Learning in vivo

Add value through partnerships between HEI and organisations

In order to harness mutual advantages, a need for more creative ways of interacting between organisations and higher education institutions (HEIs) is advocated (Barnes & Phillips 2000). Reduced state funding and increased student numbers place HEIs under strain, especially with regard to staff time. The development of working links with organisations is considered essential to ‘unlock’ professional development of staff, research opportunities and community-service scholarly activity. Partnerships may offer academics the opportunity to access new sources of finance (value for money) and in-kind support for project work, research and other scholarly initiatives. In addition collaboration with voluntary-activity groups offers avenues of opportunity for responsible HEIs.

In practical terms it means that partnerships should be complimentary and result in synergy, which would harness academic interests and add value for the community. HEI involvement in projects proposals/bids could contribute academic rigour. Collaboration with community groupings may result in voluntary input in research and acquisition of local information that is not generally available, as well as local expertise and data. Joint publishing could be mutually beneficial with regard to promoting respective objectives, raising the profile of academics and HEI access to data sets.

Collaboration may involve promoting career advancement of ‘under-employed’ minority groups through tailor-made programmes drawing from HEI counselling and guidance expertise and real-life learning in organisations. Collaboration may result in major cost-savings for organisations and a ‘ripple-effect’ in that other organisations learn about the benefits. HEIs are by definition centres of knowledge and expertise, which are constantly evolving, and which could be applied to the benefit of organisations. Collaborations may further result in jointly winning awards for achievements. Relationships may offer scope for future capacity building.

HEIs' reaching out to organisations, is vital for establishing Cooperative and Work-integrated Education (CWIE) partnership, but also an important step in order to discover other potential areas of mutual benefit.

Barnes, N. J. & Phillips P. S. 2000. Higher education partnerships: creating new value in the environmental sector. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 1 (2): 181-190.

Work-based mobile learning

“On-the-job training has been the educational ‘delivery’ [method of] choice over many years”, however, work-based mobile learning appears to be gaining interest as “one of the most important means of providing knowledge, skills and competencies” in the workplace observe Auer, Edwards and Zutin (2011: 219). His shift is due to increased wireless networks and mobile technology developments.

Apprenticeships represent a rudimentary form of work-based education. Modelled on the mediaeval guilds, the artisan personally tutored those wishing to learn the craft. They learned through “observation, imitation, practice and feedback” (p. 220). The increased pace of progress; greater volumes and complexity of learning required; and obsolescence of jobs resulted in more frequent career changes and the need to acquire entire new knowledge and skills.

Whereas traditionally work-based training consisted of formal education followed by organisational specific orientation and training; life-long learning became a necessity. Both individuals and organisations are more and more required to adapt—often quickly—to evolving situations in order to retain relevance in the marketplace.

Work-based mobile learning emerged as means to enable people to continue to function optimally. Unfortunately mature workers may oppose these developments due to fear for the unknown. To overcome this potential ‘fossilisation’ learning should be stimulating and enjoyable in order to become a habit of continuous growth and development. Furthermore, certain learning cannot be acquired in the confines of the workplace. This is where mobile learning allow for workers to learn and experience situations not commonly available in the workplace.

Auer, M.E.; Edwards, A. & Zutin, D.G. 2011. Online laboratories in interactive learning environments, pp. 219-248. 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.

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.

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

Benefits organisations may enjoy by hosting interns

Sides and Mrvica (2007:31-57) devote an entire chapter to benefits involved in hosting interns (or students for work-integrated learning:

• Contribution to the growth of the profession - 21st century learning organisations will consciously devote efforts to the growth of their professions
• Gaining knowledge of what is being taught in academic institutions - hosting interns create two-way communication between organisations and academic institutions
• Accessing new ideas, skills and training - interns are often a source of fresh, new and enthusiastic ideas
• Expanding the networking base of the organisation - this in turn impacts on professional development
• Developing relationships with academic institutions - invaluable influence on curriculum development
• Coaching and influencing a young career - interns are embarking on a career
• Developing and exercising supervisory skills - for professionals that mentor interns
• Expanding time and opportunities for special projects - the well-qualified interns serve as a resource to enable projects
• Procuring extra help - possibility of shadowing others
• Engageing in pre-employment screening - can assess the conduct and performance potential of interns
• Exposure to professions - help students make sure about their chosen career
• Internships as experience - it is difficult to secure a job without experience
• Lifelong learning - internships serve as foundation
• Portfolios as proof of qualifications - tangible examples of accomplishments
• Finding a mentor for internship experiences - accomplished professionals
• Networking after internships

Sides CH. & Mrvica A. 2007. Internships, theory and practice. New York: Baywood

Learning through work, flexibility and university for industry

Literature suggest a shift towards flexibility regarding learning outcomes of work-based learning. More than a decade ago (1998) the university for industry (UFI) materialised, focussing on learning through work (LTW), leading to university qualifications. Eight UK universities and colleges collaborate with LearningDirect in e-learning. Employers and/or individuals may negotiate work-based learner-managed projects and online learning that lead to qualifications.

Sources:

• http://www.ufi.com

• http://www.learningthroughwork.org/universities/

• Stephenson, J. & Saxton, J. 2005. Using the Internet to gain personalized degrees from learning through work: some experience from Ufi. Industry & Higher Education, 19(3), 249-258.

• Bosley, S. & Young, D. 2006. Online learning dialogues in learning through work. The Journal of Workplace Learning, 18(6), 355-366.

Learning swings like a subjective-door in its work-frame

Billett's (2006) views on work, subjectivity and learning captivated my full attention and prompted me to reconsider some personal viewpoints/assumptions.

During my undergraduate studies in pedagogy a lecturer remarked one day that 'learning is like a door on its hinges, any moment, regardless of the kind of activity, the door may swing and learning will occur'. Billett reminded me about this profound lesson, with his equally profound statement (p. 7) "[t]here is no difference between participating in work and learning". Similar to the door-metaphor, learning depends upon if the worker perceives the action as familiar or something novel -- in the case of the latter 'the door swings' and it is "generative of new learning". This is a very important notion to consider with regard to learning.

Billett defines (p. 4) work as an "individual's engagement in the goal-orientated activities that usually emanates from social and cultural purposes" and he states (p. 5) that "paid work might well be an unwelcome, but necessary intrusion" -- "there is a blurring here between non-paid and paid work" (p. 4) he remarks - learning is equally important in both. Billett (p. 4) asserts that in addition to "a cultural genesis", "a particular situated manifestation" and "in a particular workplace", work also "has personal dimensions". He further postulates that it is the "deployment of human subjectivities that shape how the work is conceptualised, engaged with and conducted".

Subjectivity, as emerging concept, defined by Billett (p. 5) "comprises the conscious and non-conscious conceptions, dispositions and procedures that constitute individuals' cognitive experience". Subjectivity is about individual "ways of engaging with and making sense of what we experience through our lived experience[s]". This sense of self is never static, but continually develops. Our individual subjectivity "compromise a set of conceptions, procedures beliefs and values and dispositions that are, in part, non-conscious (yet quickly becomes conscious when something we experience doesn't fit) and, in part, conscious" (p. 6). The concept of identity is further associated with subjectiveness, both from personal and societal perspectives.

Billett remarks that the relationship among work, subjectivity and learning is significant in order to understand how individuals learn, are motivated to and direct their own learning throughout their lives. This relationship is of utmost importance within the global emphasis on improving the capacity of human capital. Billett suggests a move away from behavioural and neo-behavioural approaches to learning, away from a focus mainly on observable performance outcomes and away from an emphasis on measurability. He urges that the social and physical context of work, as well as the dispositions and values of individuals that drive and energise them. He argues for an intertwining of the social and personal and recognition of the interdependence.

I have for a long time regarded the DACUM (designing a curriculum) method as appropriate for deciding what the work-based learning part of the integrated curriculum of a programme/qualification should entail. I have been an advocate of 'directing' the learner to achieve the predetermined measurable outcomes of the work-based learning part. Now I am not so sure any more.

Billett, S. (2006). Work, subjectivity and learning (pp. 1-20). In Billett, S., Fenwick, T. & Somerville, M (eds.) (2006). Work, subjectivity and learning - understanding learning through working life. Volume 6 of the UNESCO-UNEVOC book series on technical and vocational education and training: issues concerns and prospects. Dordrecht: Springer.