Workplace learning and flexible delivery

Workplace learning has developed as a field both of practice and of research over the past decade. The increase in interest is due in part to heightened awareness that workplace knowledge and skills contribute to enterprise and national competitiveness, but it is also due to an increased focus on the connections to be made between theory and practice as part of an education or training experience. At the same time, new learning technologies have enhanced delivery of instruction and learning materials in workplaces. This article reviews some of the conceptualizations of workplace learning and its cognitive bases. It also examines workplaces as learning environments and considers the special challenges involved in the flexible delivery of training to workplaces.

Teaching for life : generic capabilities that link university learning with workplace learning

Business schools are under increasing pressure to enhance the learning capability and employability of graduates. Business professional institutes and employer organizations are demanding more than the technical knowledge and skills required to perform discipline/professional specific tasks. They want graduates who can demonstrate capabilities in communication, teamwork, risk taking, decision making, problem solving, critical thinking, analytical reasoning, visioning and innovation, leadership, ethical practices, appreciation of diversity, and a commitment to social justice. Evidence in literature and reports (Karpin, 1995; Kirby, 2000; Commonwealth of Australia, 2002; Nelson, 2002) and in test data (McCowan & Richardson, 1998; Employer Survey, 1998; DETYA, 2000) shows that the employability gap7 is closed when graduates possess these generic capabilities. What is important, however, is the increasing research showing that the strategies used to develop generic capabilities lead to improved learning, both in university courses and in the workplace.

Workplace learning of information technology workers in Hong Kong

This study found that to information technology professionals in Hong Kong, the workplace was a rich environment in which to learn. However, as information technology changed and became more complex, none of them knew all about the technologies they used and for each technology, there could be different ways of knowing it.

Workplace learning coordinators program : formative evaluation : final report

The workplace learning coordinators program was established to increase the number of young people undertaking workplace learning placements, especially in industries that provide strong vocational outcomes. Additional attention has been paid to the potential benefits of the program for Koorie young people and other students who experience disadvantage. The program also seeks to improve the alignment between VCAL and VET provision and local industry needs, with a focus on indentifying new workplace learning opportunities with each service area’s employers. This formative evaluation sought to monitor the initial implementation of the WLC program during its first twelve months. Over this period the evaluators recorded the early teething challenges faced by WLCs during their first few months, and the eventual consolidation of their practices during the second half of the program’s first year. In reviewing all of the data collected for this evaluation, and the progressive responses of WLCs and stakeholders over the program’s first year, the evaluators consider that the model of service delivery is appropriate for what the program aims to achieve and recommend its continuance to 2013.

Navigating workplace learning placement challenges

This chapter narrates and critically reflects upon our experience designing and delivering an educational development program for professionals supervising students during periods of workplace learning (WPL). Since the program focuses on educational skills and knowledge rather than profession-specific skills and knowledge, we use the terms educating clinical supervisors and educational development.We explore the background and context to the development of the program and provide a rationale for the particular educational development approach that was adopted. To inform others working in this space, we describe how we navigated the challenges associated with providing educational development for clinical supervisors.

Interprofessional learning at work: what spatial theory can tell us about workplace learning in an acute care ward

It is widely recognized that every workplace potentially provides a rich source of learning. Studies focusing on health care contexts have shown that social interaction within and between professions is crucial in enabling professionals to learn through work, address problems and cope with challenges of clinical practice. While hospital environments are beginning to be understood in spatial terms, the links between space and interprofessional learning at work have not been explored. This paper draws on Lefebvre’s tri-partite theoretical framework of perceived, conceived and lived space to enrich understandings of interprofessional learning on an acute care ward in an Australian teaching hospital. Qualitative analysis was undertaken using data from observations of Registered Nurses at work and semi-structured interviews linked to observed events. The paper focuses on a ward round, the medical workroom and the Registrar’s room, comparing and contrasting the intended (conceived), practiced (perceived) and pedagogically experienced (lived) spatial dimensions. The paper concludes that spatial theory has much to offer understandings of interprofessional learning in work, and the features of work environments and daily practices that produce spaces that enable or constrain learning.

Using practice theory to investigate professional engineers' workplace learning

This paper reports on the first phase of an Australian inter-disciplinary partnership study concerned with professional learning of experienced engineers. It is a theoretically motivated, qualitative paper that aims to produce detailed descriptions of professional learning that arise within professional engineering work. The paper uses practice theory to conceptualise professional learning. By using 'practices' as the units of analysis, professional learning is understood as an integral part of everyday work practices that is embodied, relational and material rather than an individual attribute. The paper concludes by suggesting that practice theory may provide organisations with an alternative perspective of workplace learning, inviting them to reconsider how professional learning is acknowledged, rewarded and fostered in organisations. © 2012 IEEE.

Professionalism in workplace learning: understanding interprofessional dilemmas through healthcare student narratives

Drawing on theory, research, and practice, the contributors to this interdisciplinary volume systematically analyze these ethical dilemmas and offer practical suggestions that are sure to interest students, academics, and professionals.

Inequalities and agencies in workplace learning experiences: international student perspectives

National systems of vocational education and training around the globe are facing reform driven by quality, international mobility, and equity. Evidence suggests that there are qualitatively distinctive challenges in providing and sustaining workplace learning experiences to international students. However, despite growing conceptual and empirical work, there is little evidence of the experiences of these students undertaking workplace learning opportunities as part of vocational education courses. This paper draws on a four-year study funded by the Australian Research Council that involved 105 in depth interviews with international students undertaking work integrated learning placements as part of vocational education courses in Australia. The results indicate that international students can experience different forms of discrimination and deskilling, and that these were legitimised by students in relation to their understanding of themselves as being an ‘international student’ (with fewer rights). However, the results also demonstrated the ways in which international students exercised their agency towards navigating or even disrupting these circumstances, which often included developing their social and cultural capital. This study, therefore, calls for more proactively inclusive induction and support practices that promote reciprocal understandings and navigational capacities for all involved in the provision of work integrated learning. This, it is argued, would not only expand and enrich the learning opportunities for international students, their tutors, employers, and employees involved in the provision of workplace learning opportunities, but it could also be a catalyst to promote greater mutual appreciation of diversity in the workplace.

Towards a strategic use of computer mediated communication to support flexible learning in the workplace

A number of central precepts of flexible delivery of workplace training are challenged by research showing that vocational learners are typically non-verbal, and prefer structured and social learning environments. That research is reviewed, together with a number of strategies that will assist flexible delivery to these learners. These strategies are largely amenable to
computer-mediated communication.

The impact of learning in the workplace policy on differing ICT degrees

At Victoria University, the release of a new Learning in the Workplace and Community (LiWC) policy has been introduced to ensure that graduates are job and career ready. The policy underlines the importance of workplace contextual learning in all course deliveries and is scheduled for progressive implementation by 2010. For each degree, the policy mandates that a minimum of 25% of program content and assessment must be related to work integrated learning.

Compliance with the 25% shift poses significant challenges for its implementation upon all undergraduate programs since the policy is expected to impact upon program structures, unit deliveries, assessment practices, and course administrations. In particular, there has been an extensive review of existing approaches to learning and teaching in the programs that deliver information and communications technology (ICT) degrees across business and science faculties. This paper describes the current Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Bachelor of Business in Information Systems programs identifying similarities and differences between the two offerings with respect to their learning in workplace components. It explores possible synergies between the two programs that could be capitalized upon to implement the LiWC policy and details the challenges to both faculties in mounting a coordinated response.

Learning in-between, across and beyond workplace boundaries

In this paper, we challenge conventional theories underpinning the practice of human resource development (HRD) that typically focus on the objects of learning - individuals, skills, jobs - or separate the contexts of work (performance) from learning (training). Using case study research from a public utility and a winery, we found similarities in workers' experiences of various organisational practices despite different objects of learning. These practices were, firstly, temporarily occupying (acting up) in a more senior position and, secondly, collaborating across functions. Unlike notions of boundary-crossing or job rotation, we argue that learning 'in-between' develops interactional competence that is grounded within the work practices of interacting individuals. This relational view opens up possibilities for redirecting the focus of HRD practice towards integrating work and learning in ways that develop the potential for learning in-between, across and beyond the boundaries of work. © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Two approaches to workplace flexible delivery and assessment in a rural community

The implementation of forms of flexible delivery and workplace training and assessment in rural areas presents particular difficulties for providers and employers alike. This article discusses some of the outcomes of a case-study research and professional development project undertaken in north-west Victoria. It describes the development and implementation of two different approaches to flexible delivery in the areas of engineering and office administration at Sunraysia Institute of TAFE. These two separate developments reversed the decline in the departments' fortunes and proved to be successful from the perspective of the staff who developed the courses, and the clients-employers and especially the students. The implications of these approaches in terms of catering for the learning preferences and contexts of the students are discussed.