is fragmented and fluid, such as in the case of MSP. A key question is whether, and how boundary objects can be intentionally designed and used to facilitate social and policy learning in such communities. In this research, the focus is on the use of the MSP Challenge serious games as a boundary object to facilitate learning in ‘Communities of Practice’ (CoP) around MSP. Data were collected through questionnaires of 62 MSP Challenge workshops between 2016 and 2020 with more than 1100 participants. Additionally, 33 interviews with key stakeholders were conducted. The findings show that the MSP Challenge is widely used for various goals and in various settings and that they are interpreted differently by different users. The success of the MSP Challenge relies on the boundary space in which it is implemented, taking into account discrepancies in learning due to variations in the backgrounds and attitudes of the participants towards the object, the activity, and the setting in which it is deployed.
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The learning innovation we report in this article is an international rapid-prototyping event (48 hours) in which teams of international BSc and MSc students from two universities (Western Europe and South-East Africa, respectively) jointly designed and developed a prototype for a local small-business owner in a developing economy. The learning innovation has its origin in the simple observation that the majority of the current theories, cases, and learning activities that characterize entrepreneurship education have their origin in western-oriented epistemologies and ontologies. The goal of this entrepreneurial learning activity was to develop students’ entrepreneurial competencies through interaction and cross-boundary entrepreneurial problem-solving between university students from western and non-western origin. The results underpin that it is very worthwhile for higher education teachers—who look for new, cost-effective “wide” entrepreneurship education programs—to adopt such events. The results show that the program not only contributes to short-term impact (e.g., joy of learning and collaborating, confidence in the own expertise, and seeing where to contribute) but also enables longer term impact (e.g., moving from intention to an actual start-up). Moreover, the activity produces actual solutions that, in this case the cheese maker can implement, can help the business to grow and survive.
Technologische innovatie van het verpleegkundig beroep is dringend nodig om aan de toenemende zorgvraag te kunnen voldoen. Veel technologische innovaties bieden nu nog niet dat wat de verpleegkundige echt nodig heeft. Als gevolg hiervan wordt een groot aantal innovaties niet of nauwelijks gebruikt. Een verkwisting van tijd en geld. Als verpleegkundigen actief betrokken worden bij het ontwerp van technologische innovaties, zullen de innovaties die voor hun beroep bedacht worden mogelijk beter aansluiten. Dit is een nieuwe rol voor verpleegkundigen. Verpleegkundigen dienen hiervoor samen te werken met technische disciplines, bijvoorbeeld ICT-ers. Het aangaan van samenwerkingen met andere disciplines wordt ook wel boundary crossing genoemd. Het huidige postdoconderzoek “Boundary crossing: Samen Werken Aan Technologische Innovatie Van Het Verpleegkundig Beroep” gaat hier op in. Het betreft een multidisciplinair onderzoek waar vier verschillende onderzoeksdomeinen samenkomen: technologie, onderwijskunde, co-design en zorg. Het aangaan van samenwerkingen met andere disciplines om te komen tot zinvolle innovaties vraagt om nieuwe competenties, van zowel zorgverleners als technici; boundary crossing competence. Vanuit eerder onderzoek van de postdockandidaat en collega’s zijn verschillenden initiatieven tot stand gekomen die boundary crossing tussen verpleegkundigen en technici faciliteren. In het huidige postdoconderzoek worden deze initiatieven geëvalueerd met als doel deze nieuwe rol en competenties van verpleegkundigen verder te valideren. Het onderzoek wordt uitgevoerd vanuit het Lectoraat Technologie voor Zorginnovaties. Het lectoraat is onderdeel van het Kenniscentrum Gezond en Duurzaam Leven, één van de vier kenniscentra van de Hogeschool Utrecht (HU) en onderzoekt hoe met technologie oplossingen gecreëerd kunnen worden voor de toenemende zorgvraag, als gevolg van de vergrijzing en wereldwijde tekorten aan zorgverleners. De SIA postdocbeurs wordt tevens gebruikt om een onderzoekslijn rondom “boundary crossing: samen werken aan de technologische innovatie van het verpleegkundig beroep” op te zetten en duurzaam in te bedden in het lectoraat, kenniscentrum én onderwijs.
