LEARNING FROM A WORKPLACE PERSPECTIVE

Dr. Betty CollisEmeritus professor, University of Twente, NL

Seminar UOC, 07 June 2013

MY BACKGROUND…

Academic Learning

Corporate Sector Learning

THIS PRESENTATION:

• Key trends in workplace learning

• Implications for university learning

KEY TRENDS IN WORKPLACE LEARNING

Work processes with learning as a by-product

Learning actions located within work or learning processes

Learning experiences at or near the workplace

•Participating in group processes•Working alongside others•Consultation•Tackling challenging tasks and roles•Solving problems•Trying things out•Consolidating, extending and refining skills

•Asking questions•Listening•Observing•Getting information•Learning from mistakes•Reflecting•Locating resource people•Giving and receiving feedback

•Being supervised•Being coached•Being mentored•Shadowing•Visiting other sites•Studying based on individual needs/planning•Going to conferences•Taking courses

Source: Early Career Learning at Work and its Implications for UniversitiesMichael Eraut, University of Sussex, Teaching and Learning Research Briefing, TLRP & ESRC, 2007. http://www.tlrp.org/pub/documents/Eraut%20RB%2025%20FINAL.pdf

LEARNING IS MORE THAN STRUCTURED COURSES/PROGRAMMES

LEARNING 1: KNOWING WHEN/WHERE/WHAT/HOW TO LEARN

Need to know how to ask the right questions,

in an appropriate way,

of appropriate sources

LEARNING 1: KNOWING WHEN/WHERE/WHAT/HOW TO LEARN

Need to know how to ask the right questions,

in an appropriate way,

of appropriate sources

EMPLOYER FRUSTRATION 1: NEW EMPLOYEES WAIT TO BE TOLD WHEN/WHERE/WHAT/HOW TO LEARN

LEARNING 2: LEARNING FOR AND DURING PROJECTS WITH MULTI-DISCIPLINARY TEAMS

-Complex and fuzzy problems-High pressure tasks and deadlines-Need to find a quick shared understanding with persons from other disciplines

Team members have different experiences in the field and are from all over the world

LEARNING 2: LEARNING FOR AND DURING PROJECTS WITH MULTI-DISCIPLINARY TEAMS

-Complex and fuzzy problems-High pressure tasks and deadlines-Need to find a quick shared understanding with persons from other disciplines

Team members have different experiences in the field and are from all over the world

EMPLOYER FRUSTRATION 2: NEW EMPLOYEES HAVE LITTLE EXPERIENCE IN PROJECTS WITH MULTI-DISCIPLINARY TEAMS

LEARNING 3: SHARING RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE LEARNING OF OTHERS

Need a sense of shared responsibility for knowledge sharing and building within one’s team, one’s discipline group, the enterprise

LEARNING 3: SHARING RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE LEARNING OF OTHERS

Need a sense of shared responsibility for knowledge sharing and building within one’s team, one’s discipline group, the enterprise

EMPLOYER FRUSTRATION 3: NEW EMPLOYEES HAVE LITTLE EXPERIENCE IN SHARING RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE LEARNING OF OTHERS

IMPLICATIONS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

DESIGN CROSS-DISCIPLINARY PROJECTS

USE WORKPLACE TOOLS AND METHODS

•Tutor each other within and across disciplines

FROM THE UOC

Collaborative Masters Final projects (between students in Biostatistics and Nutrition)

Set a virtual space for the Practicum subject of the Master in Health and Nutrition, including the interaction with virtual patients and their evolution depending on the work proposals of the students

- 2.0 tools for content creation

USE E-PORTFOLIOS AS LEARNING TOOLS FOR OTHERS

Year 1: Study examples to see examples of artifacts aligned to competences

Year 2: Make choices of artifacts for own use; Consider what would be good to add for others and make first additions

Year 3: Plan final products to include a public view for other learners, make additions of specific artifacts for others to use

E-PORTFOLIO- SHARING WITH OTHERS: EXAMPLE FROM THE OU-UK

ANOTHER EXAMPLE FROM THE UOC

iBook Lab, Telemedicine

PLAN LEARNING ACTIVITIES ACROSS A PROGRAMME

1. Make a contribution1. Make a contribution

1.1 Find, contribute 1.2 Adapt or create, contribute

2. Build on contributions

2.1 Locate something specific within contributions

2.2 Compare and contrast, contribute results

2.4.1 For one-time use, within the course

2.4.2 For multiple reuse, within, across or outside of the course

2.3 Add to, update, extend contributions

2.4 Combine contributions to create a product

ANOTHER EXAMPLE FROM THE UOC

From the eLC Masters Programme in IT and Education (e-learning)

User generated content, into WikiRAO

See the role of universities in a broader perspective: “Universities are no longer so dominant in the knowledge game - but neither are they so alone. Instead universities will constitute crucial nodes in knowledge networks that pervade the whole of 21st-century society. (Castells 1996)”

Develop a situative perspective of learning as social practice.

“Learners develop their identities through participation in specific CoPs.” (JISC, 2012)

CONCLUSION FOR HIGHER EDUCATION:

To strengthen the student's transition to productive functioning in a professional workplace course designers in higher education should: 

•Anticipate the way the student/future professional will learn and work in the workplace

•Move to a vision of learning that emphasizes knowledge co-construction and sharing across a professional community.