Search Results for
"learning"

What is the competency? It will integrate the new technology and the career content into the basement of the vocational education. In addition, it also has to furthermore research to identify the content or rubric of competency (Hsu, 2006). The purpose of this study is conducting the competency rubric for fashion design students of technology institute, moreover, indicating the cognitive difference of the competency between the fields of industry and academic. The research will be a valuable reference for the development of fashion design department of technology institute in future. This study uses the Delphi Technique to develop the competency rubric, which includes 8 rubrics and 32 criteria, for fashion design students of technology institute. The research result indicates there are not the cognitive difference of the competency as well as the important order of the competency between the fields of industry and academic. Therefore, this study developed the competency rubric that includes human accomplishment, fashion sense, enterprise organization, marketing economics; design communication, design technique, foreign language and selflearning attempting were accepted by both experts of industry and academic.

Since the 1980s, the focus on learning environments has changed considerably in educational research. In earlier decades, most efforts were concentrated on optimisation of the classroom system by improving instructional technology and instructional and training systems (Romiszowski, 1988). Optimisation of learning time, the search for effectiveness in terms of group size, instruction techniques and pedagogy, teaching and coaching behaviour, mixed ability grouping, etc. were used to find the best place to learn. © 2008 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

WEB-BASED learning AND TRAINING is becoming more important in vocational education and training. Such online learning environments make high demands on motivation for both trainers and learners. What is interesting in this respect is whether theories of motivation can predict the actual motivation of learners in online learning environments. In our study, we focus on three theories of motivation, namely the flow theory of Csikszentmihalyi, the cognitive motivation model of Heckhausen and the self-determination theory of Deci and Ryan. These theories emphasise different conditions that are supposed to generate motivated behaviour and are also required to make learning motivation more likely. Our primary object is to find out if there is a relation between the experience of the above-mentioned conditions and the actual motivation of the learners in an online learning environment. The outcomes of the analyses of data from the evaluation of the web-based professional training ENTER show that the selfdetermination theory predicts learning motivation in online learning environments best. For designing web-based trainings that are able to enhance motivation, we present some recommendations derived from the outcomes. © 2008 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

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IN THIS CHAPTER WE ARGUE that understanding work-related learning needs a set of differentiating rationalities in relation to the institutions that are involved in educational rationality: education as preparation for work. The learning potential of the workplace is often discussed from this goal rationality. In this chapter this rationality is challenged by arguing that other rationalities on workplace learning should also be taken into account. Rationalities of optimising goals, transformative goals and personal goals are discussed and used as points of reference to evaluate three research projects on work-related learning. © 2008 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

Society for Engineering Education, 2008 The Center for Water Resource Studies and the Bowling Green Community College of Western Kentucky University has formed a partnership to address a Water & Wastewater Operator/Technician shortage anticipated over the next few years as "Baby Boomers" retire. The Water and Wastewater Technician Training Institute (WTTI, pronounced "witty"), is a partnership with the employment sector (a growing number of water & wastewater utilities/municipalities/districts), state primacy agencies and technical assistance/trade associations to refine an industry needs driven curriculum that utilizes on-line course delivery to provide options for both traditional & non-traditional students. The partnership is revitalizing an existing Associates Degree program entitled "Water Utilities Management" and integrating 4year transitions through formal articulation agreements. WTTI takes a pedagogical approach to elevating and transforming the water and wastewater operator positions from trades of last resort, to professions of choice, and integrates practitioners into the recruitment, retention and educational process to achieve a coupled education, training and capacity development environment. A gradual and strategic elevation of the perception, both internal and external, of the trades, through a combination of increased capacity, mobility and accountability will attract high school students whose interests and scholarly record fall between the traditional trades/vocations and academically-based professions, and through inappropriate choices limit their career advancement potential, and elevate skill levels in the critical environmental and public health functions of the water and wastewater utility sector. In order to limit the hurdles associated with integrating regulatory, trade association and academic principles into a single, functional, coherent framework, WTTI is initially focused on Kentucky and Tennessee. However, as a demonstrably functional framework is put in place, extrapolating to address other regional policy, academic discipline and industrial sector issues becomes a logistical rather than conceptual challenge. Partnering utilities and municipalities are developing internship and cooperative educational opportunities to ensure work-based experiences for students in the program, while the trade associations have committed to developing scholarship programs to lessen the financial disincentive for potential students. Academic content is provided by core university faculty, while practitioner oriented content is provided by qualified trade association and utility/municipality staff eligible for adjunct faculty status. Committed to the precept of open-knowledge, WTTI is extending and coupling an open-source hybrid practitioner cybercollaboratory (based on Drupal) with an open-source course management system (Moodle) to integrate the learning environment with practitioners and enhance retention of both students and the retiring practitioner knowledge-base. All instructors (academic and practitioner) involved in the program will undergo collaborative professional development to ensure that they are receptive to the unique structure of the program. All aspects of the program will be available through this on-line environment, allowing current practitioners to participate both as mentors, and as students pursuing career advancement goals. Experiential components of the program include on-line virtual activities, as well as opportunities provided by partnering utilities and municipalities local to the student. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2008.

The authors provide an overview of current policy in the 14-19 area. They cover changes to 14-19 education, diplomas, and work-based learning in the context of new developments. They provide a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the new 14-19 phase with a focus on A levels and GCSEs, the new 14-19 Diplomas vocational learning and institutional collaboration. Drawing on international and historical analysis, recent research and practice and interveiws with policy actors, the authors set out the case for a more unified and strongly collaborative approach to the organisation of upper secondary education in England. The book is intended for education practitioners, policy-makers and researchers. It is for PGCE students on new 14-19 courses, and for those following Masters level courses on 14-19 curriculum and training. The authros are both co-directors of the Nuffielld Review of 14-19 Education and Training in England and Wales, which is a six-year independent review of all aspects of 14-19 policy, research and practice funded by the Nuffield Foundation. The Review is based at the Department of Educational Studies, Oxford University. © Ann Hodgson and Ken Spours 2008.

In Germany, the group of young people with the most extended transition from school to work are those achieving higher education entrance qualifications (Abitur), then serving an apprenticeship in the German dual system and later pursuing higher education. On the basis of three Anglo-German comparative studies, this article highlights the factors influencing the young people’s choice to enter the dual system, such as strong social support by relevant persons (e.g. family members) and a distinct self-esteem and self-concept. It is pointed out that those entering the dual system are more risk-averse than other students with higher education entrance qualifications. It can be shown that many of those who start to study after the apprenticeship choose subjects based on the occupational field they have been trained in. © 2008 The Vocational Aspect of Education Ltd.

WORKPLACE learning IS AN ESSENTIAL PART of every vocational education and training programme in the Netherlands. As in other countries, the workplace is regarded as an environment with great learning potential (Bailey, Hughes and Moore, 2004; Billet, 1999), and learning in such an environment is considered indispensable for the development of job-relevant competencies. As a consequence, a substantial amount of training time is spent on workplace learning and its importance is stressed by an act passed by the Dutch government, which states that a diploma is to be awarded to a student only when he has satisfactorily completed the period of workplace learning. Nevertheless, important as it is, workplace learning is also problematic. Studies point to insufficient preparation, interaction and organisation (Blokhuis, Jellema and Nijhof, 2002). Improving the quality of workplace learning is considered necessary by all the parties involved. The interesting question is how. © 2008 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

This chapter describes a work integrated learning model called organisation centred curriculum. An organisation centred curriculum differs from a traditional university program in that both, the needs of the organisation and those of the learners are paramount. The learning by individuals is overtly integrated into the processes and the culture of the organisation. This overt integration, though, is strongly dictated by the intended and emergent strategic direction of the organisation. Specifically, the chapter discusses the steps the authors followed in designing a leadership development program. These steps include understanding the strategic plan and the culture of the organisation, identifying specific change issues for the organisation and the individuals, clarifying assumptions, designing the curriculum within a context of adult learning principles, integrating changes into the workplace, and ensuring any such changes are embedded into the ongoing workplace culture and practices. Finally, the chapter provides preliminary findings from an evaluation of the organisation centred curriculum framework that optimises work integrated learning for individuals and their workplace. The findings suggest that such a framework has potential for use with other university courses to assist organisations interested in work integrated learning for their staff development. © 2008 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.