Learning in vivo

A map of the learning in vivo posts

Since 1 August 2008 I have accumulated a lot of knowledge and ideas captured in numerous posts. There are more than 50 alphabetically listed categories, on this blog. I considered it necessary to give some sort of structure, which resulted in the in the map below. I would be grateful for critique with regard to my allocation of categories to groupings in the map, as well as critique about the map itself.

All of this blog's categories are related to the notion of in vivo learning. The linearity of the map is accidental, starting on the left with descriptive categories, from which branch three sets of vertical categories. All the categories are, however, in some way connected, thus the two nodes.

·    Clinical training	·    Placements
·    Learning authenticity	·    Real-life learning
·    Learning contract	·    Worker-learner

Zooming in on in vivo learning three clusters of categories emerged:

Theory & terminology	Spaces of learning	Learning through work
·    Cooperative education	·    Absence & presence	·    Action learning
·    Curriculum development	·    Community service	·    Learning through work
·    Experience defined	·    Learning in ...	·    Work-based learning
·    Terminology	·    Spaces of learning	·    Work-based project
·    Theory of learning in vivo	·    Students with disabilities	·    Work-integrated learning
	·    Violence versus learning

On a more intimate level of learning in vivo emerged a further three clusters of categories:

Mentoring during learning	The importance of reflectivity	Assessment
·    Accompaniment	·    After thought	·    Assessment methods
·    Coaching	·    Journaling	·    Assess prior learning
·    Mentoring	·    Life course	·    Quality assurance
·    Preceptorship	·    Mindfulness
·    Supervision	·    Mirroring
	·    Reflective practices
	·    Story telling/
	·    Tacit-explicit knowledge

Systemically or holistically a a further three clusters of categories emerged:

People development	Talent growth	Community of practice
·    Academic development	·    Talent growth	·    Community of practice
·    Capabilities	·    Lifelong learning	·    Learning organisation
·    Career develop learning		·    Professional practice
·    Competence development		·    The learning university
·    Develop human resources

The categories ‘books’ and ‘online/e-learning’ do not form part of the map.

Raw learning materials and learning tools

Sweitzer & King (2002:4-5) differentiates between classroom and internship learning with regard to two dimensions. I am adapting their description to distance education:

	Distance theoretical learning	Internship learning
The raw learning materials	Study guides, reading, tutorial letters, exercises, on-line discussions & tutorial sessions	Intellectual and human experimental interactions—full of feelings and struggles. These emotions are not just a backdrop to the real-work experience, but every bit as real and important.
The learning tools	Memorise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate.	Experience must be processed and organised; reflective dialogue with self and others is a primary tool for learning; and relationships are the medium of internship.

Sweitzer & King (2002:3) use the internship to refer to a range terms of that entail an academic credit for experiences, for example field work/experience, cooperative/field education and practicum (which they indicate has no consensus on the meaning).

Sweitzer & King (2002:6-7) further clarify the following terms:

• Placement or site—refers to the place where the student is working (gaining experience).
• Intern—refers to the student or volunteer who is working.
• Supervisor—person assigned by the placement site to mentor the student.
• Instructor—the academic staff member that oversees the student's placement.
• Coworker—refers to other people working at the placement.

Sweitzer, H.F. & King, M.A. 2004. The successful internship—transformation and empowerment in experiential learning, 2^nd edition. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole—Thompson Learning.

Three key dimensions of work-integrated learning

When work-integrated learning is considered a necessary part of the curriculum of a qualification, it is important to systemically link three key dimensions, namely: teaching, marketing & counselling.

Two of the Ps of marketing are important considerations. Firstly, product—educational institutions are obliged to consult the relevant occupational field in the curriculum design of a qualification. Adequate representation of stake holders (including statutory, professional and/or vocational bodies) is important, not only for relevancy, but also for buy-in and support—an institution cannot offer a qualification that includes work-integrated learning, without sufficient host organisations willing to take students for real-life experiences in accordance with the curriculum outcomes. It follows logically that if there is good support within the occupational field that work-integrated learning is an important aspect of the curriculum, then less marketing (place, another P) efforts would be required to secure sufficient host organisations for students to undergo experience. It further follows logically that to ensure continuous relevance of the qualification and the support of the occupational field, continuous consultation is necessary—the formation and regular gathering of an advisory committee is therefore advocated. Advocates of academic freedom resist the idea of consumerism; however, public higher education institutions are accountable to its public and the state. Institutions might as well reap the benefit of sound marketing—satisfying the needs of the occupational/professional field the qualification intends to serve.

Teaching involves many aspects. It is among others very important to design a curriculum of a qualification as a whole and develop the learning of each part of the curriculum with the overall outcome in mind. Work-integrated learning as part of the overall curriculum requires special attention because students are generally removed from the institution—the learning takes place in a environment that academia do not have control over, yet the institution is ultimately responsible to ensure the learning outcomes were achieved. Orientation of students to the desired learning and a learning design that would bring about the desired learning is important. The workplace mentor needs to be given guidance in order to facilitate the relevant learning. The learning design includes the design of the appropriate learning evidence that will serve as substantiation that the student mastered the required learning outcomes. Formative assessment and summative evaluation of work-integrated learning also forms part of the teaching. In the South African context the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) of the Council for Higher Education (CHE) determined a number of criteria towards good practice with regard to work-integrated learning.

Students come from various contexts; some are better prepared for entry into the world of work than other. Those underprepared students need counselling-type interventions to aid their development. Often higher education institutions offer a range of career and counselling services, such as CV writing, business writing, life skills, assertiveness, communication skills, etc. In the South African context the Department of Higher Education & Training gazetted that institutions that offer qualifications that include work-integrated learning are obliged to make sure that students are placed for such learning. It is advisable that those institutional support staff responsible to secure willing host organisations work together with the career and counselling staff in preparing students for the selection for work-integrated learning placements. It should be evident that the marketing aspect outlined in the first paragraph is crucial to the gazetted placement obligation.

Appreciative inquiry enhances learning

… because it (appreciative inquiry) reduces anxiety and fear; eliminates blame games and expands the capacity for creative thinking.

David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva developed appreciative inquiry (AI) in the 1980s. They based AI on the premise that 'organisations change in the direction in which they inquire'—if inquiring into problems the organisation will keep finding problems; but if attempting to appreciate what is best in itself an organisation will discover more and more that is good. AI often follows the '4-D' model:

1. Discover—get incumbents to talk about the organisation is at its best.
2. Dream—encouraged incumbents to envision the organisation/department as if the best moments identified in the 'discover' phase were the norm
3. Design—ways of creating the dreamed about organisation/department
4. Destiny— implement the design as means to realise the dreamed reality

It should be obvious that learning derived from AI would be amplified.

Preparing students for work-integrated learning

There are two distinct preparation dimensions concerning students:

1. for entry into a suitable environment
2. orientation for the learning

Regardless if the theoretical teaching is residential or distance-mode, a key role of academic staff regarding work-integrated learning is the development of learning materials that would orientate students for their experiential learning process, with the view of:

• Attuning students to the learning they ought to derive from the real-life experience.
• Preparing the mindset of students to interact with the learning environment from which to derive learning.
• Raising the awareness of students with regard to the learning outcomes expected from their experiential learning.
• Reminding students about the theoretical knowledge that they need to operationalise within their work-integrated learning (an overall learning-map for the qualification might serve this purpose).

However, the above assumes that students readily have access to an appropriate real-life learning setting. In the South African context institutions offering qualifications with one or more work-integrated learning components are obliged to place students for such learning. A colleague, Ms Lizzie Mbuli emphasise the following:

• Students experience difficulty, during interviews, expressing themselves
• Students do not realise the competition students from Universities of Technology and other Comprehensive Institutions represent
• The academic record of a student plays an important role — it serves as evidence of accomplishments — if results are generally poor, with lots of failures and repeats it reflects negatively on the student's abilities
• Organisations prefer more advanced students, because they need not be frequently away for examinations and other university matters
• Importance of a marketable CV (not old fashioned) and a covering letter stating why a work-integrated learning opportunity is needed
• Value of a thank you letter to present to interviewers at end of interview
• Professional telephone skills — often secretaries complain about lack of professionalism
• Students must develop their own company database of likely employers or work-integrated learning host organisations, from newspapers and Internet searches
• Collaborative learning—work shopping in groups what taught to build confidence
• Organisations want to hear what students can bring/contribute — students often not capable to portray their acquired knowledge base
• Students must familiarise themselves about the purpose and expected outcomes of their work-integrated learning — it creates a negative impression if students don't understand why work-integrated learning and/or know what the work-integrated learning is suppose to entail — they must be able to state why and what
• Basic conduct when invited to an interview, e.g. wait until invited to sit down
• First impressions count, e.g. how dressed
• Students must improve their verbal and communication skills in English, in particular

Learning in Work and the Community (LiWC)

Learning in the Workplace and Community (LiWC) is, according to Victoria University, "an umbrella term that encompasses the many models and integrated approaches to teaching, learning and assessment that involve learning in and through the workplace and community. These LiWC models and approaches may include but are not limited to, projects in a workplace, practical, co-operative and clinical placements, fieldwork, simulated learning environments, apprenticeships, traineeships or internships and enterprise initiatives."

Tweets enrich learning from work

Tweet-sharing presents a potentially powerful means of spreading learning derived from work experiences for students during prerequisite in vivo learning; for members of a community of practice; for participants in a learning through work programme; etc. Download Academic tweeting to learn MG29Jan-4Feb2010 What do readers of this post think of the idea? Could tweets and re-tweets become the material for reflective practice?

Work-integrated Learning Flowchart

The South African Department of Education (DoE) & the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC)  imperatives regarding work-integrated learning (WIL) includes:

§  An obligation to place students

§  Structured learning

§  Learning agreements

§  Communication between role players

§  Mentoring system / supervision

§  Monitoring / assessment system

§  Recording system

An institutional flowchart may be illustrated as such:

 

 

A found a more elaborate flowchart, including references to Unisa's WiL Policy, among documents Download Flowchart WIL Model

Reflective practice for collective learning

Raelin (2000: 101) calls "the process of public reflection" reflective practice; it is a community of inquiry and creates a collective identity. He defines reflection as "the practice of periodically stepping back to ponder the meaning to self and others in one's immediate environment about what has transpired. It illuminates what has been experienced by both self and others, providing a basic for future education", he adds.

Raelin (2000: 101-2) emphasises learning dialogues, as element of reflective practice, taking place in the security of trustworthy peers based on the direct experiences of work. Raelin (p. 103) refers to Plato's statement that 'the unexamined life isn't worth living' meaning that others need to be included in the examination of life experiences. It is more than collective naval gazing; it isintorspection midst of practice and in the presence of others.

"Reflective practitioners 'reinvest' in learning by participating in continuing education" and "engage in problem posing as much as problem solving, continually expand[ing] their solution database rather than select the first solution that works, view inconsistencies as opportunities rather than inconveniences, and enjoy reflecting back on their decision making rather than sealing off debate" (Raelin 2000: 105). Four explicit reflective practices that can be used each on its own or combined are presented by Raelin (2000: 115-145):

1. Learning teams

Work-based learning often involves action learning in teams. Co-workers undertake projects together, discuss dilemmas of work actions, as well as "the application or misapplication of concepts and theories to these actions" (p. 115). The learning device is to pose questions to one another.

2. Journaling

But "the journal is arguably the most endemic technique we have to enhance our self-reflection" admits Raelin (p. 124). Yet, he continues, although it is "often used as an introspective tool for personal growth, it can also serve as an aid to bring together the inner and outer parts of our lives. It offers a lens to view experience—be it before, during, or after the event under scrutiny—and it even allows further reflection on the journal entries themselves." The journal is a potent vehicle to collect private data for public learning dialogues and may include any one or more of the following:

• Logs or reports of specific factual experiences.
• Lists of observations or ideas.
• Portraits or descriptions of people or situations.
• Memoirs of personal experiences.
• Catalogues of feelings/perceptions in situations or about people.
• Intimate accounts including personal sentiments, confessions and notes.
• Dialogues recordings.
• Conceptual understandings.
• Commentary of applications of concepts.
• Social histories (stories) of issues unfolding.
• Maps of consciousness to capture the state of mind.
• Guided imagery, meditated frames of reference and/or dreams.
• Altered points of view in different contexts or timeframes.
• Contradictions or dilemmas experiences or observed.
• Inconsistencies noticed
• Surprises experiences.

3. Developmental planning

Developmental planning often linked to career development. It involves the individual interests, needs and expectations, as well as the organisational objectives and resource requirements. It is often an element of the overall organisational performance management strategy.

4. Developmental relationships

Examples of developmental relationships include coaching and mentoring.

Raelin, J.A. 2000. Work-based learning—the new frontier of management development. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Learning by steps of inference

When I showed my wife Raelin's (2000: 98) ladder of inference, she replied that this is much more her way of learning than memorising or having things hammered into her brain—memorising does not work for me! There are many people that much rather learn by engaging and figuring things out, consulting resources as and when necessary.

When I did a search for a picture of a ladder I found numerous ladders of interference, for example:

• Ladder of inference model from Peter Senge's (1994) 5th Discipline Fieldbook.
• Also called by some the ladder of influence or even ladder of innocence.
• Some give the ladder of inference six steps above the surface it is standing on.
• The ladder of inference is regarded as one of the most effective tools in understanding and explaining why we so often get into conflict and fail to get resolution—it was originally articulated by Chris Argyris (acknowledged by Raelin as work-based learning tutor, for his intellectual stimulation) and popularized in Peter Senge.
• William Goelkel emphasise, in the PM Notebook, that we make decisions and take action based on what we consider to be obvious truths based on objective data, however, the problem is the data is often selected to conform to our beliefs—not truths and often not obvious to others—a feedback loop is therefore important.

This four-step ladder is available in 12 colours, with a no handrail, a left, a right or both-sides handrails.

Raelin's (2000: 98) ladder of inference comprise:

Step 4: Take action.

Step 3: Draw inferences.

Step 2: Interpret data.

Step 1: Select data.

Surface: Observe available data.

I further found this very interesting (to me) four step rock climbing device and numerous other gadgets.

Raelin, J.A. 2000. Work-based learning—the new frontier of management development. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Collective work-based learning

Raelin (2000: 66-100) discusses three kinds of collective work-based learning, namely:

• Action Learning
• Community of Practice
• Action Science

Action Learning

It is an educational strategy that entails groups seeking to derive learning from real-time (in vivo) problem solving. In about 1975, after conversion to adult membership of my congregation I engaged in entry-level instruction of catechumens. At the time the notion of learning by doing got impressed upon my mind. In trying to bring about learning, I have subsequently always tried to build in activity in learning facilitation. Raelin (2000: 66-7) remarks that such activities are useful; but neither sufficient to enable conversion of theory into tacit knowledge; nor for participants/delegates to challenge and reflect on their own theoretical assumptions. Only if people take real positions; are obliged to make moral judgements and required to defend those under pressure do real learning occur. Action learning teams present itself as a means to introduce work-based learning into a work environment.

Community of Practice

Raelin (2000: 75) asserts that "communities of practice evolve as people united in a common enterprise develop a shared history as well as particular values, beliefs, ways of talking, and ways of doing things". Membership is spontaneous and through involvement with one another—mutual engagement—in the process of pursuing the same practice. Problem solving together becomes (as a community) becomes a natural social activity and meanings are informally negotiated. Often knowledge creation is tacit and practices become interpersonally instinctive. A "shared repertoire, including routines, words, tools, ways of doing things, stories, gestures, concepts, and the like that symbolize their shared practice" (Raelin 2000: 76)emerges. Members of a community of practice often serve as gate keepers with regard to the practice.

Raelin (2000: 78) observes that facilitation might accelerate the process toward the emergence of a community of practice, but he expresses reservation if an organisation as a whole could become a community of practice—there are just too many barriers and politics. He discusses the use of Future Search (pp 24-25 of PsychDigest Vol 1 No 3; Download FutureSearch_AfronautHigherEducationlaunchpad-posternarrative) technology (p. 83), Open Space Technology (p. 84) and Virtual Team Learning (p. 85), but cautions about the latter that nobody has yet "invented a technology that replaces a pitcher of beer".

Action Science

When I saw this heading I have been most intrigued. Raelin (2000: 89) defines action science as "a work-based intervention strategy for helping learners increase their effectiveness is social situations through heightened awareness of their action and interaction assumptions". It is a form of 'double-loop' learning derived from becoming aware of a mismatch between your values and your actions and an internal commitment to embracing new or other. The term reflection-in-action—described as rethinking to discover how and what that has been done contributed to the expected or unexpected outcome—is preferred by some, e.g. Donald Schön (p. 90). A member of a community of practice would typically offer a frame of the situation a hand. The members collectively would then reflect upon the frame/s and start testing the underlying assumptions and reasoning processes that surface. The aim is to narrow the inconsistencies between espoused (what is advocated) theories versus theories-in-use (actual practice).

Raelin (2000: 90) agrees with Habermas's views and points out three types of knowledge:

1. Technical knowledge entails "predictions about observable events, physical or social"; may result in empirical or theoretical discourse; and "relies upon hypothetico-deductive logic".
2. Practical knowledge involves "social norms, ideals, values, and moral decisions"; that in the absence of empirical tests rely on tradition and authority. However, consensus derived through dialogue is preferred and metaphors often used to resolve contradictions. Ideally, practical discourse searches for meaning rather than trying to outlining causality.
3. Emancipatory knowledge is gained through critical self-reflection about the taken-for-granted assumptions. The validity of premises for interpretation or understanding is tested through reflective discourse.

People are often socially conditioned—Model I behaviour—which is "characterised by a need to control, maximize winning, suppress emotions, and be rational" Raelin (2000: 91) with minimal learning, but reinforcement of existing socialisation. In contrast, Model II behaviour, "is based on directly observable data" at hand and entails exchange of viewpoints—resulting in increased learning and producing of intended end-results. The table below (based Raelin 2000: 94) on serves as illustration:

	Model I behaviour	Model II behaviour
Contextual cue or triggering condition	An elderly woman is curious about the use of SMSes	Another elderly person, similar age, notices how efficient SMS communication is
Underlying assumptions	Cellphones are complex, I would not master it.	Believe it is possible to master the use of the SMS function of a cellphone
Action strategies	Is shown by a user (grandchild) what an SMS is and how to go about creating a message, sending it, receiving it, retrieving it and responding	Ask a user to demonstrate how to go about creating a message, sending it, receiving it, retrieving it and responding. Make notes how to go about and try SMSing.
Consequences in the behavioural world for learning	Promptly forgets and ask again in future when observing fellow residents of the retirement facility receiving SMSes	Master the use of the SMSes and enjoy the benefit of keeping in touch with relatives and friends

Raelin, J.A. 2000. Work-based learning—the new frontier of management development. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.