Learning in vivo

Gazetted Terminology for Professional Nurse and Midwife Education and Training

The terminology for cooperative and work-integrated education within the South African nursing education and training sphere is worth noting. It is gazetted that the Minister of Health, after consultation of the South African Nursing Council (SANC)—a statutory body—in accordance to §58(1)(f) of the Nursing Act (Act No 33 of 1995); made regulations pertaining to the education and training of professional nurses and midwives.

Of specific interest are the definitions of:

• Clinical accompaniment, which “means a structured process by a nurse education institution to facilitate assistance and support to the learner by the nurse educator at the clinical facility to ensure the achievement of the programme outcomes;”
• Clinical facility, which “means a continuum of services to promote health and provide care to individuals and groups, used to teach learners;”
• Clinical learning opportunities, which “means the range of learning experiences available in a healthcare setting or other experiential learning sites for a learner to gain the required clinical skills;”
• Clinical placement, which “means the period spent by a learner in clinical and other experiential learning sites to ensure that the purpose of the programme is achieved;”
• Clinical supervision, which “means the assistance and support extended to the learner by the professional nurse or midwife at a clinical facility with an aim of developing a competent, independent practitioner;”

The gazetted regulations further includes several other definitions of terminology such as assessment / assessment method / integrated assessment / assessor / moderation / moderator; competence / learning outcomes / programme outcomes; comprehensive nursing; fundamental learning; programme / qualification; and recognition of prior learning. The regulations further deal with issues such as requirements for registration in the two said nursing categories; accreditation of education institutions; admission criteria; minimum programme requirements; clinical education and training; the assessment and moderation of learning outcomes; transfers; recognition of prior learning; application of these regulations, as well as transitional arrangements.

Nursing Act: Regulations: Approval of and minimum requirements for education and training of learners leading to registration in categories professional nurse and midwife, (G 36235, RG 9927, GoN 174), 8 March 2013

Eight categories of assessing work-integrated learning

Sonia Ferns and Keri Moore (2012) indicate that assessment of fieldwork generally comprise three broad elements, namely (a) actual workplace performance; (b) a record of the experience (diary or journal); and (c) a reflection on the work-based experience. However, they mapped eight categories of assessment in use for assessing student outcomes from fieldwork placements:

• Case Studies research on cases: applying disciplinary knowledge in a professional context, roles, ethics, and responsibilities, systems, processes and lateral and higher order thinking, debates. Can be inter-professional or discipline specific.
• Reflection/portfolio: Reflection of work place experience and collection of evidence.
• Simulation: Institutional based assessment intended to replicate the workplace environment e.g., role play including Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE), peer and self-assessment.
• Knowledge test: Testing recall of facts such as online quizzes or multiple choice quizzes (MCQ).
• Performance - real-time in situ: Practical assessment of work place performance - detailed understanding of disciplinary systems, roles, ethics, and responsibilities, systems, processes and lateral thinking, proficiency in basic disciplinary skills, communication and core disciplinary knowledge.
• Oral Presentations: oral test - detailed understanding of disciplinary systems, roles, ethics, and responsibilities, systems, processes and lateral thinking.
• Written task: Essays or reports (other than case studies) higher order thinking.
• Industry-based case study: Investigation of actual work place scenarios.

Their research findings include, among others, some interesting graphs about frequencies of use of the above mentioned assessment types; and of graduate attributes assessed.

Ferns, S. & Moore, K. 2012. Assessing student outcomes in fieldwork placements: An overview of current practice. Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, 13(4), 207-224.

Enabling distant laboratory learning via mobile technologies

“Online laboratories are necessary for distance or mobile learning for the same reason laboratory practices are important in traditional educational settings” reports Auer, Edwards and Zutin (2011: 229). They observe that although there appear to be general agreement that laboratory experience is necessary; there is little consensus about what the basic objectives thereof are. They further report (p. 223) that during the four years 1993 to 1997 only 6.5 per cent of the articles published in the Journal of Engineering Education used laboratory as keyword; and during the subsequent four years 1998 to 2002 even less, namely 5.2 per cent. Little has been published about what laboratory experience is expected to accomplish, with no specific objectives or outcomes stated.

Auer, Edwards and Zutin (2011: 222) assert that “synchronous active interaction with experiments and problem-solving helps individual or collaborative learners directly acquire applicable knowledge that can be used in practical situations, which is why pedagogical theory and practice considers laboratory experimentation an essential part of the educational process, particularly in the sciences and engineering”. Online access to remote laboratories through Internet is gaining importance. The domain of Online Engineering is an interdisciplinary field comprising engineering, computing and telematics catering for live interactive engineering activities such as “programming, design, control, observation, measuring, sensing, and maintenance” to both remote and localised users (p. 222).

Auer, Edwards and Zutin (2011: 224) differentiate three kinds of engineering laboratories:

• The development laboratory is used by practicing engineers to obtain experimental data in order to answer specific questions and/or to design and develop products. Furthermore to ascertain if a specific design performs as it is intended.
• The research laboratory serves to seek broader and new additions to knowledge to generalise and systemise.
• The educational or instructional laboratory serves to allow undergraduates to learn what they as graduates would be assumed to understand and know.

Web-based laboratories were introduced in 1996 by universities in undergraduate engineering education. The field of remote engineering since matured; the number of remote laboratories dramatically increased; and the range of disciplines in which remote laboratories used expanded. The need for remote access to experimentation and for flexibility with regard to time and place of laboratory access are powerful motivators — “Anytime and anyplace learning is presently revolutionising learning in the workplace” (p. 226). Developments of mobile technology further accelerated advancements.

Auer, M.E.; Edwards, A & Zutin, D.G. 2011. Online laboratories in interactive mobile learning environments, pp. 119-248. In N Pachler, C Pimmer & J Seipold (Eds). 2011. Work-based Mobile Learning — concepts and cases. Oxford: Peter Lang.

E-portfolios and assessment via mobile technologies

The South African Council for Higher Education (CHE) imperatives with regard to programme (qualification) accreditation include, among others:

• That the programme must bring about an understanding within students about the specifics of the occupation for which they are being trained.
• That the students should master the techniques and skills required for a specific profession or occupation.
• And where feasible that work-based learning and placement in a work-based environment should form an integral part of the curriculum.

The CHE imperatives with regard to work-integrated learning further include (1) a mentoring system that enables the student to recognise her/his strengths and weaknesses in his/her work, to develop existing and new abilities, and to gain knowledge of work practices; as well as (2) regular and systematic monitoring. Mobile devices may well enable both these.

However, Coulby, Laxton, Boomer and Davies (2011) caution that without a sound pedagogical rationale for the use of mobile devices; technical and infrastructural realities may very possibly reduce student engagement.

Higher educational health and social care curricula often comprise a blend of classroom instruction (in residential education); simulations and work-based placement/s. The latter provide for learning opportunities and the assessment of competencies and professional attributes that cannot be cannot be replicated in the former two. The authentic nature of work-based placement/s enables holistic preparation; preparing graduates for professional practice, including the culture and practices of the particular community of practice. Primary care community clinics are utilised for placements in teaching. (Coulby, et al citing Billet, 2001; Lave & Wenger, 1991; Vygotsky, 1978).

Although work-based placements are regarded essential; Coulby, et al realise that these learning and teaching environments are challenged by practical and sometimes complex issues such as:

• Unreliable or restricted access to PCs and IT infrastructure; resulting in a lack of access to contemporary information; learning materials and social networks.
• Students experiencing uncertainty due to inadequate feedback on their performance resulting in unpreparedness; as well as insufficient monitoring, mentoring and tutoring (pastoral care) due to inadequate resources.

A potential solution explored is the ‘Assessment and Learning in Practical Settings’ (ALPS) programme, which employed mobile technologies. Common competencies, representing ‘readiness’ for professional practice were identified and developed into mobile assessment tools—which enable and encourage students to seek a spectrum of assessment opportunities such as from peers in the health and social care professions; from service users (patients); and self-reflection. The ‘ALPS’ assessments are completed are automatically captured online in e-portfolios; which in turn enable tutor and student review and commentary—in this way future practice of students are shaped and high-level scaffolding feasible. The University of Leeds, for example, has several hundred students in six different discipline/qualification cohorts.

Coulby, C; Laxton, J; Boomer, S & Davies, N. 2011. Mobile technology and assessment: A case study from the ALPS (Assessment and Learning in Practical Settings) programme, pp. 51-70. In N Pachler, C Pimmer & J Seipold (Eds). 2011. Work-based Mobile Learning — concepts and cases. Oxford: Peter Lang.

Disorganised and confusing connection of business needs with HE provision

Simon Roodhouse (2010: 26) concludes that “mechanisms to connect business needs with higher education provision are generally disorganised and confusing”. He starts the section of saying that “in higher education, workforce development is often referred to as work-based learning and is increasingly recognised as a field of study” (p. 24). He cites Costley’s (2001) observation that such work-based learning by higher education institutions incorporates “the learning people do, for, in and through work” (emphasis added) and quotes examples of longevity:

• Sandwich courses (academic study interspaced with work experience) and placements (elsewhere called (cooperative and work-integrated education) for longer than a century.
• Structured continuing professional development courses which recognise knowledge gained through work experience.
• Formalised accreditation of prior and experiential learning (APEL) processes.
• Familiarity of learning contracts as instruments in education.

Costley (2001, in Roodhouse 2010: 25) identify synonyms including “work based, work related, placement activities, elective modules, independent study, APEL, reach out, CPD, work based learning”. She further indicates that in most cases work based learning forms part of existing programmes at universities; and that learning outcomes and assessment criteria are embedded in the subject knowledge areas derived from scholarly activities and research.

The lack of sustained engagement of higher education in workforce development is difficult to conceptualise, observes Roodhouse (2010: 25) and highlights his observation with the following University Vocational Awards Council (2002):

We somehow seem to be incapable of learning from experience. Succeeding generations of employers are still marooned in tedious development project steering committees whose proceedings take place in academic jargon. Frustrated academics are still struggling to secure placements and projects with the very companies who are lambasting the quality of their graduates’ work readiness.

Roodhouse (2010: 25) speculates that it could also be “intellectual scepticism amongst the academic community, that employability which is associated with work-based learning is nothing more than a continuous conflict between individuals, market demands and fluctuations”.

Roodhouse, S. 2010. Defining and theorizing university work-based learning (21-27). In S Roodhouse & J Mumford. 2010. Understanding work-based learning. Surrey: Gower.

Placement of students for practice-based experiences is insufficient

The topic of this post partially reflect one of the five key knowledge contributions derived from Professor Stephen Billett’s ALTC National Teaching Fellowship on curriculum and pedagogic bases for effectively integrating practice-based experiences. The five include (emphasis added):

• “Firstly, it is necessary to include the personal processes of experiencing and reconciliation what is experienced by learners in each of the settings”;
• “Secondly, consideration of how students engage with the experiences and pedagogic practices is central to the richness of learning”
• “Thirdly, merely providing practice-based experiences for students is insufficient unless those experiences are enriched through preparation, engagement and opportunities to share and reconcile what has been contributed by these experiences”
• “Fourthly, the findings highlight the importance of enacting pedagogic practices that are most likely to develop engaged and critical practitioners”
• “Fifthly, the need to engage, prepare and extend students as active and agentic learners is central to the effective integration of experiences across practice and higher education settings, their ability to engage in professional practice and their becoming effective critical and reflexive practitioners”.

Work integrated learning (WIL) is defined as “the process whereby students come to learn through experiences in educational and practice settings and reconcile and integrate the contributions of those experiences to develop the understandings, procedures and dispositions, including the criticality and reflexivity, required for effective professional practice”.

The curriculum includes “the kinds of learning experiences in practice settings and higher education institutions and how they are organised, sequenced and enacted”. Sub-categories of curriculum are identified, namely:

• “Intended curriculum – what is intended to occur by sponsors or developers in terms of educational goals (i.e. what should be learnt) and learning outcomes as a result of the curriculum being implemented.”
• “Enacted curriculum – what is enacted as shaped by the resources available, the experiences and expertise of teachers and others, their interpretation of what was intended, their values and the range of situational factors that shape students experiences.”
• “Experienced curriculum – what students experience when they engage with what was intended through what is enacted, and how they learn through that experiencing, even that which is unintended by those who plan and enact the curriculum.”

Billett, S. 2011. Curriculum and pedagogic bases for effectively integrating practice-based experiences (final report). Australian Learning & Teaching Council (ALTC).

This work is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Australia Licence. Under this Licence you are free to copy distribute, display and perform the work and to make derivative works. Download Billett-S-Griffith-NTF-Final-report-2011

Drafting experiential education procedures for a university

Those who have been involved in a policy and/or procedure creation process at a university will know it is not an easy task. Substantial literature reviews (which I blogged about during the recent past) that informed a first draft had been undertaken. This draft (Download Procedural Manual on Experiential Learning) has been distributed by e-mail to key role players within the university for critique and comment. The commentary received has been incorporated and a second draft made institutionally available on Intranet and called for commentary through the university's daily e-news mail (Download 2nd Draft of Procedural Manual on Experiential Learning).

At this point a meeting with a senior educational-support line manager resulted in further review and supplementation. A third draft -- Download 3rd Draft of Procedural Manual on Experiential Learning has been produced, which served as discussion document with several key stakeholders. Following thorough consultation and incorporation of input, contributions, commentary, critique and recommended structural changes the process has since arrived at a sixth draft -- Download 6th draft towards a Procedural Manual on Experiential Learning. The sixth draft got formally tabled at a committee within the structure and accepted in principle - subject to a few changes. This new version (Download Procedural Manual on Experiential Learning DRAFT 2-1 - apologies for the hyperlinks to Intranet pages that readers would not have access to) is now the official 2nd draft, for which a powerpoint presentation (Download Procedural Manual on Experiential Learning) had been prepared in order to present it at a next level internal committee.

Ultimately a Procedural Manual for Experiential Learning had been presented to Senate 13 June 2012 and approved, whereafter it was placed on Intranet with the University Council approved Policy for Experiential Learning.

Nine events of instruction — Gagné

Gagné’s “Nine Events of Instruction”, referenced in Becker (2007: 27 – 29) support the instructional design of five areas of learning capabilities:

• Verbal, both oral and written, information
• Intellectual skills, including manipulation of symbolic information as well as problem solving
• Creative cognitive strategies and control over own learning
• Physical motor skills
• Personal attitudes influencing choice

Gagné’s Nine Events provide for conditions of learning, as well as guidelines for selection of appropriate media:

1. Reception, attracting and gaining attention
2. Creating expectancy by making the objectives known
3. Retrieval of prior knowledge by stimulating recall of former learning
4. Presentation of the stimulus, encouragement and challenge (selective perception)
5. Offer self-contained learning—learning guidance provided within (semantic encoding)
6. Elicit interactive performance or responding
7. Reinforcement by providing feedback
8. Assessment of performance (retrieval)
9. Generalise by enhancing retention and transfer of learning

Becker, K. 2007. Pedagogy in commercial video games. In D Gibson; C Aldrich & M Prensky. 2007. Games and simulations in online learning: research and development frameworks (pp 21 – 47). Hershey: Information Science Publishing.

Journal of Cooperative Education and Internships now open access

JCEI access for individuals is now open to the public at no charge! Vol 45 Issue 01 has just been published:

Topic	Page
International centre of social science education and research in The Hague, The Netherlands.	5
Development of Learning Outcomes Assessment Methods for Co-operative Education Programs	11
Where’s WIL? Including work-integrated learning in descriptions of what it is that academics do	34
Comparative Curriculum Analysis of Mechanical Engineering Technology Programs at Purdue University and the National Taipei University of Technology	45
Mentoring Latinos in STEM: Transforming Struggling Co-op Students into Savvy Professionals	53
Developing an Online Learning Community for Engineering, Cooperative-Education Students: A Design-Based Research Study	67
Professionalising Accounting Education – The WIL Experience	80
Responding to Rapid Change in Higher Education: Enabling University Departments Responsible for Work Related Programs Through Boundary Spanning	94

JCEI is offered through EBSCO's library subscription for institutions. Request your university library to purchase subscription.

Definition of work-integrated learning and related terms

[Updated 27 April 2010, based on commentary received]

Work-integrated learning (WiL) is one of the tuition and learning components of Unisa students, registered for vocational and professional programmes offered by Unisa. Work-integrated learning:

· focuses on theory and practice in relevant authentic, work-based contexts

· helps the student socialise into the workplace environment

· is differentiated from laboratory and field practicals

· is aimed at developing specific competence that forms part of the overall curriculum

· relates to the development of knowledge, skills and attitudes -- in an integrated way; learning work practices; whole person and interpersonal relations development

· is achieved through the placement at and hosting of students by employer organisations

· is enabled by workplace mentoring, aimed at helping the student recognise her/his strengths and development needs

· is monitored by academic staff and assessed by both workplace practitioners and academic staff

· is ultimately an institutional responsibility, accountable to statutory, professional and/or vocational bodies

· is dependent upon a structured training relationship between Unisa, host employer organisation and the student, as illustrated below:

 

 

Download Wil definition - 1st notes by Prof Geertsema + Prof Hendrick + Dr Groenewald

Terminology in use and/or well known among stalwarts in the vocational and/or professional fields:

· Cooperative education	1. A form of education in which the educational institution and the occupational field co-operate in order to provide a joint educational programme, which includes workplace experience 2. A strategy where students undergo in-service training and gain work experience as integral part of their curriculum. The experience complements and supplements the academic learning to produce employment ready graduates. The experience must be well planned and supervised.
· Employer organisation	A host organisation that receives students and provides services, resources, etc. in aid of a student’s learning: welcome, orientate, dwell and sent forth.
· Experiential/in-service training or learning	The in‐occupational field experiences described as a process of placing students in the workplace for hands‐on experience. A workplace activity linked to the formal academic programme for purposes of experiential performance and to allow the student first‐hand experience. The process must allow for abstract conceptualization, experimentation, real and concrete experience and reflective observation. Is typically done in terms of a log book with supervision by a workplace mentor. Students apply their knowledge gained and by doing and experiencing the daily routines.
· Experiential learning grant (ELG)	A Sectoral Education & Training Authority (SETA) grant that caters for studnets who need in-service training as a requirement for the successful completion of a registered qualification.
· Laboratory or field practical/practicum	It is a form of tuition where activities and/or experiments are done with required apparatus in order to illustrate theory and give students an opportunity to gain supervised experiences. It is differentiated from work-integrated learning in that it forms part of the theory tuition, but undertaken in a suitably equipped laboratory, which could be in nature.
· Field based training	A model of distance education for teaching the conceptual material and enabling students located throughout the country to be trained largely in their home-based contexts, with the focus on professional development work. This comprises fieldwork practice and supervision in home locations.
· Mentoring	A competent and suitably qualified practitioner (the mentor), fostering, helps and guides the student’s (the mentee) growth and development—normally not done for personal gain.
· Monitoring	On-site monitoring by academic staff is done with the following specific objectives in mind: ·    To gather evidence regarding the learning of the student ·    To detect the student’s progress towards attaining the learning outcomes ·    To obtain the workplace supervisor’s (mentor) evaluation about the performance and conduct of the student ·    To mediate discretely regarding problems identified ·    To aid the student to reflect on experiences, in order to optimise learning
· Placement	1. The site where a student undergoes experience 2. The process of facilitating the student’s application and interview process as may be required by host organisations after short-listing
· Workplace learning	Many higher education programmes consider workplace learning to be a valid learning experience for students. Most professional training programmes include a ‘practicum’, which can vary from a few weeks to a few years of practical experience at a site of professional practice. This model can be strongly or weekly integrated into the formal learning programme, depending on how it is supported, supervised, and assessed. In such programmes, the workplace is present, both as a learning resource and as a benchmark of practice

Download Glossary of Terms related to work-integrated learning (WiL)

A High School Musical learning by earning exemplar

In the local paper (Roodepoort Record) of 30 October 2009 appeared the article below. The local high school (Hoërskool Florida) has two cafeterias, one a High School Musical look alike.

The restaurant manager not only provide good quality food and a good return for the school, but give interested scholars the opportunity to learn and earn. In exchange for their energy the manager teaches scholars profesionalism, working with money and management of a hospitality concern.

Development of university staff

Seventeen years ago, Duke (1992: 96) observed that academic staff at universities regarded themselves "less as employees than as a kind of college or fraternity of individual scholars and professionals freely associating for the advancement of knowledge and the expression of academic autonomy". He proceeds to indicate that identity and first loyalty of faculty is with their discipline and the international community thereof. Given this collegiate context, staff development had been perceived as almost intrusive; close to offensive and even insulting. However, study leave or sabbatical is still held in high regard as an acceptable form of academic staff development.

However, circumstances changed. State funded higher education institutions can no longer do as they please—now there is accountability to government and the taxpayer. State funding is conditional to the performance of institutions in terms of, for example, throughput. Research funding is coupled to research output, in order to encourage more research. Academic staff is becoming more amenable to acquiring new abilities and enlarging their repertoire of skills.

Duke, C. 1992. The learning university—towards a new paradigm? Buckingham: SRHE & Open University Press

Hierarchy of Learning Objectives

I mention in my blog Learner-managed Learning through Work (http://psychsoma.co.za/learning_in_vivo/2009/06/learnermanaged-learning-through-work-lmltw.html) the Hierarchy of Learning Outcomes (HLO) model.

I have not yet had access to Delahaye, B.L. 2005. Human Resource Development: Adult Learning and Knowledge Management, 2nd ed. Brisbane: John Wiley & Sons. but found valuable information via Google.

 

References:

http://www.auscampus.net/current-students/coursenotes/hrsubjects/mgt2_hrd/Lecture%208%20HRD%20design.ppt

http://uob-community.ballarat.edu.au/~coconnor/chapter9a.ppt