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"learning"

This paper describes the methodology for an ongoing PhD study that explores how reflection supports articulation of design knowledge by the tertiary graphic design student. The study seeks to make connections between the reflective process and the articulation of knowledge inherent in the design experience, leading to the transfer of that knowledge to future problems. A case study strategy of inquiry has been employed, which draws on a mixed methods research approach, framed by cognitive psychology theory. An intervention in the form of a structured critical reflective learning framework has been developed and applied. To analyse the outcomes emerging from the learning framework, a taxonomy identifying levels of cognition evident in student reflective reports has been developed. The rationale for this methodology is discussed, along with how the approach was implemented. Preliminary findings from the case study are reported. Initial observations suggest that structured critical reflection can play an important supporting role to encourage enhanced cognitive engagement and to support articulation and knowledge transfer by the design student.

The Dutch VET system is under constant pressure to respond to a changing economy. It has been adapting to fundamental changes in job demands as well as to a strongly growing number of vocational students. The qualification system has been thoroughly restructured and various vocational learning paths and school types (the apprenticeship system and school-based vocational education; initial and adult vocational education) are integrated into a single vocational education and training (VET) system. New content as well as new didactics for vocational schools have been implemented to respond better to the needs of a changing economy and labour market. Regional VET Colleges are developing from industrial training centres into innovative learning centres, in order to prepare students better for working life and lifelong learning. In order to reach that objective, the challenge facing the Dutch system is making qualification structures, educational targets and new educational practices, like problem-based learning, more convergent, rather than the current state of tension or even contradiction. In this context, apprenticeships were rediscovered in the late nineties, but with new learning and working arrangements and with new connections between school and work-based learning. Apprenticeship has become part of an elaborated system of vocational education, which includes two main pathways with different combinations of school and workplace learning. With the expansion of the objectives of vocational education to include effective problem solving on the job and work process knowledge, workplace learning has become more important. However, the quality of workplace learning remains a topic of heavy debate. There are two main issues: the quality of workplace learning and the connection between workplace and school-based learning as part of the integrated development of vocational competences. The first is tackled by updated regulation, by government as well as by national bodies and employer organisations, designed to uphold the quality of training in apprenticeship in terms of content, guidance and assessment. New contentand didactics at school, as well as different and more intensive patterns of interaction between employers and vocational schools, are being developed to improve the connection between learning in school and in the workplace. Working together, employers and vocational schools strive for high-quality outcomes. The aim of this chapter is to describe workplace learning in the Dutch VET. An additional focus is on the quality of the connections between workplace and school-based learning.©Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009.

In this chapter, we analyse the role evaluation methods have typically played so far in the field of VET and argue that the adaptation of newer evaluation approaches helps to clarify the learning dimension within VET partnerships between industry and public VET schools. Ideally, these partnerships should trigger processes of mutual learning and allow an improved understanding between the different partners from industry and the VET schools. We will show that by using specific evaluation instruments, the collaboration between work and school partners can be improved in order to achieve substantial collaboration that goes beyond the mere co-existence of enterprises and schools. First, we briefly describe the arrangements that underlie the German dual VET system, the difficulties inherent in establishing more vigorous cooperation, and how these are being addressed. In Germany, a reform was introduced in 1996 to centre learning in VET schools around Lernfelder (learning areas or learning arenas) that follow work processes, replacing the old idea of school subjects. New curricula were constructed to strengthen this kind of learning and foster co-operation on the local level between schools and companies. Nevertheless, the existing collaboration is often rather weak. One aim is to develop this collaboration into workplace learning partnerships (WLPs). These WLPs would then form the backbone of curricula in which learning at school and workplace is better integrated. In this context, we discuss secondly, the role evaluation might play to sustain these partnerships. Network evaluation can become a new focus for improving the functioning and management of such co-operative activities. Typically, evaluation has been used to ensure the quality of the products of this kind of co-operation. But the way co-operation works needs to be investigated as well, particularly in terms of the degree of integrating theoretical and workplace-based knowledge.We will argue that new approaches are needed regarding the evaluation of these VET partnerships, more specifically to determine to what extent they improve the collaborative dimension of learning. As these networks typically cross organisational boundaries and comprise many different actors, they cannot be evaluated using tools which centre on single learner/teacher frameworks. Thirdly, in the later parts of this chapter, we present examples of new evaluation tools (EE tool and SEVALAG) that may be up to the task of getting insight into this kind of multi-actor structures. Finally, we look both at the benefits that might be obtained from these evaluation methods and the problems they face.©Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009.

Traditional formal education has often been accused of being disconnected from the learning of real working life competencies. Recent studies have shown that students may feel that formal education is 'too theoretical', and graduates often claim that they do not possess the competencies needed to do their jobs (e.g., Mora, Garcá-Aracil, & Vilas, 2007; Stenström, 2006; Tynjälä, Slotte, Nieminen, Lonka, & Olkinuora, 2006; van der Velden, 2006;). A similar criticism often levelled by entrepreneurs and employers is that the slow process of formal education hinders it from responding to the acute needs of working life (e.g. Billett, 2007). The content and pedagogical practices of formal education programmes may not serve the needs of current jobs. To overcome these problems, some employers have adopted an old - but until recently largely forgotten - practice of educating workers in the workplace. This 'education on demand' may be realised through different models, varying from close co-operation between formal education and industry to the traditional dual system of vocational education and training, as in Germany, or to specialised training programmes organised wholly by companies themselves (for more on corporate universities see, e.g. Andresen & Lichtenberger, 2007; Rademakers, 2005). The goal in all these models is to bridge the gap between education and work, and to provide students with real life experience so as to better equip them with the skills and knowledge needed in productive working. The aim of this chapter is to examine a specific example; the company-based training of shipyard workers. Our assumption is that training carried out in an authentic work environment, and its close vicinity in the company school, could provide a promising starting point for realising the connectivemodel of work experience (Griffitths & Guile, 2003; Guile & Griffiths, 2001) described in Chapter 2 of this volume. Thus, we examine whether features of the connective model are present in a shipyard metal industry course run by the company in the workplace.We also examine company-based training from the expertise development point of view and analyse how the transition from novice towards expert begins and proceeds in a workplace-based training programme carried out in a combined classroom and authentic work environment. In our analyses we draw on ideas from two different directions of research: classical studies of expertise and studies of conceptual change. This is a novel approach to vocational development. We start by discussing the theoretical viewpoints and previous empirical findings of expertise research that supports the idea of providing education and training in the workplace.We also discuss possible problems related to workplace training.We examine the development of expertise from different complementary perspectives and describe expertise as a complex phenomenon composed of cognitive, social, and bodily aspects. In the second part of this chapter we present empirical findings from a study conducted in the shipbuilding industry where future employees are trained in the company's own school and in an authentic production environment.©Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009.

Teacher education all over Europe is increasingly becoming school-based oriented. This implies new roles for those who support student teachers learning in school. This article describes the way four school-based teacher educators fulfill their role as educators of student teachers who learn how to teach while participating in the workplace. Based on theoretical notions derived from the literature on teacher education and workplace learning, the Cognitive Apprenticeship Model was specified and used in a case study as a framework to describe the activity of these school-based teacher educators. They use tools (e.g., apprenticeship assignments) developed within the teacher education institute and rely on their professional knowledge as experienced schoolteachers. This results in student teachers being provided with useful tricks which, however, hardly helps them to interpret and elaborate their experiences from a more conceptual or theoretical perspective. Also the possibilities of the social context of the school as a learning environment are not systematically used. © 2009 Association for Teacher Education in Europe.

Self-directed learning and other life-long learning skills are among requirements of today workers. To sustain in competitive globalised world of work they need to be creative, innovative, critical and analytical in their approach. In order to achieve all those competences, learning institution can no longer teach their students using traditional teacher-centred approach only. More student-centred approach such as Problem Based learning (PBL) and Problem Oriented Project Based learning (POPBL) should be employed. It is believed that those two approaches are able to promote the competencies required for lifelong learners. In the present teaching scenario, polytechnics are still practicing the traditional approach in classroom such as pen-and-paper or exam-based learning. Students can no longer survive by memorizing textbooks, they now need to explore and experience genuine tasks that connects to the real-world; in which they can develop, master, and demonstrate authentic skills. Engineering Education needs to move from an instructive to constructivist approach.Problem based learning (PBL) is one of the constructivist approaches where cooperation among learners plays important role in the learning method. Project is one of the core subjects in the Polytechnics system which carries 2.5 credit hours. Students will be assessed based on their performance throughout the projects as well as the final outcome of the projects. However most of these final projects designed by students are lacking of creative and innovative dimensions.PBL differs in certain aspects from conventional learning. In normal conventional classes, students normally learned based on what the lecturers delivered in class. This paper discusses issues and challenges the lecturers faced in promoting students-centred approach such as POPBL. Several suggestions are proposed to assist the implementation of POPBL approach in the polytechnics setting in Malaysia.

The Bologna Declaration has put in motion a series of reforms aimed at making European Higher Education more compatible and comparable, competitive and attractive for Europeans and for students and scholars from other continents. The result is to be a European Higher Education Area in which by the year 2010 students can choose from a wide and transparent range of high-quality courses. Reform, it is argued, was needed then, and it is still needed today, if Europe is to match the performance of the American and Asian systems. The European Commission was not directly involved in the initial work of the Bologna process though the Commission has since become directly involved in the process, through hosting meetings, providing consultations, and working documents as well as grant support for projects in the area of standardization of degree offerings, benchmarking, and quality assurance. As part of the Bologna process, the Commission now supports a large number of European projects (e.g. TEEP project) connected to quality assurance, standards, promotion of university offerings. The outcomes may make it easier for countries and institutions to recognize one another's degrees and promote their own. The EU has also promoted a specific way of interacting with member states and institutions-the Open Method of Coordination (OMC). We argue in this chapter that the Commission should focus less on standardization and explore more ways of communally constructing knowledge in a European context. What the Bologna process is setting out to undertake, in our opinion, is to create limits on education, whereas the Open Method of Communication could, instead, liberate systems of education and move them forward. We look to three case studies of elearning experiments to provide lessons for learning across European borders. © 2009 Springer Netherlands.

We consider two interpretations of the role of external inspection in the public services in the UK in the context of publicly funded, work-based training programmes for young people. The first is that inspection provides substantive information to buyers concerning training quality, thereby improving efficiency in the 'training market'. The second is that it provides procedurally oriented reassurance concerning service quality to government and the public, irrespective of substantive quality. Evidence is drawn from the inspection procedures and reports of the Adult learning Inspectorate between 2001 and 2005. The inspectors rated training providers on various attributes, some clearly procedural, others potentially substantive. We find that while inspectors took both procedural and substantive dimensions of training into account in judging the quality of a provider's services, they attached considerably more weight to procedural than to substantive attributes. In particular, they undervalued the trainee completion rate, despite its potential association with the substantive quality of training and the priority the government attaches to raising it. These results are interpreted as evidence of limited validity in inspection findings, which do little to resolve information asymmetries in the UK training market. © 2009 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

This article presents the way four school-based teacher educators take their role while educating prospective teachers. Student teachers learn how to teach while participating in school supported by a school-based teacher educator. Based on theoretical notions derived from literature on teacher education and on workplace learning the Cognitive Apprenticeship Model was specified, and used in a case study as a framework to describe the activity of four school-based teacher educators.These educators are using tools (e.g., apprenticeship assignments) developed within the teacher education institute and they rely on their professional knowledge as experienced school teachers. This results in student teachers being provided with useful tips which however, hardly helps them to interpret and elaborate their experiences from a more conceptual or theoretical perspective. The school-based teacher educators did not find a way of making optimal use of the possibilities of the social context of the school as a learning environment.

This article concentrates on the question which aspects of a learning environment, directed to career development of students, contribute to the use of career competences by students in prevocational and secondary vocational education in The Netherlands. The learning environment is measured by the methods and instruments for career guidance used in schools, and by the extent in which the educational programme and the guidance provided is focused on career development. Three competences are distinguished: career reflection, career shaping and networking. The relation between aspects of the learning environment and the development of career competences is studied using a survey among 3,499 students and 166 teachers of 226 classes in 34 schools. The results show that a 'career learning environment' consists mainly of a dialogue with the student about his/her experiences in placements in relation to his/her future. This dialogue contributes to the use of career competences by students; methods and instruments do hardly show any relationship with career competences of students. Also, student centered education does not contribute to career learning, if this dialogue is absent.