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"learning"

Training students by learning and working is one of the talent development models for higher vocational training. It is necessary to build a scientific, rational and practical model to evaluate the quality of higher vocational talent trained by learning and working. An evaluation system is developed taking the consideration of school, enterprises and society. Delphi method is applied to determine the relative importance of each evaluation index weights of the evaluation. A case study was also presented to illustrate the procedure. It was demonstrated that fuzzy synthetic method can appraise the quality of higher vocational talent trained by learning and working in a more flexible and more scientific way. ©2010 IEEE.

Modern employment and work life demands employees who continuously develop and actualize their competencies. Information and computer technology (ICT) provides rich opportunities to support individuals in their professional learning. This contribution describes professional learning from the perspective of research on expertise, which analyses the development of knowledge structures on the way from novice to high performing expert. First, a general concept of competence and knowledge development is to be discussed and different types of knowledge are to be distinguished. Then this contribution discusses opportunities to support this development with e-learning scenarios on the various levels of knowledge construction. The main argument is that e-learning opportunities are an option to overcome the traditional distinction between formal and informal learning. However, crucial challenges for implementing e-collaborative knowledge construction remain – as the contribution finally will conclude. © 2010 by IGI Global. All rights reserved.

This article presents a comparative analysis of governance structures in the dual vocational education and training (VET) systems of Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. First a theoretical framework for the classification of plural systems such as dual apprenticeship training is discussed. It is argued that governance in VET can be described according to the coherence of the system on the one hand and the rationale of agency on the other. Moreover, it is assumed that four ideal types of governance can be distinguished. A methodology is presented to implement this framework in data collection and analysis and as an evaluation tool for expert workshops. The study recommends a consistent legal framework regarding the cooperation of learning venues and the establishment of an evaluation and feedback scheme in the shape of an assessment during the training process. In order to efficiently coordinate VET practice, VET policy and VET research, the establishment of a 'VET innovation system' is suggested.

Online education is becoming an important com-ponent of career and technical education (CTE) in teacher preparation and at the graduate level. In the midst of such growth, and in response to questions about quality compared with traditional learning, there is a consensus that online courses and programs should be designed based on the needs of adult learners. However, much of the literature in online CTE lacks implicit connec-tions to emerging notions of adult development and learning. This article provides an overview of the status of online education in CTE at the postsecondary level, discusses related issues and current research focus, and highlights adult learning developments and the implications for curriculum design, instruction, and use of tech-nology. The article concludes with an outline of emerging trends bridging adult learning and online education relevant to career and technical education. © 2010 by IGI Global.

The authors explore governance and related policies that shape Canada's vocational education and training (VET) system and trends that have the potential to fundamentally change accepted practices. The conceptual framework derived from Bourdieu's theoretical concepts of field, habitus, and capital is applied to the description of Canada's apprenticeship system within its particular political, economic and social contexts and current power relations. The authors further contemplate how policy changes may be undermining this system and negatively influencing individuals' work and learning opportunities. Lastly, proposed policy directions for Canada's apprenticeship system are critically examined.

In a world undergoing constant change, in the era of globalisation, the training of medical professionals should be under constant review so that it can be tailored to meet the needs of this society in transition. This is all the more true at times of economic uncertainty, such as the current conditions, which have a direct impact on health services. Professionals need new Competencies for new times. Over the last decade initiatives have emerged in various Anglo-Saxon countries which have defined a framework of basic Competencies that all medical specialists should demonstrate in their professional practice. In addition to this, we must respond to the creation of the European Higher Education Area which has implications for specialised training. In Spain, training for medical specialists was in need of an overhaul and the recently passed law (Real Decreto 183/2008) will allow us to move forward and implement, in medical education, initiatives and innovations required in our medical centres, to respond to the new society and bring us in line with international professional education and practice. The way forward is a Competency-based model for medical education with assessment of these Competencies using simple instruments, validated and accepted by all the stakeholders. The institutions involved (hospitals, medical centres and other health care services) should trial different approaches within the general framework established by the current legislation and be conscious of the duty they have to society as accredited training organisations. Accordingly, they should consolidate their teaching and learning structures and the various different educational roles (Director of Studies, Tutors, and other teaching positions), showing the leadership necessary to allow proper implementation of their training programmes. For this, the Spanish Autonomous Regions must develop their own legislation regulating Medical Specialty Training. So, medical professionals should receive training, based on ethical values, behaviours and attitudes that considers humanistic, scientific and technical factors, developing an understanding of the scientific method and ability to put it into practice; skills to manage complexity and uncertainty; a command of scientific, technical and IT terminology, to facilitate independent learning; and a capacity for initiative and teamwork, as well as skills for personal activities and for making an effective, democratic contribution both within health organisations and in the wider society. © 2010 Revista Nefrología.

Online education is becoming an important component of career and technical education (CTE) in teacher preparation and at the graduate level. In the midst of such growth, and in response to questions about quality compared with traditional learning, there is a consensus that online courses and programs should be designed based on the needs of adult learners. However, much of the literature in online CTE lacks implicit connections to emerging notions of adult development and learning. This article provides an overview of the status of online education in CTE at the postsecondary level, discusses related issues and current research focus, and highlights adult learning developments and the implications for curriculum design, instruction, and use of technology. The article concludes with an outline of emerging trends bridging adult learning and online education relevant to career and technical education. © 2010, IGI Global.

The advanced learning internet technologies indicated a need for methodologies, tools and pedagogies that support the introduction of synchronous e-learning applications and especially Interactive Videoconferencing (IVC) into the whole learning environment. The objective of this chapter is to present the theoretical background and the methodology that have been developed, to implement a pedagogical model for IVC instruction. The proposed pedagogical model constitutes the results experienced from an IVC project in the University of Crete during the last seven years, under the title 'ODUSSEAS', which took place between eight hundred students and thirty teachers in eighteen elementary schools in Greece and Cyprus. © 2010 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

This article reviews lifelong learning policy models proposed by Green (2000), including market-led, state-led, and social-partnership-led approaches. Different policy initiatives and/or systems can be deemed to belong to one of three different models, although they may not correspond precisely. This article depicts seven well-known policy examples according to the three models. The findings of this article reveal that (1) an economically oriented mindset has penetrated lifelong learning policies; (2) cooperation between many stakeholders seems to be an inevitable feature regardless of models above; and (3) government, in even in the social-partner-led model, is found to play a vital role and its intervention is unavoidable in all of three lifelong learning policy models. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Current social and economic imperatives are leading to workplaces being seen as important and necessary learning environments in their own right, rather than places to augment knowledge learned elsewhere. Frameworks for workplace learning can draw upon a long tradition of learning through practice that predates processes of learning in educational institutions. However, to legitimize and extend their worth, there is a need to identify and elaborate their purposes, conceptions of learning through work, and augment these with recent conceptual and procedural advances. Ultimately, these frameworks are characterized by what workplaces afford learners and how individuals elect to engage with what is afforded them. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.