Search Results for
"learning"

Much recent theorizing about learning has focused on its socio-cultural nature, including the significance of history and the ontogeny of learners. This paper explores the relevance of such an approach to our understanding of the reasons why academics associate themselves with particular theoretical approaches to learning. The authors each present an autoethnographic account of the origins of their own theoretical orientations. This reveals the significance of ontogeny and habitus, which enable and constrain our academic work. The paper concludes by arguing that we need to understand academic research and theorizing as partly personalized social practice, in ways that poses challenges for those who view research as an inherently rational and logical process. © 2004, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

This article discusses workplace participatory practices: the reciprocal process of engaging in and learning through work. The reciprocity between the affordance of the workplace (its invitational qualities) and individuals' engagement in the workplace is proposed as a means of understanding how learning through work proceeds. How workplaces invite individuals or cohorts of individuals to participate in and learn through work can be understood in terms of how they are afforded opportunities to engage in activities and interactions that are central to the values and practices (i.e. continuity) of the work practice. These affordances are shaped by workplace norms, practices and affiliations (e.g. cliques, associations, occupational groupings, employment status) and are often characterised by contestation and inequitable distribution. Access to opportunities for practice, and therefore learning, is directed towards sustaining the work practice and/or the interests of particular individuals and groups. Nevertheless, how individuals engage in and learn from work is also shaped by their agencies, which are a product of their values, subjectivities and identities. These reciprocal processes of participation in workplaces are illuminated through an analysis of the micro-social processes that shape the participatory practices of three workers over a six-month period: a union worker, a grief counsellor and a school-based information technology consultant. The findings illuminate the bases for participation, performance and learning for each of the three workers. © 2004 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

The part played by tacit skills and knowledge in work performance is well recognised but not well understood. These implicit or hidden dimensions of knowledge and skill are key elements of “mastery”, which experienced workers draw upon in everyday activities and continuously expand in tackling new or unexpected situations. This paper, based on the ESRC Teaching and learning Research Network on Workplace learning, argues that it is important to understand better how tacit forms of key competences can contribute to sustaining learning outcomes in different types of learning environments. © 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Drawing on philosophy, the history of psychology and the natural sciences, this book proposes a new theoretical foundation for the psychology of the life course. It features the study of unique individual life courses in their social and cultural environment, combining the perspectives of developmental and sociocultural psychology, psychotherapy, learning sciences and geronto-psychology. In particular, the book highlights semiotic processes, specific to human development, that allow us to draw upon past experiences, to choose among alternatives and to plan our futures. Imagination is an important outcome of semiotic processes and enables us to deal with daily constraints and transitions, and promotes the transformation of social representation and symbolic systems – giving each person a unique style, or 'melody', of living. The book concludes by questioning the methodology and epistemology of current life course studies. © Tania Zittoun, Jaan Valsiner, Dankert Vedeler, João Salgado, Miguel M. Gonçalves and Dieter Ferring 2013.

The training and education of doctors is a complex process. The traditional apprenticeship model of clinical medical education following a pre-clinical sciences curriculum had many strengths and produced a doctor who met the needs of several generations of patients. More recently, medical training has been criticised for not adapting to the more holistic needs of contemporary society, whilst the scientific literature has highlighted deficiencies in both the procedural and humanistic clinical skills of newly qualified doctors. External bodies have called for radical curriculum reforms and failure to deliver risks increasing political interference. Apprenticeship style training has largely been abandoned as insufficiently systematic in its methods and educational responses have focused on the process of learning. Modified curricula emphasise a humanistic and student-centred approach. Although implementation is widespread, there is little evidence that the finished product is better equipped to meet the demands of postgraduate medical practice. The General Medical Council has defined the desired outcomes of the undergraduate programme. Supporting the best of apprenticeship with contemporary process models offers optimum opportunity for practicebased learning within a systematic curriculum framework. If rapid change is to be achieved, however, then assessment offers an accepted and powerful driver for medical behavioural change. Combining practice-based learning and appropriate formative assessment of generic and vocational endpoints offers the means of effecting changes in both learning behaviour and medical practice that meet the needs of today's patient. © 2004 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

These topics are treated in five steps: a discussion of curricular goals and content units for a commercial apprenticeship; the presentation of criteria for instructional design for solving curriculum problems; the introduction of a virtual enterprise as a practical example; the discussion of how to use this instructional design for teaching-learning purposes; and conclusions and possible perspectives on further research and development to close the discussion. © 2004 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Social partnerships that respond to and address local needs are becoming an increasingly significant feature of public policy, particularly in Europe and more recently Australia. The trend is also being actively promoted through the development planning agencies such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, UNESCO and World Bank. The common policy intent is to devolve decision-making to the local level where action consequences are more immediate and more readily realised than in more centralised forms of governance. Working to secure mutuality of interests and reconciliation of conflicting interests among client groups then becomes the hallmark of mature service delivery. This article sets out the conceptual terrain for ‘new’ social partnerships in terms of their prospect of building communities through participation in vocational education and training (VET). It initially identifies some of the qualities and characteristics of ‘new’ social partnerships being enacted in VET, their achievements and contributions to community building. In doing so, it highlights some bases for judging the successes and threats to these social partnerships, and to appraise the extent to which they have shifted conceptions of learning beyond traditional institutional spaces occupied by centralised policy formulation and provision of VET through education institutions. A principal concern is to identify strategies for making social partnerships work better in supporting localised decision-making and opportunities for VET to be enacted in ways to support both communities and individuals. © 2004 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

This article examines ways in which more explicit connections might be forged between students' experiences as humanities students, and their experiences as part-time workers. The purpose is to connect particularisations of meaning with the development of a coherent whole, by using Van Oers' (1998) framework for contextualisation. It is argued that the meaning that humanities students derive from their academic studies is provided through the specifics of the context in which it is learned, and the relationships that the student discerns between this particularised meaning and its coherence with a wider whole. Similarly, the meaning that is derived from experiences of part-time work is provided by the specifics of the workplace context and the relationships that the student discerns between workplace meanings, and the particularised meanings from other contexts. Data gathered in Griffith University's Workplace learning Project are re-analysed here to indicate how these relationships can be built in order to enrich meaning through its increasing coherence. © 2004 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

The relationship between university students' motivation and their learning environment is the focus of this article. Following self-determination theory (SDT) and the theory of interest, it is proposed that perceived support of basic psychological needs (support of autonomy, competence and social relatedness), as well as aspects of a constructivist learning environment (teachers' interest, relevance of contents, and quality of instruction, as well as transparency and fit of requirements) are associated with self-determined motivation and with study interest. The responses of a sample of undergraduate students in psychology (N = 123) to measures of these variables were analysed. The students were asked about their motivation to learn, their interest in psychology and about the perceived learning environment in psychology. The results showed that most of the students were motivated on an intrinsic and identified level, and displayed high study interest. Study interest, intrinsic motivation and self-determined forms of extrinsic motivation were particularly associated with perceived support of autonomy and competence, as well as with the relevance of the contents, the quality of instruction and with the perceived transparency of requirements.

Introduction: This paper reports an evaluation of the West Midlands Key Skills initiative that provides a framework for learning during vocational training (VT). Method: The 48 vocational dental practitioners (VDPs) who began their VT in August 2001 in the West Midlands were surveyed at the start and end of training (45 completed both surveys). They rated their confidence and experience in the 31 components of the Six Key Skills on visual analogue scales. Views were elicited in a survey of both VDPs (47 returns) and their general practice trainers (44 returns). Semi-structured interviews were also held with a stratified sample of 9 trainers and all four VT advisors. Results: In terms of VDP progress, a statistically significant increase in confidence and experience was found in each of the 31 components. Six themes were identified in the views data. (i) Supporting the development of Key Skills; (ii) workload implications; (iii) the ‘right’ six? (iv) links with the advanced diploma (MFGDP(UK)); (v) assessment of VT; and, (vi) consistency and quality assurance. Conclusion: VT successfully develops the confidence and experience of newly qualified dentists in the Six Key Skills and has been well received by the majority of VDPs, trainers and advisors in the West Midlands. © 2004, Nature Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved.