Search Results for
"learning"

Working in communities is increasingly a feature of UK (United Kingdom) higher education. Within the last decade communities of practice (CoPs) have migrated from organisational development departments and evolved to become tools for practice based learning in educational settings. More recently, in nursing, the literature reports that CoPs have the potential to blend the skills of both academics and clinicians to transform and create new knowledge that is both scholarly and applicable to practice. Copyright "2008 The Berkeley Electronic Press. All rights reserved.

The EU objective - to become a knowledge-based society, can be realised only through an educational system that respects the principles of Life-Long learning (LLL). The system of recognition and validation of all kinds of knowledge, without regard to how it has been acquired, is congruent with these principles. To be effective, the system for validation must be developed and performed with the cooperation of all interested parties: government, educational institutions, employers and employees. There are at least three parties that should be particularly interested in cooperating to perform the system of validation of non-formal and informal learning in the higher education (HE) area, i.e., employers, HE education institutions and individuals. This article focuses on the part of employers. © 2008, Inderscience Publishers.

Based on the conceptual argument that the European apprenticeship might explain cross-national variability in adolescent adjustment, the current investigation tested the relationships between mentoring experiences, namely joint activities with mentors as well as perceived mentoring behaviors by unrelated adults in the work setting, and measures of both psychosocial competencies (job skills, self esteem, and well-being) and measures of adjustment (alcohol use, drug use, and deviance). Data were collected from n = 2735 Swiss apprentices and n = 368 U.S. part-time employees who attended high school. Findings provide evidence that perceived mentoring behaviors by unrelated adults in the work setting in both developmental contexts were associated with both psychosocial competencies and adjustment indicators. Contrary to the idea that the European apprenticeship may provide a unique "protective" developmental experience for youth in comparison with U.S. adolescents who work part-time, adolescents in both contexts benefited equally from good mentoring experiences. © 2008 Sage Publications.

Numerous educators have proposed the development of constructivist Internet-based learning environments for students. When creating the constructivist Internet-based learning environments, it is important for researchers to be aware of students' preferences toward these environments. Through gathering data from 659 university students in Taiwan, this study developed a questionnaire to assess students' preferences toward constructivist Internet-based learning environments. The questionnaire, with adequate validity and reliability, included 34 items on the following seven scales: relevance, multiple sources (and interpretations), challenge, student negotiation, cognitive apprenticeship, reflective thinking and epistemological awareness. The questionnaire responses revealed that male students tended to prefer the Internet-based learning environments where they could solve challenging problems, acquire cognitive apprenticeship and guidance from experts, and promote epistemological development than did female students. The findings also suggested that, if educators intend to develop Internet-based learning environments for more academically advanced students, such as graduate students, care should be taken to create more opportunities for them to negotiate ideas, obtain proper guidance, reflect their own thoughts, and explore epistemological issues. Finally, students with more Internet experiences tended to demand more on many features of the constructivist Internet-based learning environments than those with less Internet experiences. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[No abstract available]

Research substantiates the effectiveness of problem-based, project-based, and case-based learning as effective tools for student learning. Research also shows the frustration of faculty who have offered excellent teaching in a classroom but who are faced with the challenge of shifting the whole classroom into an online environment. This chapter is focused on ways to transform and redesign a traditional classroom course into an online virtual classroom using the practical application of the problem/project-based approach to learning using online case-based instruction as authentic and active strategies. The chapter shares instructional design strategies as well as the effectiveness of problem-based interactive multimedia case delivery. © 2008, IGI Global. All rights are reserved.

Description: Collaboration among organizations in the digitally connected 21st century society often requires electronic communications within and across fields to facilitate superior outcomes that would not be possible without the power of communication technologies. The Handbook of Research on Electronic Collaboration and Organizational Synergy offers exhaustive research on collaborations in education, business, and the government and social sectors. Through 50 in-depth research contributions by multidisciplinary scholars from 16 countries, this unique collection identifies areas where previous theories, literature, research methods, and approaches need to be updated to acknowledge the changes now emerging in a digitally connected global economy and society. Coverage: The many academic areas covered in this publication include, but are not limited to: • Collaborative action research • Collaborative commerce • Collaborative E-learning • Collaborative Partnerships • Collaborative synergy • Collective identity • Collective memory with community repository • Computer mentoring • Digital global frontier • Digital technology collaboration • Distance Education • Distributed cognition • Electronic Collaboration • Electronic commerce adoption • E-research collaboration • E-social constructivism • Global collaboration education • Hybrid synergy • Inter-cultural learning • Interdisciplinary Collaboration • Interorganizational collaboration • Networks and communities of practice • Online collaborative integration • Organizational synergy • Relational synergy • Technology enhanced collaborative leadership development • University techscapes • Virtual Classroom • Virtual knowledge working • Virtual multicultural teams. © 2009 by IGI Global. All rights reserved.

Research substantiates the effectiveness of problem- based, project-based, and case-based learning as effective tools for student learning. Research also shows the frustration of faculty who have offered excellent teaching in a classroom but who are faced with the challenge of shifting the whole classroom into an online environment. This chapter is focused on ways to transform and redesign a traditional classroom course into an online virtual classroom using the practical application of the problem/project-based approach to learning using online case-based instruction as authentic and active strategies. The chapter shares instructional design strategies as well as the effectiveness of problem-based interactive multimedia case delivery. © 2008 by IGI Global.

Educating through purpose is the foundation of several methods that use projects to organize instruction. Although these methods are quite similar, there are some important conceptual differences that are currently at risk of being overlooked due to similarities in terminology. The project method, project based learning, and the project approach, are all valid approaches to instructional delivery. It is unfortunate that the confusion created by the terminology appears to be creating isolated discussions. The purpose of this article is to identify some of the similarities and differences among these methods in the hope of encouraging new developments in project-related instruction. © 2008 by IGI Global. All rights reserved.

This article considers the in-service learning opportunities arising from the emergence and early formation of the learning representative scheme in New Zealand. Drawing on an interview study with respondents from the major stakeholders involved in the design of the scheme and subsequent ongoing research, the article makes comparisons between the scheme in New Zealand and its counterpart in the United Kingdom. The article suggests that in New Zealand both the training for learning representatives and the forms of learning they are likely to facilitate for others have tended to be more standardised initially than was the case with their UK counterparts. A tripartite framework that did not exist in the United Kingdom and the initial smaller scale of the New Zealand learning representative project facilitated greater standardisation of the process by which people acquired the skills and knowledge to be learning representatives. The greater standardisation of the training that learning representatives may facilitate for others is attributed to the stronger sector-based vocational learning arrangements that existed in New Zealand and the lesser funds that have been made available to the New Zealand scheme to date. The article concludes by emphasising the merits of both the New Zealand and UK schemes that give workers greater choice and control in learning opportunities.