This article reflects on the previous articles in this special issue by discussing some common themes and raising some proposals for future research on the topic of workplace learning and its boundaries. The article subsequently discusses objects and results of workplace learning, the issue of learning through acquisition and/or participation, the interplay between organisational and individual factors, the issue of access to learning opportunities, the role of workplace learning in education and HRD, respectively.
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This article reports on a literature review on empirical research investigating learning for vocations in the context of vocational education. We included 36 studies in which learning for vocations is empirically studied. Learning for vocations is characterised based upon prevalent research traditions in the field and framed from the perspective of vocational education and organised learning practices. This framing and characterisation directed the search terms for the review. Results show empirical data on vocational learning and illustrate how learning processes for the functions of vocational education - vocational identity development, development of a vocational repertoire of actions, and vocational knowledge development - actually take place. The review further shows that, empirical illustrations of learning processes that occur in the context of vocational education and organised learning practices are relatively scarce. The findings can be typified in relation to our theoretical framework in terms of three learning processes, that is learning as a process of (a) belonging, becoming, and being, (b) recontextualization, and (c) negotiation of meaning and sense-making. We argue that more empirical research should be carried out, using the functions of vocational education and the three learning processes to better understand vocational learning.
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As the COVID-19 pandemic prevented planned international travel opportunities for students and faculty, faculty at three universities from three professions created a four-day innovative, online learning experience. Each session included presentations from each country, small-group discussions, and evaluation. The topics appealed to students regardless of profession or nationality. Daily evaluations showed attendees valued the experience. The benefits of international and interprofessional learning were evident; students gained better understanding of other professions and health care systems through sessions that expanded their thinking. International appreciation and learning can be prioritized without physical travel.
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Voor het vierde achtereenvolgende jaar organiseerde SURF Educatie de EduTrip, waaraan dit jaar maar liefst ruim 100 mensen uit het Nederlandse hoger onderwijs en aan het onderwijs gerelateerde bedrijfsleven deelnamen. Doel van het Nederlandse bezoek aan EDUCAUSE was allereerst om via netwerken en het leggen van contacten met collega s, gezamenlijk zicht te krijgen op de huidige stand van zaken rondom ICT in de Amerikaanse instellingen voor hoger onderwijs. Op basis hiervan is dit boekje tot stand gekomen.
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From the article: "The educational domain is momentarily witnessing the emergence of learning analytics – a form of data analytics within educational institutes. Implementation of learning analytics tools, however, is not a trivial process. This research-in-progress focuses on the experimental implementation of a learning analytics tool in the virtual learning environment and educational processes of a case organization – a major Dutch university of applied sciences. The experiment is performed in two phases: the first phase led to insights in the dynamics associated with implementing such tool in a practical setting. The second – yet to be conducted – phase will provide insights in the use of pedagogical interventions based on learning analytics. In the first phase, several technical issues emerged, as well as the need to include more data (sources) in order to get a more complete picture of actual learning behavior. Moreover, self-selection bias is identified as a potential threat to future learning analytics endeavors when data collection and analysis requires learners to opt in."
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The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) movement is the latest ‘big thing’ in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) which threatens to transform Higher Education. Both opportunities and threats are extensively discussed in literature, comprising issues on opening up education for the whole world, pedagogy and online versus campus education. Most of the literature focus on the origin of the MOOC movement in the US. The specific context of Europe with on the one hand autonomous countries and educational systems and on the other hand cross-border cooperation and regulations through the European Union differs from the US context. This specific context can influence the way in which the MOOC movement affect education in Europe, both reusing MOOCs from other continents (US) as publishing MOOCs, on a European platform or outside of Europe. In the context of the EU funded HOME project, a research was conducted to identify opportunities and threats of the MOOC movement on the European institutions of higher education. Three sources of data were gathered and analysed. Opportunities and threats were categorized in two levels. The macro level comprises issues related to the higher education system, European context, historical period and institutional level. The micro level covers aspects related to faculty, professors and courses, thus to the operational level. The main opportunities mentioned were the ECTS system as being a sound base for formal recognition of accomplishments in MOOCs, the tendency to cooperate between institutions, stimulated by EU funded programs and the many innovative pedagogical models used in MOOCs published in Europe. The main threats mentioned were a lacking implementation of the ECTS system, hindering bridging non/formal and formal education and too much regulation, hindering experimenting and innovation.
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To adequately deal with the challenges faced within residential care for older people, such as the increasing complexity of care and a call for more person-centred practices, it is important that health care providers learn from their work. This study investigates both the nature of learning, among staff and students working within care for older people, and how workplace learning can be promoted and researched. During a longitudinal study within a nursing home, participatory and democratic research methods were used to collaborate with stakeholders to improve the quality of care and to promote learning in the workplace. The rich descriptions of these processes show that workplace learning is a complex phenomenon. It arises continuously in reciprocal relationship with all those present through which both individuals and environment change and co-evolve enabling enlargement of the space for possible action. This complexity perspective on learning refines and expands conventional beliefs about workplace learning and has implications for advancing and researching learning. It explains that research on workplace learning is itself a form of learning that is aimed at promoting and accelerating learning. Such research requires dialogic and creative methods. This study illustrates that workplace learning has the potential to develop new shared values and ways of working, but that such processes and outcomes are difficult to control. It offers inspiration for educators, supervisors, managers and researchers as to promoting conditions that embrace complexity and provides insight into the role and position of self in such processes.
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Increasing students’ motivation in higher education by designing a specific curriculum has always been a challenging but very complex process. The Department of Business, Finance and Marketing (BFM) of The Hague University of Applied Sciences (THUAS) initiated a redesign of the curricula with the major goals of increasing flexibility of learning opportunities and offering students a more motivating, inspiring and richer diversity of learning experiences. In the literature of learning in higher education this has often been labeled as ‘offering extracurricular learning opportunities’. The redesign of the curriculum implies that the new one will result in an enhancement of the flexibility of the curriculum, by offering learning opportunities beyond the borders of specific programs like marketing, finance or entrepreneurship and retail management. The richness and diversity should create flexible platforms, offering students the possibility to enrich their career choices to design their own personalised career path, hopefully maximizing the possibilities for their talent development. However, very little is known about the relationship between the students’ satisfaction with extracurricular learning opportunities, aiming at the personalisation of students’ career choices, and their motivation. In this chapter we describe our research into this relationship between student motivation and learning environments. Designing a network curriculum by increasing the possibility of extracurricular learning opportunities in higher education could have a positive impact on students’ motivation when it is combined with activities to increase goal students’ commitment. This depends on teachers’ qualities to communicate the valence and instrumentality of the learning possibilities offered for the prospective work environment. This is a complex issue however. Teachers from different educational programs, even in the same domain, have a different orientation on existing learning opportunities within one specific program. Excellent coaching skills by tutors are important. These coaching skills are necessary to support students in the process of envisioning extracurricular learning opportunities when important career choices have to be made.
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The workforce in the EU is ageing, and this requires investment in older workers so that the organisations in which they work remain competitive and viable. One such investment takes the form of organising and facilitating intergenerational learning: learning between and among generations that can lead to lifelong learning, innovation and organisational development. However, successfully implementing intergenerational learning is complex and depends on various factors at different levels within the organisation. This multidisciplinary literature review encompasses work from the fields of cognitive psychology, occupational health, educational science, human resource development and organisational science and results in a framework that organisations can use to understand how they can create the conditions needed to ensure that the potential of their ageing workforce is tapped effectively and efficiently. Although not a comprehensive review, this chapter serves as a basis for further empirical research and gives practitioners an insight into solving a growing problem.
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This dissertation presents the results of a research project on unraveling the dynamics of facilitating workplace learning through pedagogic practices in healthcare placements. Supervisors are challenged to foster safe learning opportunities and fully utilize the learning potential of placement through stimulating active participation for students while ensuring quality patient care. In healthcare placements, staff shortages and work pressure may lead to stress when facilitating workplace learning. Enhancing pedagogic practices in healthcare placements seems essential to support students in challenging experiences, such as emotional challenges. This dissertation proposes approaches for optimizing learning experiences for students by highlighting the value of day-to-day work activities and interactions in healthcare placements, and shedding light on agency in workplace learning through supervisor- and student-strategies.
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