Search Results for
"learning"

This article explores the interaction of formal and informal attributes of competence-based assessment. Specifically, it presents evidence from a small qualitative case study of summative assessment practices for competence-based qualifications within apprenticeships in the motor industry in England. The data are analysed through applying an adaptation of a framework for exploring the interplay of formality and informality in learning. This analysis reveals informal mentoring as a significant element which influences not only the process of assessment, but also its outcomes. We offer different possible interpretations of the data and their analysis, and conclude that, whichever interpretation is adopted, there appears to be a need for greater capacity-building for assessors at a local level. This could acknowledge a more holistic role for assessors; recognise the importance of assessors’ informal practices in the formal retention and achievement of apprentices; and enhance awareness of inequalities that may be reinforced by both informal and formal attributes of assessment practices. © 2007 Taylor & Francis.

The paper reports on the findings of a learning and Skills Research Centre (LSRC) funded study investigating the impact of different modes and methods of assessment on achievement and progress in post-secondary education and training. Data were collected across Advanced-level academic and vocational preparation programmes in schools and colleges, work-based training, and adult education settings. The paper reports that clarity in assessment procedures, processes and criteria has underpinned widespread use of coaching, practice and provision of formative feedback to boost achievement, but that such transparency encourages instrumentalism. It concludes that the practice of assessment has moved from assessment of learning, through assessment for learning, to assessment as learning, with assessment procedures and practices coming completely to dominate the learning experience and ‘criteria compliance’ replacing ‘learning’. © 2007 Taylor & Francis.

A positive work ethic is central to individual and career success. Yet, it can be difficult to instruct and assess work ethic with adolescents, especially those in middle and early high school who typically are not employed. This research developed an operational framework, learning experiences, and assessment of work ethic as it relates to school-based behaviors of adolescents. The framework was based on established conceptualizations of work ethic focusing on initiative, dependability, and interpersonal skills. It was used as a basis for the Work Ethic Trait Behavior Indicators Inventory, a 30-item performance-based assessment instrument, and a series of work ethic lessons. Development processes for the assessment tool and procedures for schoolwide data collection are described. Recommendations and discussion are based on pilot implementation of the learning experiences and pre/post assessments of students in a ninth-grade career exploration class taught in a large metropolitan high school. © 2007 American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences.

This paper sets the scene for a collection of papers based on The impact of policy on learning and inclusion in the learning and skills sector, a research project funded from January 2004 until July 2007 by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as part of their Teaching and learning Research Programme (TLRP). We raise some general issues about researching the impact of policy, and offer a brief description of the learning and skills sector in England, highlighting two important features: its turbulent recent history, and the diversity and divisions within the sector. We then outline the scope of our research and discuss aspects of our methodology, which has sought to engage practitioners and policymakers in a variety of ways throughout the project. Finally we introduce the six other papers produced by members of the project team in the second and third year of the research, and the two commentaries from our external discussants, Mary Hamilton and Phil Hodkinson. © 2007 The Vocational Aspect of Education Ltd.

Because learning and instruction are increasingly competence-based, the call for assessment methods to adequately determine competence is growing. Using just one single assessment method is not sufficient to determine competence acquisition. This article argues for Competence Assessment Programmes (CAPs), consisting of a combination of different assessment methods, including both traditional and new forms of assessment. To develop and evaluate CAPs, criteria to determine their quality are needed. Just as CAPs are combinations of traditional and new forms of assessment, criteria used to evaluate CAP quality should be derived from both psychometrics and edumetrics. A framework of 10 quality criteria for CAPs is presented, which is then compared to Messick's framework of construct validity. Results show that the 10-criterion framework partly overlaps with Messick's, but adds some important new criteria, which get a more prominent place in quality control issues in competence-based education. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

There is a recognised gap in information and communications technology (ICT) learning and teaching in higher education for entry-level healthcare professionals. This paper proposes a research model for understanding the dimensions of this gap. We describe methodological approaches to understanding present practices, identifying levers for change and learning by doing. We discuss issues faced in getting started and sustaining momentum on the research that is an essential prerequisite to effectively build the ICT capacity required by the clinical workforce in a sustainable healthcare system. © 2007 The authors. All rights reserved.

This paper explores the impact of change on tutors and managers in 24 learning sites in England, in vocational courses at Level 1 or Level 2 1 in further education (FE) colleges and in basic skills provision in adult community education and workplaces. We discuss the views of these participants in the research project, The Impact of Policy on learning and Inclusion in the learning and Skills Sector, funded through the Teaching and learning Research Programme (TLRP) of the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), in relation to other research on professionals in the sector. We then consider in turn the diversity in a group of tutors and managers we interviewed; their perceptions of the sources of change in their sector; and changes in the learner groups with whom they work. Three examples of changes affecting staff, and their responses to those changes, are then discussed, one from each of the research contexts: FE colleges, adult and community learning (ACL) and work-based learning (WBL). We raise serious questions about the pace of policy-led change, the management of change and professionals’ responses to turbulence in the sector, and stress the need to consider the impact on staff, and to listen to those who work closely with learners. © 2007 The Vocational Aspect of Education Ltd.

In this paper we argue that learning in the workplace can bring considerable benefits for learners and employers. It draws on data from in-depth interviews and secondary sources from eight sites of work-based learning as part of wider research into the effects of five national policy mechanisms within the learning and Skills Sector. We also have evidence of the positive effects of policy initiatives, in this case, Skills for Life, Union learning Representatives and Employer Training Pilots, and of legislation such as the Care Standards Act. However, initiative-based resources cannot substitute for longer-term, more secure funding. We have found what may be described as ‘flowers in the desert’—provision that grows, develops and blossoms quickly with the injection of funding, but which is very susceptible to changes in resourcing and, like flowers in the desert, can wither as quickly as it grew. We conclude by arguing that initiatives and exhortation are unlikely on their own to ensure that the full benefits of learning in the workplace are realized. There is, therefore, a need both for more sustained funding from government and employers and for greater regulation, such as the ‘licence to practise’ approach taken in the Health and Social Care professions. © 2007 The Vocational Aspect of Education Ltd.

This paper points out that globalization has raised fundamental questions about knowing and learning and that it is essential for educators to engage in collective knowledge generation by crossing community boundaries. Drawing on the theoretical framework of Activity Theory, this paper reports on a study on the expansive learning that was afforded by a school-university partnership as university tutors, mentor teachers and student teachers engaged in a new activity system mediated by lesson study. The study showed that in the course of resolving contradictions that were inherent in the boundary zone, they negotiated the mediating tool and consequently, the activity system was transformed from helping student teachers learn to teach into learning for all participants. This paper concludes that it is essential for teachers and teacher educators to develop the capability to engage in expansive learning through tackling ill-defined problems in boundary zones. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The emerging knowledge society is one of the main reasons that underlie the appearance of the interactive combination of learning and working in higher education. It is argued that the coop education system and work-based learning can become important instruments in integrating learning and working only if coop education is organized as a knowledge network in which universities and business closely cooperate. Based on this community perspective on coop education, a literature study and secondary analysis of evaluation and policy studies with relation to coop education are performed, in order to distinguish drivers for the development of coop higher education as well as factors that inhibit the acceptance of coop higher education. To further the conceptualisation of the coop system, the cooperation between a university of professional education and a number of business partners in a particular project (the Interface project) has been explored and examined. It is concluded that the further development of a system of coop higher education requires a number of advancements among others: further conceptualisation of this specific type of higher education, a quality assurance system that makes explicit what we mean by academic standards and how students can meet these standards, and a clear description of responsibilities and obligations of the various parties involved. When it comes to the development of sustainable knowledge networks in which institutions of higher education and companies participate the design of a coop curriculum can be very helpful, but cultural differences still need to be overcome. © 2006 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.