Professional Practice in Learning and Development: How to Design and Deliver Plans for the Workplace

Introduction The world is changing! It is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. As cliché as it may sound the evidence of such dynamism in the external environment is growing. Business-as-usual is more of the exception than the norm. Organizational change is the rule; be it to accommodate and adapt to change, or instigate and lead change. A constantly changing environment is a situation that all organizations have to live with. What makes some organizations however, able to thrive better than others? Many scholars and practitioners believe that this is due to the ability to learn. Therefore, this book on developing Learning and Development (L&D) professionals is timely as it explores and discusses trends and practices that impact organizations, the workforce and L&D professionals. Being able to learn and develop effectively is the cornerstone of motivation as it helps to address people’s need to be competent and to be autonomous (Deci & Ryan, 2002; Loon & Casimir, 2008; Ryan & Deci, 2000). L&D stimulates and empowers people to perform. Organizations that are better at learning at all levels; the individual, group and organizational level, will always have a better chance of surviving and performing. Given the new reality of a dynamic external environment and constant change, L&D professionals now play an even more important role in their organizations than ever before. However, L&D professionals themselves are not immune to the turbulent changes as their practices are also impacted. Therefore, the challenges that L&D professionals face are two-pronged. Firstly, in relation to helping and supporting their organization and its workforce in adapting to the change, whilst, secondly developing themselves effectively and efficiently so that they are able to be one-step ahead of the workforce that they are meant to help develop. These challenges are recognised by the CIPD, as they recently launched their new L&D qualification that has served as an inspiration for this book. L&D plays a crucial role at both strategic (e.g. organizational capability) and operational (e.g. delivery of training) levels. L&D professionals have moved from being reactive (e.g. following up action after performance appraisals) to being more proactive (e.g. shaping capability). L&D is increasingly viewed as a driver for organizational performance. The CIPD (2014) suggest that L&D is increasingly expected to not only take more responsibility but also accountability for building both individual and organizational knowledge and capability, and to nurture an organizational culture that prizes learning and development. This book is for L&D professionals. Nonetheless, it is also suited for those studying Human Resource Development HRD at intermediate level. The term ‘Human Resource Development’ (HRD) is more common in academia, and is largely synonymous with L&D (Stewart & Sambrook, 2012) Stewart (1998) defined HRD as ‘the practice of HRD is constituted by the deliberate, purposive and active interventions in the natural learning process. Such interventions can take many forms, most capable of categorising as education or training or development’ (p. 9). In fact, many parts of this book (e.g. Chapters 5 and 7) are appropriate for anyone who is involved in training and development. This may include a variety of individuals within the L&D community, such as line managers, professional trainers, training solutions vendors, instructional designers, external consultants and mentors (Mayo, 2004). The CIPD (2014) goes further as they argue that the role of L&D is broad and plays a significant role in Organizational Development (OD) and Talent Management (TM), as well as in Human Resource Management (HRM) in general. OD, TM, HRM and L&D are symbiotic in enabling the ‘people management function’ to provide organizations with the capabilities that they need.

The physical classroom environment : roles, conceptions, and preferences

The problem addressed in this thesis is that a considerable proportion of students around the world attend school in inadequate facilities, which is detrimental for the students’ learning outcome. The overall objective in this thesis is to develop a methodology, with a novel approach to involve teachers, to generate a valuable basis for decisions regarding design and improvement of physical school environment, based on the expressed needs for a specific school, municipality, or district as well as evidence from existing research. Three studies have been conducted to fulfil the objective: (1) a systematic literature review and development of a theoretical model for analysing the role of the physical environment in schools; (2) semi structured interviews with teachers to get their conceptions of the physical school environment; (3) a stated preference study with experimental design as an online survey. Wordings from the transcripts from the interview study were used when designing the survey form. The aim of the stated preference study was to examine the usability of the method when applied in this new context of physical school environment. The result is the methodology with a mixed method chain where the first step involves a broad investigation of the specific circumstances and conceptions for the specific school, municipality, or district. The second step is to use the developed theoretical model and results from the literature study to analyse the results from the first step and transform them in to a format that fits the design of a stated preference study. The final step is a refined version of the procedure of the performed stated preference study.

Myths and Realities of Inter-professional Working

Introduction: Childhood cancers are rare and community based health care professionals have limited experience in caring for these children and often even less experience in providing their palliative care. It is well recognised that the provision of palliative care falls beyond the remit of any one profession, thus inter professional working is the standard model. This qualitative study aims to examine the experiences of the range of health care professionals involved in providing palliative care at home for children with cancer, focusing on how knowledge is exchanged; the level of communication and support both interprofessionally and at the community/specialist interface. It also aims to examine interprofessional collaboration in palliative care; identifying healthcare professional's perceptions of problems involved, interprofessional boundaries, specific areas of the organisation or provision of care that could be enhanced through changes in practice, support issues and the educational needs of health professionals. Methods The study involves three types of data collection; in-depth interviews, facilitated case discussion (FCD) and field notes from up to 20 cases (a "case" refers to the provision of palliative care to one child). Cases are selected from children who were treated at one regional childhood caner centre. For each case the community based health care professionals (for example the GP, community nurse or health visitor) involved in the care of the child at home are invited to participate in a one-to-one tape recorded in-depth interview followed by a group discussion in the form of a FCD. Field notes are completed following each interview. Data analysis follows a grounded theory approach. The term "social worlds theory" (SWT) his used to define a type of social organisation with no fixed or formal boundaries (such as membership boundaries), for example the range of health professionals that work together to provide palliative care. The boundaries of SW's are determined by the interaction and communication between recognised organisations, such as community nursing teams and general practitioners. SWT examines encounters between different professional groups and can be used to extend knowledge in both the organisation (for example general practice) and the content of what is being provisioned (for example, palliative care). The use of SWT in the analysis of the data is through examining the ethos of the different professions and the associated individual approaches to palliative care, exploring how this determines their roles in the provision of palliative care. Results 10 cases have so far been completed: 47 1:1 interviews (with a range of between 2-7 health care professionals being involved in each case): ( 9 x GP, 19 x CCN, 4 x DN, 3 x HV, 1 x HV assistant 7 x paediatric palliative care nurses, 1 x home support worker, 1 x OT, 1 x physiotherapist, 1 x community paediatrician) and 5 x FCD. The range of participants in the FCDs reflected that of the individual interview sampler. Data obtained to date gives clear insight into the personal experience of the individual health care professional in providing palliative care. Two themes emerging from the data will be focused upon: the continuity of care provision throughout treatment and palliation and the emotional burden experiences by the health care professional. Conclusions SWT can provide a useful framework in examining the social worlds of a disparate group of health care professionals working together for the first and maybe, the only time. A wide variation in the continuity of care provision has been found not only between professions, but also within professions. The emotional burden is evident across the professions.

It’s Cheaper than Acquiring New Ones: Retaining Members to Your Service

The benefits of retention are well known: it’s cheaper and easier to retain existing customers than it is to try to acquire new ones. Secondly, retained customers play a vital role in the acquisition of new customers through word-of-mouth. Thirdly, retained customers have a higher monetary value, due to being more susceptible to cross-selling initiatives. So, retention is important. But, it’s difficult to achieve, especially for membership organisations. Numerous organisations work on a membership-based business model, such as health clubs, trade unions, charities and even professional associations. Often, recruiting and retaining members is fundamental to the success of these enterprises which rely on membership fees as their primary revenue stream.

Widening participation in higher education: the role of professional and social class identities and commitments

Since the neoliberal reforms to British education in the 1980s, education debates have been saturated with claims to the efficacy of the market as a mechanism for improving the content and delivery of state education. In recent decades with the expansion and ‘massification’ of higher education, widening participation (WP) has acquired an increasingly important role in redressing the under-representation of certain social groups in universities. Taken together, these trends neatly capture the twin goals of New Labour’s programme for education reform: economic competitiveness and social justice. But how do WP professionals negotiate competing demands of social equity and economic incentive? In this paper we explore how the hegemony of neoliberal discourse – of which the student as consumer is possibly the most pervasive – can be usefully disentangled from socially progressive, professional discourses exemplified through the speech and actions of WP practitioners and managers working in British higher education institutions.

In journalism, we are all men: material voices in the production of gender meanings

This study uses qualitative data to examine how male and female professionals in newsrooms experience and vocalize gender both in their lifeworlds and in media production in general. The research was based on semi-structured interviews with 18 Portuguese journalists. The responses were analysed through phenomenological and feminist lenses and indicated the issues men and women considered salient or negligible within our realms of inquiry. The study used the lived experience of the media professionals to identify two clusters of meaning that help explain how material practices and norms in journalism are lived and understood in the newsroom: gender views in journalism and gender differences in day-to-day professional life. Overall, the findings confirm that organizational factors and the traditional gender system play important roles in journalists’ attitudes and perceptions about the role of gender in their work. The results are significant because they show how gender is simultaneously embodied and denied by both female and male journalists in a process of phenomenological “typification” and adoption of a “natural attitude” towards the gender system that may prevent the disclosure of new possibilities and understandings of the objective social world and of our gender relations.

New Library-curated Faculty Profile Platform Launches Through bepress

As faculty needs evolve and become increasingly digital, libraries are feeling the pressure to provide relevant new services. At the same time, faculty members are struggling to create and maintain their professional reputations online. We at bepress are happy to announce the new SelectedWorks, the fully hosted, library-curated faculty profile platform that positions the library to better support faculty as well as the institution at large. Beverly Lysobey, Digital Commons and Resource Management Librarian, at Sacred Heart University, says: “Both faculty and administration have been impressed with the services we provide through SelectedWorks; we’re able to show how much our faculty really publishes, and it’s great for professors to get that recognition. We’ve had several faculty members approach us for help making sure their record was complete when they were up for tenure, and we’ve even found articles that authors themselves no longer had access to.” With consistent, organized, institution-branded profiles, SelectedWorks increases campus-wide exposure and supports the research mission of the university. As the only profile platform integrated with the fully hosted Digital Commons suite of publishing and repository services, it also ensures that the institution retains management of its content. Powerful integration with the Digital Commons platform lets the home institution more fully capture the range of scholarship produced on campus, and hosted services facilitate resource consolidation and reduces strain on IT. The new SelectedWorks features a modern, streamlined design that provides compelling display options for the full range of faculty work. It beautifully showcases streaming media, images, data, teaching materials, books – any type of content that researchers now produce as part of their scholarship. Detailed analytics tools let authors and librarians measure global readership and track impact for a variety of campus stakeholders: authors can see the universities, agencies, and businesses that are reading their work, and can easily export reports to use in tenure and promotion dossiers. Janelle Wertzbeger, Assistant Dean and Director of Scholarly Communications at Gettysburg College’s Musselman Library, says, “The new author dashboard maps and enhanced readership are SO GOOD. Every professor up for promotion & tenure should use them!” And of course, SelectedWorks is fully backed by the continual efforts of the bepress development team to provide maximum discoverability to search engines, increasing impact for faculty and institutions alike: Reverend Edward R. Udovic, Vice President for Teaching and Learning Resources at DePaul University, says, “In the last several months downloads of my scholarship from my [SelectedWorks] site have far surpassed the total distribution of all my work in the previous twenty five years.”

New challenges for the EU internal security strategy

In recent years, the EU and its member states have experienced a number of changes, as well as challenges, in the areas of politics, economics, security and law. As these areas are interconnected, changes and challenges to any of them have implications for the others, as well as implications for the populations and institutions of the EU or those coming into contact with its international power and influence. This edited collection focuses primarily on security and law, particularly the EU’s internal security strategy. The EU’s Internal Security Strategy, adopted by the Spanish presidency early in 2010, followed the Lisbon Treaty in 2009, building on previous developments within the EU in the Area of Freedom Security and Justice (AFSJ) policy. The focus of the EU Internal Security Strategy is to prevent and combat “serious and organised crime, terrorism and cybercrime, in strengthening the management of our external borders and in building resilience to natural and man-made disasters”. The Internal Security strategy intersects and overlaps with the European Union’s Counter-terrorism strategy, the Strategy for the External Dimension of JHA, and the EU’s Security Strategy. The role of and interaction between these strategies, their supplementing documents, and their implications for crime, victims, the law, political relations, democracy and human rights, form the backdrop against which the chapters in this collection are written. Building on original research by its contributors, this collection comprises work by authors from a wide variety of academic and professional areas and perspectives, as well as different countries, on a variety of areas and issues related to or raised by the EU’s Internal Security Strategy, from intelligence-led policing to human trafficking and port security. This book examines, from a wide variety of disciplinary perspectives including law, geography, politics and practice, both this further refinement of existing internal provisions on cross-border crime, and the increasing external relations of the EU in the AFSJ.

The role of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) in information and communication in science. A conceptual framework and empirical study

Problem This dissertation presents a literature-based framework for communication in science (with the elements partners, purposes, message, and channel), which it then applies in and amends through an empirical study of how geoscientists use two social computing technologies (SCTs), blogging and Twitter (both general use and tweeting from conferences). How are these technologies used and what value do scientists derive from them? Method The empirical part used a two-pronged qualitative study, using (1) purposive samples of ~400 blog posts and ~1000 tweets and (2) a purposive sample of 8 geoscientist interviews. Blog posts, tweets, and interviews were coded using the framework, adding new codes as needed. The results were aggregated into 8 geoscientist case studies, and general patterns were derived through cross-case analysis. Results A detailed picture of how geoscientists use blogs and twitter emerged, including a number of new functions not served by traditional channels. Some highlights: Geoscientists use SCTs for communication among themselves as well as with the public. Blogs serve persuasion and personal knowledge management; Twitter often amplifies the signal of traditional communications such as journal articles. Blogs include tutorials for peers, reviews of basic science concepts, and book reviews. Twitter includes links to readings, requests for assistance, and discussions of politics and religion. Twitter at conferences provides live coverage of sessions. Conclusions Both blogs and Twitter are routine parts of scientists' communication toolbox, blogs for in-depth, well-prepared essays, Twitter for faster and broader interactions. Both have important roles in supporting community building, mentoring, and learning and teaching. The Framework of Communication in Science was a useful tool in studying these two SCTs in this domain. The results should encourage science administrators to facilitate SCT use of scientists in their organization and information providers to search SCT documents as an important source of information.

G181(P) Evaluation of a new e-health intervention in neonatal care : perspectives of parents and health professionals.

Aim This paper will report findings from the first phase of an evaluation of a new e-health intervention designed to allow mothers to ‘see’ their baby in neonatal care (NNU) when they are not able to be with them. The intervention, MyLittleOne, involves a web-camera being placed over the incubator in NNU, which transmits a real-time video wirelessly to a coupled tablet device at the mother’s bedside. Guided by the MRC Framework for the Development and Evaluation of Healthcare Interventions (MRC, 2008), the aim was to explore parent and professional views of the technology and make recommendations for its future development, use and evaluation. Methods A qualitative approach was adopted, guided by a critical realist perspective (McEvoy and Richards, 2003). The study took place in a Level 3 NNU in Scotland. Participants were recruited purposively and included parents (n = 33) and a range of health professionals working in neonatal and postnatal care (n = 21). The data were collected during semi-structured individual, paired and small group interviews and were analysed thematically using NVivo v10. Results The majority of parents and professionals spoke positively about MyLittleOne. Perceptions were that: use of the technology assisted bonding and responsiveness; it promoted the recovery process following birth; and, for mothers who wished to breast-feed, being able to see their baby on the tablet device encouraged the ‘let-down’ reflex. An additional benefit was that siblings and others who may not be able to visit the NNU were able to see the baby. In contrast, for a small number of mothers, viewing their baby remotely appeared to increase their levels of anxiety. Switching off the camera during a medical procedure and back on after the procedure was completed was found to be problematic, at times and in different ways, for both parents and professionals. Conclusions Findings from this preliminary evaluation will guide future developments of the technology, including its use in family homes following the mother’s discharge. The findings will also inform the design of a feasibility study and subsequent RCT to assess the impact of MyLittleOne on a range of psychological indicators of postnatal adjustment.

El desarrollo de capacidades y la gestión del conocimiento en los potenciales de cambio y competitividad universitaria

El presente artículo se centra en la consideración de que hay empresas que desconocen los mecanismos necesarios para preservar y dinamizar los conocimientos que se generan en sus interacciones cotidianas a través de los roles y perfiles profesionales de quienes forman parte de ellas. Se parte del supuesto que estas empresas, por estar atentas a las cadenas de producción, no centran su mirada en la gestión del conocimiento, posibilitando la fuga del mismo hacia otros sectores, lo que constituye una pérdida irreparable respecto al potencial humano y al capital cognitivo. Con el objetivo de adquirir conocimiento sobre cómo se puede mejorar y desarrollar la capacidad profesional en lo que respecta al aprendizaje, las TIC y las estrategias de comunicación dentro de un marco de una organización competitiva se realizó el proyecto a partir de un estudio de caso en la Universidad de Medellín y su Departamento de Ciencias Básicas bajo una metodología cualitativa y usando el método etnográfico. Entre los resultados se puede resaltar: 1. Si la gestión que implica evaluar el desempeño de los docentes no funciona bien, existe la posibilidad de que se sientan desmotivados para realizar cambios profesionales; 2. El proyecto Permanencia con Calidad muestra un proceso de cambio y con ello un desarrollo de capacidades profesionales y una nueva práctica, lo cual se manifiesta en la manera en que los docentes se expresan sobre su rol profesional

Are we all castrati? Venanzio Rauzzini: ‘The father of a new style in English singing’

Though the castrato has been absent from the operatic stage since the nineteenth century, this voice is often described as the mysterious link in understanding the vocal techniques attributed to bel canto. The mystery lies in the fact that the voice of the operatic castrato cannot be heard by modern ears; and yet its legacy can be seen in the vocal tuition of several successful opera singers at the turn of the nineteenth century. What is unusual about this period is that some of the most successful singers of the day, including Nancy Storace, John Braham and Elizabeth Billington were British and shared the same vocal teacher. The castrato Venanzio Rauzzini (1746-1810) began his career as a primo uomo on the continent and while he established himself in various areas of musical activity, his main contribution and legacy was as a vocal teacher. During his residency in Britain from 1774 until his death, he trained several leading British professional singers who were the stars of opera in London and on the continent. They each demonstrated a use of techniques associated with the castrato vocal aesthetic and popularised a new vocal style, which can be traced to Rauzzini. Through this thesis, I will draw attention to the importance of Rauzzini’s impact on vocal teaching practice in Britain and his wider influence on the development of vocal style. I will demonstrate that Rauzzini should be considered part of the vocal teaching canon to which Pier Francesco Tosi (c.1653-1732), Nicola Porpora (1686-1768) and Manual García II (1805-1906), three other foreign vocal teachers, who were resident in Britain, already belong. By examining exactly what the expected vocal aesthetics were for all singers, castrato, non-castrated male and female during the period in which Rauzzini was active, I will demystify the castrato technique and provide a more tangible understanding of what this encompassed, demonstrating that many of these techniques were learned, performed and popularised by other voice types such as the female soprano and the male tenor.

Customer involvement in new service development

This case study aims at filling the research gap in the literature, by researching how customers experience customer involvement in new service development, in addition to giving insight on what are the organisational customers’ motivations to become involved in service development. These subjects are studied by conducting three interviews. The thesis gives a review of previous findings regarding customer-driven new service development, customer involvement, customer roles, modes of involvement, communication in the involvement process, what is the role of customer engagement and what are the motivational drivers for customers. The thesis also explains what new service development is and makes a distinction between new service development and new service design. The results revealed that organisational customers want to be involved throughout the development process, with active involvement in the beginning and end phases. Moreover, customers prefer face-to-face methods and active and bidirectional communication throughout the process. The findings propose seven motivational factors, a new framework for customer-driven new service development and communication process map. The managerial implications list five themes for service providers to take into consideration when involving customers to the service development process.

Working with Student Teachers: A Mixed Methods Study to Examine the Roles and Self-Identified Dispositions of Cooperating Teachers

A critical component of teacher education is the field experience during which candidates practice under the supervision of experienced teachers. Programs use the InTASC Standards to define the requisite knowledge, skills, and dispositions for teaching. Practicing teachers are familiar with the concepts of knowledge and skills, but they are less familiar with dispositions. Practicing teachers who mentor prospective teachers are underrepresented in the literature, but they are critical to teacher preparation. The research goals were to describe the self-identified dispositions of cooperating teachers, identify what cooperating teachers consider their role in preparing prospective teachers, and explain challenges that cooperating teachers face. Using a mixed methods design, I conducted a quantitative survey followed by a qualitative case study. When I compared survey and case study data, cooperating teachers report possessing InTASC critical dispositions described in Standard 2: Learning Differences, Standard 3: Learning Environments, and Standard 9: Professional Learning and Ethical Practice, but not Standard 6: Assessment and Standard 10: Leadership and Collaboration. Cooperating teachers assume the roles of modeler, mentor and advisor, and informal evaluator. They explain student teachers often lack skills and dispositions to assume full teaching responsibilities and recommend that universities better prepare candidates for classrooms. Cooperating teachers felt university evaluations were not relevant to teaching reality. I recommend modifying field experiences to increase the quantity and duration of classroom placements. I suggest further research to detail cooperating teacher dispositions, compare cooperating teachers who work with different universities, and determine if cooperating teacher dispositions influence student teacher dispositions.

Preventing weed spread: a survey of lifestyle and commercial landholders about Nassella trichotoma in the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia

Nassella trichotoma (Nees) Hack. ex Arechav. (common name, serrated tussock) occupies large areas of south-eastern Australia and has considerable scope for expansion in the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales. This highly invasive grass reduces pasture productivity and has the potential to severely affect the region’s economy by decreasing the livestock carrying capacity of grazing land. Other potential consequences of this invasion include increased fuel loads and displacement of native plants, thereby threatening biodiversity. Rural property owners in the Northern Tablelands were sent a mail questionnaire that examined use of measures to prevent new outbreaks of the weed. The questionnaire was sent to professional farmers as well as lifestyle farmers (owners of rural residential blocks and hobby farms) and 271 responses were obtained (a response rate of 18%). Key findings were respondents’ limited capacity to detect N. trichotoma, and low adoption of precautions to control seed spread by livestock, vehicles and machinery. This was particularly the case among lifestyle farmers. There have been considerable recent changes to biosecurity governance arrangements in New South Wales, and now is an ideal time for regulators and information providers to consider how to foster regional communities’ engagement in biosecurity, including the adoption of measures that have the capacity to curtail the spread of N. trichotoma.